Pomerode is a Brazilian city in the state of Santa Catarina, in Southern Brazil. It is located in the valley of the Itajaí-Açu river, not very far from the city of Blumenau, one of the largest cities in the state.
Pomerode is known as the most German city in Brazil, because the vast majority of its inhabitants are of German descent and are bilingual in German and Portuguese.
Pomerode was founded by Pomeranian Germans in 1861 and is considered the "most typically German of all German towns of southern Brazil".
One very remarkable characteristic about Pomerode is the fact that Pommersch is still being preserved by the majority of the local population.
In Pomerode, as in some other localities in southern Brazil (Santa Maria de Jetibá, Espírito Santo, among them), the German language is not a foreign language, but a Brazilian linguistic regionalism.
For a good part of the 20th century, the Brazilian government did not encourage people to speak the German language. As a matter of fact, at times it was actively repressed and prohibited, like during Getúlio Vargas's presidency. Today on the other hand the German language is part of the curriculum in local schools and strongly encouraged by the local governments throughout southern Brazil.
If Pomeranian (i.e. Pommersch, not to be confused with Slavic Kashubian which is in English also called Pomeranian) is spoken by most town inhabitants of Pomerode (alongside Portuguese), most German-Brazilians who are bilingual speak the Riograndenser Hunsrückisch or Hunsrückisch German dialect.
The town government uses "Pomeroy" as the English translation of the town's name on its website, despite being etymologically incorrect.
Candidates for the forthcoming elections to a seat at the the City Council and Town Hall do better to convince the electorate if they can speak the local dialect.
The local Zoo is also an attraction in itself.
Source: Wikipedia
É na língua que se carrega a cultura e a tradição de um povo. A força dela se mostra ao longo do tempo em sua capacidade de preservação e uso. A identidade está na língua (Camus, o escritor e filósofo algeriano falou assim, "A língua francesa é a minha pátria"). A língua define o local onde se vive e fundamenta os costumes, moral e pensamento. Adorei a matéria!
ReplyDeleteÉ isso aí! Boa observação! Obrigada pela comentário.
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