Los migrantes paraguayos y la lengua guaraní

Abstract

From its very beginning, Paraguay has been a linguistic melting pot. Besides its two official  languages – Guaraní and Spanish – there are 19 aboriginal communities that use their own  native language, as well as a variety of immigrant groups that keep their language alive.  Guaraní has always been – until now – the communication means of the majority; however,  both the State and the general society have underestimated it. At this moment, nearly 90%  of the Paraguayan population speaks Guaraní, and 70% speaks Spanish. The Guaraní language  is the most vigorous of the American continent. It is the official language of Paraguay; it is  spoken by the creole population in all the Paraguayan territory; it is also one of the languages  of MERCOSUR and one of the working languages of PARLASUR. Nowadays, Guaraní is spoken  by more than 5 million people inside the Paraguayan territory and the same quantity abroad,  especially in MERCOSUR countries. As normally happens in every migration process, Paraguayan  people that leave their country to live abroad take their language with them. This happens, for  example, with the compatriots that migrate to São Paulo; they keep on speaking the language  that was transmitted by their parents at home: Guaraní. Nevertheless, between Paraguayan  immigrants – as it happens inside the Paraguayan society – a very dangerous phenomenon  threatens the future of the Guaraní language: the generation gap. The transmission of the  language from parent to child is a required condition for the longevity of a language. In the  past few years there have been some very significant advances in the management of the  Paraguayan languages. With the spread of the new linguistic policies and the actions that  follow them, we can foresee the safety of the well-named “Paraguayan linguistic garden”.