Afro-Paraguayan Spanish: The Negation of Non-Existence

Introduction One of the most interesting chapters in the history of the Spanish and Portuguese languages throughout the world is the African contribution. There exists a tantalizing corpus of literary, folkloric and anecdotal testimony on the earlier speech patterns of Africans and their descendents, in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. In the nearly 500 years of Afro-Hispanic literary imitations, there has been a cyclic pattern, oscillating between reasonably accurate linguistic imitations (although riddled with cultural stereotypes and vicious word-play) and totally fanciful formulaic representations, perhaps based on some earlier legitimate Afro-Hispanic speech, but out of touch with the reality of the time. The one common thread running through such second-hand accounts is a tone of reproach and ridicule, based on the tacitly or explicitly asserted notion that Africans and their descendents in the Americas spoke "broken" and "incorrect" Spanish. Afro-descendents were denied even the legitimacy of their own native language(s), which were always judged from the standpoint of those wielding power, and which became shibboleth-ridden badges of ignorance and marginality. In 21st century Latin America, as Afro-descendents intensify their continent-wide activism, demanding the rights and recognition witheld from them since the time of the slave ships, cultural symbols of Afro-descendents are undergoing major iconic reversals. Beginning with the legitimization of artistic expressions such as music and dance, and extending to traditional medicinal and religious practices, the reaffirmation of elements cultural elements once ignored or felt to be demeaning is now extending to language. The present study describes some small Afro-descendent communities that have not previously been the subject of linguistic analysis, with an eye toward the search for authentic emblems of cultural identity in the midst of multi-secular social invisibility. Paraguay is one of the least likely places in Latin America to search for remnants of Afro-Hispanic language and culture, and many researchers have taken at face value the many quasi-official pronouncements to the effect that there are no Black people in Paraguay, and have looked no further. Although the history of Black people in colonial Paraguay has been widely discussed, mention of contemporary Afro-Paraguayan communities is usually based on second-hand sources, often with misleading or even erroneous references. The reasons for these lacunae are not hard to fathom. Landlocked Paraguay has never gone out of its way to welcome foreign visitors, beginning with the hermetic Francia dictatorship in the first decades following independence (1812), passing through the devastating Triple Alianza (1864-1870) and Chaco (1932-1935) wars that destroyed more than half of the male population and left the country devastated, and culminating in the decades of the Stroessner dictatorship (1954-1989), in which tourism was discouraged. Paraguay is best known as the only Latin American nation in which all citizens, including those of European and Asian origin, acquire the indigenous language Guarani natively, usually in preference to and even at the expense of Spanish. Afro-descendents in Paraguay: Past and Present Despite the scarce mention of African presence in Paraguay, either during the colonial period or at the present time, the Black presence has at times been considerable, but the linguistic and cultural imprint of Africans and their descendents in Paraguay is a virtually untouched area of inquiry. Colonial Paraguay imported few enslaved Africans, due to the unique conditions of this colony, and those who did arrive more frequently came from Buenos Aires or Brazil than directly from Africa. (i) An estimate of the population in 1682 suggested some 6% of the total population was Black, with the proportion rising to 11% in Asuncion (Arguello Martinez 1999:69; Pla 1972; Boccia Romanach 2004; Williams 1974). …