The Relationship Between Paraguay Nationalism and Guarani Language - Essay Example

The Relationship Between Paraguay Nationalism and Guarani Language Introduction Paraguay is a country with a population with a population of about four million people and it is ethnologically unique. In the Latin America nations, there is no other country that has retained the language of the pre-Columbian dwellers apart from the nation of Paraguay. In the Western Hemisphere there is no other country that has managed to have an aboriginal language that has been maintained on equal footing, other the nation that conquered it and has avoided the tensions that might arise when there are contacts like Paraguay. However, Paraguay is situated in the most rural area in the Southern America it was the first nation to understand the nationalism. The country seemed to understand the idea of nationalism being among the first in West collectively. Apart from the nationalism, the country was long ago associated with industrialization, urbanization and modernization due to proper understanding of nationalism at an earlier stage. At the beginning of times in Paraguay, there was widespread racial mixing and contact with limited immigration trends, political isolation and geographic trends that produced a remarkable homogeneous population. These factors prevented the creation of the society that is stratified or the rise of the Spanish-speaking group. Geography and race together with the history repeatedly led to growth of the ethnic and language identity aspects to the foreground of the political life of the nation fostering and fueling the sense of distinctiveness that has not abated at backyard and intrigued and attracted the scholars from abroad. The Paraguay’s identification within its territorial integrity and linguistic patrimony is not recent. The background of the identification dates back to the countrys quest for its independence and the self-governance thereafter. This aspect was intensified by the onslaughts that suffered at the time of the War of the Chaco and the Triple Alliance that brought an abiding appreciation and espousal of its distinctive language and heritage. This allegiance culminated in the year of 1967 when Guarani was then declared the national language of Paraguay. Since then Joan Rubin the time when he did the pioneering work it has been assumed that Paraguay is the most bilingual nation in the world and by far its bilingualism is non-volatile rather than a shifting one (Ethnicity and Nationalism (second edition), 2010). The concomitant with the above phenomenon the two languages are supposed to be predominantly infused with positive effect. The Guarani language is considered to be linked with solidarity, intimacy, and ethnic pride, but the Spanish is accorded to be more cultural, formal and with instrumental value. The persistence of Guarani is opposite to the belief, not predominantly or even primarily from the influence of the Jesuits of Paraguay. Guarani was the language that was spoken mission territories; the language has its roots outside the reductions of the Jesuits. The studies have shown that Guarani has been the language that has been in use in Paraguay since the colonial period both outside and inside the reductions. After the expulsion of Jesuits in the eighteenth century, the residents of the reductions migrated from west and north towards Asuncion. The shift resulted in a decidedly one-sided move from Jesuits dialect, which was curated by the missionaries in the eastern and southern territories of the colony. By greater margin, Guarani of Jesuits never mixed with the foreign phonological loans from the Spanish dialect. The missionaries used the agglutinative nature of the Guarani language and formulated the calque terms out of the native morphemes. The process resulted in Jesuits using complicated and highly synthetic means to deliver the western concepts. The Guarani language that was spoken outside the missions was characterized by unregulated, free flow of Hispanic; frequently the Spanish phrases and words were incorporated into Guarani with less phonological adaptation. Guarani is entirely indigenous to the South American people (Fogelquist, 2010). Paraguay was one of the nations that attained their independence from the Spanish. Paraguay fought less to get independence from Spain they just let the Platenses does it; they remained united by their language. Since independence, the country has remained solitary being united by the Guarani language. Literature Review Many studies have been done to establish the reason as to why Paraguay has had an intense nationalism and its relationship to the indigenous language Guarani. There was a study that was done in 1982 were the samples of populations were a sample to study the language they use. The study targeted the young and educated since it was expected that this group represented the category that could have been destined to initiate change to the society and adopt the foreign cultures. The results of the study were giving unexpected outcomes (Hall, 2009). There was an assumption that the older people who were well versed in the indigenous language had no greater influence on the young group. The result was a challenge to the studies that had been done earlier on the subject. The study showed that the country has a three-dimensional process of language. The derivation has been gotten from the studies that have been carried out have showed that the Guarani/ Spanish bilingualism is the most stable and extensive language in America that has withstood the pressures of the modernization (Schmidt & Vassolo, 2011). The stability of the nation has been associated with the indigenous language that the country has been given the equal footing with the national language or official language with the same prestige. The countrys nationalism grew immensely as the country was united by the mother tongue. The Guarani has been the unifying factor to Guarani people in Paraguay. The local language has been familiar to many citizens in Paraguay even the Spanish speaking group knows some Guarani language. The language gives the Paraguayans their sense of belonging to their country (Fogelquist, 2010). It has been used as their identity and has fostered the country’s growth in various dimensions. The Europeans who have migrated to Paraguay also prefer using Guarani language as they speak. The language has played a great role in unifying the nation. The language is taught in both social and informal situations such as schools where it is a subject offered. The fact that Guarani is mother tongue brought a greater impact in bringing unity and patriotism to people of Paraguay (Huner & Chasteen, 2011). A negligible percentage of inhabitants of Paraguay are unable to speak Guarani language. All the native populations speak Guarani while the bilingual Paraguayans speak mixed dialect, which has Guarani in it. In the mixed language, many of the words are borrowed from Guarani. The common language has given the nation an identity, citizens have the instinct towards one another and the brotherhood and love for the country is quite immense. Paraguay remains to be the only country in America where the great number of people speaks an indigenous language, the Guarani. It is in their constitution that Guarani is given equal footing as the conquest European language, the Spanish. People of different ancestors and of mixed traditions speak the Guarani language. The available data from the Census indicates that the Paraguayan style is three-dimensional. The examination of language distribution in Paraguay was examined from the years of 1950s; it showed that the Guarani speaking monolingual were as many as the bilingual speaking groups. Over the censuses of 1950 to 1982, the data of the Guarani speaking groups was tying with the bilingual speakers. The stable monolingual of the Spanish-speaking group were very insignificant compared to the monolingual speakers of the Guarani (Ito, 2012). From that data, it was concluded in years before the study that Paraguay was not a bilingual nation. This above was reached as fewer than half of the population was bilingual. Another research was done when age groups were considered which found that there were two standout deductions. First, the category of the group of the preschoolers had the majority being raised monolingually where they were using Guarani (Robert Andrew Nickson, 2010). The second deduction showed that the Guarani monolingualism was decreasing in school going ages and the working groups. The latter gave way for the bilingualism rather than the Spanish monolingualism. The study found that there was another increase in the Guarani monolingualism as the age advances. The Guarani monolingualism was found to be maximum in the senior category; this suggested that Paraguay was a monolingual nation rather than the bilingualism. Though there has been great progressive hispanization in Paraguay, the Guarani language has proved to resist the pressures exerted by the foreign language. The earlier researchers have shown that since 1950s the Guarani language has been prevalent and normative (Tonhauser, 2011). The rate of bilingualism was more in the working category compared to the scholars. Records show that there is no published data about the migration of the people in Paraguay or in Asuncion. A study that was carried out showed that more than four-fifths informants were born in Asuncion where less than a third of the grandparents were born in the capital and the half of their parents were also born in capital. Another study that was done where it used the informants, they claimed that the Spanish language was their mother tongue. In that study, six percent were Guarani speaking, and the twelve percent use both words (Sarreal, 2014). The most significant source of Guarani to the children is from the parents. In the study, the people who were contacted live in the areas where both languages are spoken at equal frequencies. This fact never contributed greatly to the exchange of the words as the children were interacting with schools and another social gathering. The Guarani acquisition occurs most at the stage of puberty and childhood. The acquisition is less likely to occur in the infancy stage and hardly occurs at adolescence stage. The mastery of Guarani in the sub-population is rare. The records show that the inter-generational language in the Paraguayans indicates that more half of the parents are bilinguals. The Guarani is highly dominated in the grandparent category and about a one-fourth of the Spanish are the young generation. Many females are more fluent in Spanish than the males in the country. There is an assumption that the Guarani language is associated with the masculinity as compared to the female counterparts. Most informants who are the Spanish speakers are the Asuncion. Many of the people who were conducted in the study indicated that the Guarani language that they learned was acquired from their parents. Guarani is much concentrated to the older category and less to the younger group. Guarani language has spread to all the ages though there were earlier suggestions that the wording was for the older (Schmidt & Vassolo, 2011). The other study showed the Guarani language is evenly spread to all ages with the regard to the social status of the individual. Again there was large assumption that the Guarani language was tied to the lower educational but this notion was proved wrong. Data This study showed that the Guarani language is used in almost all over the country. The word is told in the learning institutions and is not many people are proficient in it. The Spanish monolingual speaking groups are less than fifty percent of the total population during the bilingual Spanish- Guarani speakers from an over forty-seven percent. The school going age are found to have enough proficiency in Guarani and have a good Spanish language skills. The Guarani language is used as a national language and has same footing to the Spanish language that is used as the official language of the nation. The study showed that the Guarani language has more intimate perspective associated with it as compared to the Spanish language that is viewed as just official. The records have it that Guarani language has stood up strongly resisting all the pressures that were posed by the Spanish language. The language has some unifying factor that brought the Brotherhood into the population (Ito, 2012). Guarani is showed as the most appropriate language compared as the Spanish. The Guarani has been depicted as sweet, poetic, subtle and soft. The Guarani language has no evidence of the exhibiting ethnic characteristics. The Guarani language is understood to be more predominant with men compared to the female counterparts. Where there is the choice of language people, typically choose to use Guarani in preference to Spanish. There is always some discomfort in areas where there use of Spanish in rural areas where there are Guarani monolingual. Though there are some embarrassment informal settings where people use the Guarani language, there is always a sense of good feeling when people switch codes as they talk. The bilingualism is quite common in Paraguay, but the Guarani dialect brings a lot of sense of belonging to the nation. The Guarani speaking society has exhibited substantial unity, and they have great power. They have great oneness. Analysis The studies have shown that the Guarani language have been a unifying factor. The Guarani language is used in many areas of Paraguay even in some offices. The language has played a significant role in bringing nationalism in the nation. Many people speak Guarani language, and it has brought a patriotic sense to citizens of Paraguay. The old age category has been associated with Guarani language, and they have used it to unify people and brought a lot of nationalisms. Guarani has been the most spoken indigenous language that is used in Southern America. There have been no ethnic influences that have been associated with the Guaraní language. The nationalism of the country has great roots in the Guarani language and has significantly brought people together for the common goal. Many people view the Guarani language as the prestigious language as it promotes unity and nationalism to the country (Tonhauser, 2008). There has been culturally and intellectually uniting people of Paraguay. The Guarani speakers are known to be fair, brave, tolerant, generous and hardworking. The Guarani language has been there for a long time and has given the Paraguayans their identity and they are so patriotic due to their brotherhood. The Guarani language was used by the grandparents in Paraguay and has remained to be popular among all the Paraguayans. Many modern families have raised their kids and taught them the Guarani language that has influenced them to acknowledge. The Guarani has been fostering unity and nationalism among generations in Paraguay. Conclusion Guarani language has directly impacted in bringing the nationalism in Paraguay where the language has remained in use for many since the time of struggle for independence. Many people have the proficiency of the language across the country, which has made the language to serve as a unifying factor in the country. The immigrants have also learned some Guarani language that they use to communicate with the indigenous who do not understand the foreign Spanish. This aspect has given the country an intense nationalism that is based on the Guarani language. Guarani is used in all places even the urban areas where the people. The school is going age also use the Guarani language in communication, which has fostered a great sense of brotherhood that resulted in enormous patriotic feeling by the citizens. References Cerno, L. (2010). Spanish articles in Correntinean Guarani­: a comparison with Paraguayan Guarani­. STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 63(1). Cerno, L. (2010). Spanish articles in Correntinean Guarani­: a comparison with Paraguayan Guarani­. STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 63(1). Ethnicity and Nationalism (second edition). (2010). Nations and Nationalism, 9(4), 623-624. Fogelquist, D. (2010). The Bilingualism of Paraguay. Hispania, 33(1), 23. Hall, P. (2009). Nationalism and Historicity. Nations and Nationalism, 3(1), 3-23. Huner, M., & Chasteen, J. (2011). Sacred cause, divine republic. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ito, H. (2012). With Spanish, Guarani lives: a sociolinguistic analysis of bilingual education in Paraguay. Multilingual Education, 2(1), 6. Robert Andrew Nickson, (2010). Governance and the Revitalization of the Guarani­ Language in Paraguay. Latin American Research Review, 44(3), 3-26. Sarreal, J. (2014). Caciques as Placeholders in the Guarani Missions of Eighteenth Century Paraguay. Colonial Latin American Review, 23(2), 224-251. Schmidt, G., & Vassolo, S. (2011). Untersuchungen zu einem der graten Grundwasservorkommen Sadamerikas: Der Guarani­-Aquifer in Paraguay. Grundwasser, 16(3), 187-194. Tonhauser, J. (2008). Nominal Tense? The Meaning of Guarani­ Nominal Temporal Markers. Language, 83(4), 831-869. Tonhauser, J. (2011). Temporal reference in Paraguayan Guarani­, a tenseless language. Linguistics and Philosophy, 34(3), 257-303. Appendix Figure 1: A teacher is teaching Guarani in an elementary school. Retrieved from Figure 2: Singers performing music in typical Guarani language. Retrieved from Read More