in Espirito Santo, which accounts for 65% of the local population. All Talians adopted in the past Portuguese as their mother tongue. According to some estimates, there are up to one million Italian descendants; Ethnologue reported 4,000,000 Italian descendants in the year 2006, but these numbers do not reflect absolutely the number of Talian speakers. During the "Estado Novo" period of the government of Getúlio Vargas, the use of Talian was declared illegal. As a result of the traumas of Vargas' policies, there is, even to this day, a stigma attached to speaking these languages. In fact, the vast majority do not even understand Talian and the few people who understand a little bit of Talian have Portuguese as their mother tongue (the same thing happens with the Hunsrik language). In 2009, the legislative assemblies of the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina approved laws declaring the Talian dialect to be an integral part of the historical heritage of their respective states. In 2009, the city of Serafina Corrêa, in Rio Grande do Sul, elected Talian as co-official language, alongside Portuguese. Finally, in 2014 Talian was declared to be part of the cultural heritage of Brazil (Língua e referência cultural brasileira) by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage. Newspapers in the Talian-speaking region feature articles written in the language. There are some radio programs broadcast in Talian. Municipalities in Brazil that have co-official Talian language Antônio Prado, Rio Grande do Sul Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul Camargo, Rio Grande do Sul Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul Casca, Rio Grande do Sul Fagundes Varela, Rio Grande do Sul Farroupilha, Rio Grande do Sul Flores da Cunha, Rio Grande do Sul Garibaldi, Rio Grande do Sul Guabiju, Rio Grande do Sul Ipumirim, Santa Catarina Ivorá, Rio Grande do Sul Nova Bassano, Rio Grande do Sul Nova Erechim, Santa Catarina Nova Pádua, Rio Grande do Sul Nova Roma do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul Ouro, Santa Catarina Paraí, Rio Grande do Sul Pinto Bandeira, Rio Grande do Sul Serafina Corrêa, Rio Grande do Sul Vila Flores, Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian states with Talian as linguistic heritage officially approved statewide Rio Grande do Sul Santa Catarina See also Italian Brazilians Chipilo Venetian dialect Venetian language Languages of Brazil Languages of South America References External links YouTube video interview about Talian with Talian speaker from the