Paraguayan Bilingualism: a Case Study of Phonological Adaptation

Authors

Curtis W. Snyder, Brigham Young University
Dr. Willis Fails, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Paraguayan, bilingualism, phonological adaptation, second language

College

Humanities

Department

Spanish and Portuguese

Abstract

With the Paraguayan constitution of 1992, Guaraní gained a particularly interesting status as it became recognized by the government as the “national” language of Paraguay with Spanish being the “official” language. Although not all people in Paraguay speak Guaraní, the overwhelming majority do. Figure one illustrates the percentages of people that belong to the different linguistic communities of Paraguay. If we add the Bilingual Spanish and the Monolingual Guaraní sections we see that 92% of Paraguayans can speak Guaraní, either as a native or second language. The percentage of the total population included in this group is astonishing and definitely illustrates the strong presence of the Guaraní Speakers in the linguistic communities of this area.

Recommended Citation

Snyder, Curtis W. and Fails, Dr. Willis (2013) "Paraguayan Bilingualism: a Case Study of Phonological Adaptation," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 968.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/968