| Guarani | |
|---|---|
| Paraguayan Guarani | |
| avañeʼẽ | |
| Pronunciation | [ʔãʋãɲẽˈʔẽ] |
| Native to | Paraguay |
| Ethnicity | Guaraní Paraguayan people |
Native speakers | 6.5 million (2020)[1] |
| Dialects | |
| Guarani alphabet (Latin script) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Paraguay  Bolivia |
| Regulated by | Academia de la Lengua Guaraní (Guarani Ñeʼẽ Rerekuapavẽ) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | gn |
| ISO 639-2 | grn |
| ISO 639-3 | gug |
| Glottolog | para1311 |
| Linguasphere | 88-AAI-f |
 Guarani-speaking world[2] | |
Guarani (/ˌɡwɑːrəˈniː, ˈɡwɑːrəni/ GWAR-ə-NEE, GWAR-ə-nee),[3] specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani (avañeʼẽ [ʔãʋãɲẽˈʔẽ] "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani branch[4] of the Tupian language family. 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 are monolingual speakers of the language.[5][6]
Variants of the language are 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.[7][8] Guarani is also one of the three official languages of Mercosur, alongside Spanish and Portuguese.[9]
Guarani is the most widely spoken Native American language and remains commonly used among the Paraguayan people and neighboring communities. This is unique among American languages; language shift towards European colonial languages (in this case, the other official language of Spanish) has otherwise been a nearly universal phenomenon in the Western Hemisphere, but Paraguayans have maintained their traditional language while also adopting Spanish.
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/Thesaurus of the Guarani Language)[a], described it as a language "so copious and elegant that it can compete with the most famous [of languages]".[10]
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.
- ^ Guarani at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
- ^ Muturzikin (2008). "Paraguai". muturzikin.com.
- ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
- ^ Britton, A. Scott (2004). Guaraní-English/English-Guaraní Concise Dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books.
- ^ Mortimer, K (2006). "Guaraní Académico or Jopará? Educator Perspectives and Ideological Debate in Paraguayan Bilingual Education". Working Papers in Educational Linguistics. 21 (2): 45–71.
- ^ Romero, Simon (12 March 2012). "In Paraguay, Indigenous Language With Unique Staying Power". The New York Times. Asunción. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012.
- ^ "Ley Provincial Nº 5.598, que establece el guaraní como 'idioma oficial alternativo' de Corrientes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
- ^ "Antecedentes sobre la población nativa de las Américas". Centro de Documentación Mapuche (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 October 2005.
- ^ "Incorporación del Guaraní como Idioma del Mercosur". MERCOSUR official page (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 December 2013.
- ^ Montoya, Antonio Ruiz de. Tesoro de la lengua guaraní. A LOS PADRES RELIGIOSOS "Dió finalmente fin a eſte trabajo el tiempo de treinta años que he gaſtado entre Gentiles, y con eficaz eſtudio raſtreado lengua tan copioſa, y elegante, que con razon puede competir con las de fama."
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