Guarani

## Overview

**Guarani** specifically the primary variety known as **Paraguayan Guarani**, is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay (along with Spanish), where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and where half of the rural population is monolingual. It is spoken by communities in neighboring countries, including parts of northeastern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil, and is a second official language of the Argentine province of Corrientes since 2004; it is also an official language of Mercosur.

Guarani is one of the most-widely spoken indigenous languages of the Americas and the only one whose speakers include a large proportion of non-indigenous people. This is an interesting anomaly in the Americas, where language shift towards European colonial languages (in this case, the other official language of Spanish) has otherwise been a nearly universal cultural and identity marker of mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and Amerindian ancestry), and also of culturally assimilated, upwardly mobile Amerindian people.

Jesuit priest Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, who in 1639 published the first written grammar of Guarani in a book called *Tesoro de la lengua guaraní* (Treasure of the Guarani Language), described it as a language "so copious and elegant that it can compete with the most famous [of languages]".

The name "Guarani" is generally used for the official language of Paraguay. However, this is part of a dialect chain, most of whose components are also often called Guarani.

## History

The persistence of Guarani is, contrary to popular belief, not exclusively, or even primarily, due to the influence of the Jesuits in Paraguay. While Guarani was the only language spoken in the expansive missionary territories, Paraguayan Guarani has its roots outside of the Jesuit reductions.

Modern scholarship has shown that Guarani was always the primary language of colonial Paraguay, both inside and outside the reductions. Following the expulsion of the Jesuits in the 18th century, the residents of the reductions gradually migrated north and west towards Asunción, a demographic shift that brought about a decidedly one-sided shift away from the Jesuit dialect that the missionaries had curated in the southern and eastern territories of the colony.

By and large, the Guarani of the Jesuits shied away from direct phonological loans from Spanish. Instead, the missionaries relied on the agglutinative nature of the language to formulate calque terms from native morphemes. This process often led the Jesuits to employ complicated, highly synthetic terms to convey Western concepts. By contrast, the Guarani spoken outside of the missions was characterized by a free, unregulated flow of Hispanicisms; frequently, Spanish words and phrases were simply incorporated into Guarani with minimal phonological adaptation.

A good example of this phenomenon is found in the word "communion". The Jesuits, using their agglutinative strategy, rendered this word "Tupârahava", a calque based on the word "Tupâ", meaning God. In modern Paraguayan Guarani, the same word is rendered "komuño".

Following the out-migration from the reductions, these two distinct dialects of Guarani came into extensive contact for the first time. The vast majority of speakers abandoned the less-colloquial, highly regulated Jesuit variant in favor of the variety that evolved from actual language usage by speakers in Paraguay. This contemporary form of spoken Guaraní is known as Jopará.

## Guarani excerpt from Wikipedia article "Paraguái"

Kalo III omoheñóikuri Río de la Plata Virreirenda 1776-pe ha oheja ipoguýpe Argentina, Uruguái, Río Grande ha Santa Catarina, Brasil, upéicha avei, Paraguái, Bolivia ha Chile yvy ag̃agua yvateguáva. Ojehúvo upe mba’e, Paraguái opytákuri Río de la Plata Virreirenda poguýpe ha ojehekýi Peru Virreirendágui. Pe virreirenda pyahu tavaguasurã ojeporavókuri táva Buenos Aires-pe.

1806 ha 1807-pe Inglaterra-ygua ojeity Rio de la Pláta Virreirenda ári ha oñemomba’e umi yvy oĩva Arasẽ gotyo ha Buenos Aires yvypehẽ kakuaáre. Upérõ, Paraguái ha Córdoba-gui ohua’ĩ hikuái heta ñorãirõhára oipytyvõva’ekue Inglatera-ygua ñemosẽme.

1810-pe, oñemboajévo Buenos Aires Aty Peteĩha isãsombyréva, Paraguay Motenondehára: Bernardo de Velasco, orahauka petei jehaipyre Buenos Aires-pe oikuaaukahápe chupekuéra Paraguái Yvypehẽ ojehekyi ha oñemosãsoha Rio de la Plata Virreirendágui. Upérõ Velasco ha iñirũnguéra -ára 24 jasypoteĩ ary 1810-pe- avei omboaje peteĩ Aty ha omoĩ hikuái Paraguái Yvypehẽ España poguýpe, Fernando VII omoakãva upérõ.

1811-pe, Mburuvichapavẽ Manuel Belgrano ha iñorairõharakuéra ou Buenos Aires-gui omosãsóvo Paraguáy Yvypehẽ España poguýgui. Upérõ ha’ekuéra oñorãirõ mbarete Takuary (9 jasyapy 1811) ha Paraguarípe oñemotenondehaguépe hesekuéra España rérape oñorairõva.

Hasypeve, 14 jasypo 1811 jave iñapysẽ pe ñemongu’e guasu omoakãva Pedro Juan Caballero ha omosãsova’ekue Paraguáype España poguýgui. Velasco, Juan Valeriano Zaballos, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia ha Fulgencio Yegros ojepytaso hikuái Pedro Juan Caballero ndive. Péicha, 15 jasypo arako’ẽme Paraguay hekove sãso, opáy, opu’ã ha oguata ijehegui ha ojehekýi España poguýgui. Velasco oñemboykékuri peteĩ jasy ohasa mboyve. 17 jasypoteĩ 1811-pe, peteĩ amandaje oiporavókuri peteĩ Aty Sãmbyhyrã, omoakãva Fulgencio Yegros. Pe Tetãygua Amandaje Mokõiha oñembyatýkuri 30 jasyporundy 1813 guive 12 jasypa 1813 peve. Upérõ ojeporavókuri peteĩ ñesãmbyhy pyahu hérava Tetãrerekuára ha omoakãva Fulgencio Yegros ha José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia; ha avei ojeporavo ñe’ẽ Tetã omyengoviáva ñe’ẽ Yvypehẽme. Pe Amandaje ijatyva’ekue 3 jasypa 1814-pe ojapókuri José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia-gui Paraguáy Retã Ruvicha Pu’aka’apyra’ỹva.

24 ary pukukue javeve José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia oisãmbyhy Paraguái. Ha’e ombotyvoi ko ñane retã opavave pytagua resa renondégui. Upevakuére avei opaite ñane retãygua remikotevẽ oñemoheñói ñane retã ryepýpente. Oñembohetave ñemitỹ, mymba ñemoña ha mba'e'apo ogapypegua. Tetã oñemomba’e yvýre ha upéi omboja’o ha ome’ẽ yvyvore oñemba’apo hag̃ua ipype. 1844-pe, Carlos Antonio López -ha’eva’ekue tetãrerekuára- ojeporavo ñane retã ruvichárõ ha upekuévo oñemboaje avei peteĩ léi guasu, ha’éva peteĩha ñane retãme. Ha’e oisãmbyhýrõguare oipe’ajey ñane retã rokẽ pytaguakuérape; ombopyahu tekombo’e ohupytyva’erã opavavépe, ojehepyme’ẽ’ỹre; ha avei omoñepyrũ tape ha ogavusu apo.

Péicha, 1869 peve -umi ary pukukuépe- heñói, okakuaa ha imbarete Paraguái Retã mbohapy motenondehára (oñepehẽnguéva) rembiapo rupive. Umíva hína: Karai Guasu José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Carlos Antonio López, ha ita’ýra, Francisco Solano López.