Inglés Coloniero
| Inglés Coloniero | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
 Venezuela ( Colonia Tovar )
 |
|
| speaker | around 1500 (2009) | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in | - | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
de |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
ger (ISO 639-2 / B) / deu (ISO 639-2 / T) |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
gct |
|
Alemán Coloniero is a Lower Alemannic dialect of German , which is mainly spoken in the municipality of Colonia Tovar in Venezuela . The following names can be found in Tovar as a self-designation: Dialecto, Ditsch, Alemán, Alemannisch, Patua. The ISO abbreviation gct comes from the English name Colonia Tovar German .
history
The dialect, like other Alemannic dialects , is difficult to understand for people who only speak standard German . Alemán Coloniero is the language of the descendants of German settlers, most of whom emigrated to Venezuela from the area around the Kaiserstuhl in 1843 . The settlers were recruited by the Italian geographer Augustin Codazzi mainly in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl and Wyhl on behalf of the Venezuelan state. On December 18, 1842, 80 families, a total of 389 people, left their home in Baden and covered the 660 km route via Strasbourg to Le Havre in three weeks . They reached Venezuela by ship in April 1843.
The dialect developed from the southern Baden language as well as a small influence of some other dialects of southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Most speakers also speak the official language Spanish , which means that the Alemán Coloniero also contains various Spanish loan words . This dialect, in addition to the official mother tongue Spanish, is spoken by almost 3,000 people in Colonia Tovar and 16,000 in the region. The descendants of the settlers have long been integrated into Venezuela through school attendance and marriage.
In the old families (Guth, Rudman, Ruh, Misle, Herig, Muttach) the Alemán Coloniero is not only spoken very well, but is also passed on to the next generation. It cannot be foreseen whether the dialect will still be spoken in one or two generations, but the Tovarians recognize that they have an important cultural asset and are now trying everything to preserve the dialect. The majority of the people of Colonia Tovar who still speak Alemannic have not yet been able to visit the country of origin of their ancestors. But they want to remain aware of their cultural roots. Therefore, exchange programs with the former homeland are being considered. Because of the Alemannic Carnival, the half-timbered architecture, the cuckoo clocks, the ham, the pork knuckle with sauerkraut and the strawberry tarts as well as the sometimes folklorically dressed women, the area is visited by many tourists from the rest of Venezuela.
Lessons in German / Alemannic
The importance of the school in Colonia Tovar is of particular importance. Until 1942, when the Colonia Tovar was declared a Municipio with Tovar as its capital, it was found that the majority of those over 15 years of age could neither write nor read Spanish. This and the seclusion are two main reasons why the dialect has been preserved. During the Second World War, Venezuela also declared war on Germany; as a result, German classes in Colonia Tovar were banned. By connecting the colony to the rest of the state, the influence of Spanish on the Tovars became even stronger. Since then, attempts have always been made to use German as the language of instruction, but until now the state has not given schools permission for bilingual instruction or German as the first foreign language. Only private tutors are allowed to teach both dialect and standard German.
If the lack of school education with the lack of Spanish was a reason why the dialect was retained, the system now in Spanish is largely responsible for the loss of the dialect.
literature
- Da Rin, Denise: The German language in the Colonia Tovar (Venezuela) - A sociolinguistic investigation. Munich 1995.
- Hernandez, Marlene Elanco: Introducción al analisis gramatical del Alemán de la Colonia Tovar. Universidad Central de Venezuela. Caracas 1987.
- Redlich Perkins, Renate: Tovar German. Linguistic study of a German century alemannic dialect spoken in Venezuela. University Microfilms International. Ann Arbor, Michigan, London 1978.
Web links
- Information about Colonia Tovar at www.margaritainfo.com
- Information about Colonia Tovar at www.venezuelatuya.com (English)
- Ethnologue.com about Alemán Coloniero (English)
- Official website of Colonia Tovar (Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ^ Ethnologue.com: German, Colonia Tovar. Retrieved November 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Abendblatt.de: Here the cuckoo clock calls in the rainforest. Retrieved November 10, 2018 .