English

Guaraní Concise Dictionary

Guaraní, Avañe’ẽ to its speakers, is the language of over four million people in Paraguay and maintains an official status with Spanish in that country. Paraguayans commonly cite the Guaraní language as the cultural aspect that defines them. Paraguayan soldiers were banned from using Spanish in battle during the Chaco War with Bolivia (1932-35), and speaking Guaraní may have been the factor that won the war for Paraguay. In a move unprecedented throughout the Americas, the people of Paraguay decided in 1943 to honor their indigenous heritage by naming the country’s monetary unit the “Guaraní.” Guaraní is a member of the Tupi-Guaraní family, Tupian linguistic stock. When the Spanish arrived in the New World in the sixteenth century, they found Guaraní spoken from eastern Paraguay to what is now the city of Asunción; Tupi, a sister language to Guaraní, was spoken in Brazil, though it is now extinct. The survival (and extant flourishing) of Guaraní over Tupi is unusual, but explainable—Guaraní today is a product of isolated cultivation and mutual cooperation. Paraguay maintained a considerable degree of isolation in its first three hundred years. As a Spanish colony with no seacoast a

Sign in with your free account to read, download EPUBs or listen.