Guarani is a Paraguayan language with a unique status among indigenous languages in that, far from being moribund, it has been widely adopted by the nonindigenous population. The present volume introduces Guarani into current linguistic research, presenting the language to those unfamiliar with it and at the same time engaging in a dialogue with recent work in the field of theoretical linguistics and sociolinguistics.
Modern Guarani can barely be discussed in isolation from Spanish. Guaraniete, the variety of Guarani with minimal borrowing from Spanish, is used only in writing or when explicitly elicited. Much more common is Jopara, which, as Andrew Steward argues in his chapter, is better described as a phenomenon of an ad hoc language mixing with Spanish rather than a stable variety. This book provides analyses of both Guaraniete and Jopara, as well as some other varieties, along with historical and linguistic analyses of contact between Spanish and Guarani and mixing of the different varieties.
The reader is left with a thorough understanding of how Paraguayan Guarani emerged from the precolonial dialects and continued to be spoken in the colonial context, even though indigenous languages of other regions became moribund or even extinct. The special situation of Guarani is explained, in the chapter by Jorge Gómez Rendón, by the patterns of European immigration and settlement, the contribution of Jesuit missionaries to the survival of the language, and the role Guarani played as a distinguishing factor of Paraguayan identity, which was especially relevant during the Paraguayan war. The social importance of Guarani is reflected in the language itself, and this is particularly visible in Cerno's comparison of Paraguayan Guarani with the variety spoken in the neighbouring Argentinian province of Corrientes that displays a different pattern of Spanish borrowings. The discussion of the sociohistorical background is used as a basis for linguistic analysis and its relevance is seen, for example, in Justin Pinta & Jennifer L. Smith's analysis of lexical borrowing. Their chapter provides a solid explanation of why some Spanish words were fully adapted into the Guarani phonology, some partially adapted, and some were integrated without any modification.
The data presented is collected from a variety of sources. Not only academic works and grammars are used, but also Guarani language literature, an instruction book for bilingual schools, previously unpublished data from interviews, and internet platforms and social media. Especially the latter reflects the vibrant nature of this indigenous language and shows the adaptation of Guarani into the modern world. Multiple contributions to this volume also discuss issues that arise during data collection, such as variable acceptability judgments among speakers that are often encountered in linguistic fieldwork.
Although the book is, at the moment, one of a kind, there is no intention for it to stay this way. It is explicitly meant as an invitation to future research, as it frequently highlights the areas where research into Guarani is most lacking and necessary. It serves as a compelling introduction to what will hopefully be a prolific scientific field, the linguistic study of Guarani.
