Paraguayan Spanish

Set of dialects of Spanish of Paraguay

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Paraguayan Spanish

Español paraguayo
Pronunciation| [espaˈɲol paɾaˈɣwaʝo]
Native to| Paraguay

Native speakers

| 6 million (2014)[1]

Language family

Indo-European

* Italic
* Latino-Faliscan
* Romance
* Western
* Ibero-Romance
* West Iberian
* Castilian
* Spanish
* Paraguayan Spanish

Early forms

Old Latin

* Classical Latin
* Vulgar Latin
* Old Spanish
* Early Modern Spanish

Writing system

| Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Official status

Official language in

|  Paraguay
Regulated by| Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española
Language codes
ISO 639-1| `es`
ISO 639-2| `spa[2]`
ISO 639-3| –
Glottolog| None
IETF| `es-PY`
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Spanish language

A manuscript of the Cantar de mio Cid, 13th century

Overview

* Pronunciation
* stress
* Orthography
* Names

History

* Old
* Middle
* Influences

Grammar

* Determiners
* Nouns
* gender
* Pronouns
* personal
* object
* Adjectives
* Prepositions
* Verbs
* conjugation
* irregular verbs

Dialects

* Andalusian
* Andean
* Argentine
* Belizean
* Bolivian
* Canarian
* Caribbean
* Central American
* Chilean
* Colombian
* Costa Rican
* Cuban
* Dominican
* Ecuadorian
* Equatoguinean
* Guatemalan
* Honduran
* Mexican
* Murcian
* New Mexican
* Nicaraguan
* Paraguay
* Panamanian
* Peninsular
* Peruvian
* Philippine
* status
* Puerto Rican
* Rioplatense
* Saharan
* Salvadoran
* Standard
* Uruguayan
* Venezuelan

Dialectology

* Seseo
* Yeísmo
* Voseo
* Leísmo
* Loísmo

Interlanguages

* Llanito
* Jopara
* Judaeo-Spanish
* Portuñol
* Spanglish
* Castrapo
* Creoles
* Roquetas Pidgin
* Chavacano or Chabacano
* Palenquero or Palenque

Teaching

* Hispanism
* RAE
* Instituto Cervantes

* v
* t
* e

Paraguayan Spanish (Spanish: español paraguayo) is the set of dialects of the Spanish language spoken in Paraguay. In addition, it influences the speech of the Argentine provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, Formosa, and, to a lesser extent, Chaco. Paraguayan Spanish possesses marked characteristics of the Spanish previously spoken in northern Spain, because a majority of the first Spanish settlers were from Old Castile and the Basque Country. In addition, there is great influence, in both vocabulary and grammar, from the Guarani language. Guarani is co-official with Spanish in Paraguay,[3] and most Paraguayans speak both languages.[4] Guaraní is the home language of more than half the population of Paraguay, with higher proportions of its use in rural areas, and those who speak Spanish at home slightly in the majority in the cities.[5] In addition to the strong influence of Guarani, Paraguayan Spanish is also influenced by Rioplatense Spanish due to the geographical, historical, and cultural proximity, as well as the sharing of features such as voseo, which is "the use of vos as a second-person singular pronoun."[6] Paraguayan Spanish is notable for its lack of yeísmo, meaning that the phonemes /ʎ/ (spelled ⟨ll⟩) and /ʝ/ (spelled ⟨y⟩) are distinguished.

The Swedish linguist Bertil Malmberg visited Paraguay in 1946 and observed several features of Spanish pronunciation that he attributed to Guaraní influence.[7] The Guaraní origin of many of these features, however, has been questioned by other researchers, who document them in dialects not in contact with Guaraní.[8]

## Characteristics[edit]

### Overview[edit]

The unique features of Paraguayan Spanish developed in part due to Paraguay's early isolation; for example, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, the country's president until 1840, sealed Paraguay's borders. Other experiences with geographic, political, and economic isolation relative to its neighbours allowed Spanish spoken in Paraguay to develop its own unique characteristics, even apart from the wide-ranging influence of Guarani.[3]

Paraguay is, depending on the context, considered part of a region of South America known as the Southern Cone (Spanish: Cono Sur; Portuguese: Cone Sul). In its truest definition, the region consists of Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, but can be expanded to include Paraguay and some regions of Brazil (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo). Excluding Brazil (where Portuguese is spoken), all the countries in that region have many similarities in vocabulary. Paraguayan Spanish shares many similarities with River Plate Spanish (that is, the variety spoken in Argentina and Uruguay) such as the use of the voseo and various words and phrases.

* Like all American dialects of Spanish, Paraguayan Spanish has seseo, so that it lacks the distinction between /θ/ and /s/ that is present in Standard European Spanish.
* Syllable-final /ɾ/ is pronounced as [ɹ] (as in American English red) before /l/ or /s/, influenced by a substrate from Native American languages; perla ('pearl') and verso ("verse") are pronounced [ˈpeɹla] and [ˈbeɹso].
* Absence of yeísmo, the historical merger of the phoneme /ʎ/ (spelled ⟨ll⟩) with /ʝ/ (spelled ⟨y⟩). For speakers with yeísmo, the verbs cayó 's/he fell' and calló 's/he fell silent' are homophones, both pronounced [kaˈʝo]. (In dialects that lack yeísmo, maintaining the historical distinction, the two words are pronounced respectively [kaˈʝo] and [kaˈʎo].) Yeísmo characterizes the speech of most Spanish speakers both in Spain and in the Americas.

The pink areas are where Spanish speakers preserve the phoneme /ʎ/, represented by ⟨ll⟩.[image reference needed]

### Main characteristics[edit]

The regions in dark blue completely replace tú with vos. In the regions in lighter blue, tuteo and voseo occur simultaneously. In the regions in grey, only tuteo occurs.

* Absence of yeísmo, the pronunciation of the digraph ⟨ll⟩ as a palatal lateral approximant [ʎ] is different from that of the ⟨y⟩ that is articulated most of the time as an affricate [ɟʝ].
* Voseo: pronominal and verbal, identical to River Plate Spanish.
* Leísmo: when one uses le in the context of a direct object pronoun instead of the personal pronouns lo and la.
* Contains fewer pauses and less "musical" intonation than River Plate Spanish.
* Lexicon borrowed from Guarani, Lunfardo, and other European languages.

### Pronunciation[edit]

* The grouping "tr" is pronounced as a voiceless postalveolar affricate [tɹ̝̊], similar to the sound of the digraph ⟨ch⟩.
* Assibilation of the "r" to [ɹ̝].
* Wide diffusion of the labiodental [v] for [β].
* Word-final /n/ has alveolar articulation, not velar.
* Velar, rather than glottal realization of /x/.
* Hiatus conservation.
* Stable vowel system.
* Articulation of /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ as approximants not only in the intervocalic position but sometimes also in the initial position.
* Use of the alveolar approximant [ɹ] for the pre-consonantal and final "r," similar to the pronunciation in American English or Randstad Dutch. Example: firmar [fiɹˈmaɹ].

### Dynamics of Guarani-Spanish[edit]

Typical Paraguayan Spanish has a strong influence from the sentence structure of Guarani as translated to Spanish, as well as the words and borrowed particles of Guarani for colloquial expressions. These are some common cases:

* Guarani particles among Castilian words to emphasize expressions. Examples:
* -na ("por favor"). E.g.: Vamos na = Vamos por favor
* -pa, -pió, -piko, -ta (interrogative particle without translation). E.g.: ¿Para qué pa?, ¿Para qué pió? = ¿Para qué?
* -ko, -nio, -ngo (particle to emphasize something). E.g.: Ese ko es de ella.
* Words taken from Guarani for use in everyday Spanish. Examples:
* -gua'u (falsehood). E.g.: De gua'u nomás era = Era solo una mentira.
* ¡Mbore! (exclamation, rejecting something). Synonymous with: ¡Ni loco!
* ¡Kore!, ¡Nderakore! (exclamation, colloquially used for something terrible). Synonymous with: ¡Oh No!
* Sentences taken from Guarani translated partially or erroneously translated for use in everyday Spanish. Examples:
* "Se fue en Itauguá" (from the Guarani "oho Itauguápe", since the 'pe' is used interchangeably as 'a' or 'en')
* "Voy a venir" (literally from the Guarani "aháta aju", used as a synonym of "voy y vuelvo")
* "Vení un poco" (calque of the word "ejúmina" in Guarani)
* "Demasiado mucho calor hace" (calque of the word "hetaiterei" in Guarani)
* "Te dije luego" (from the Guarani "ha'e voi ningo ndéve", in which the "luego" emphasizes the previous action)
* "Me voy a ir ahora después" (calque of the Guarani sentence "aháta aga upéi", in which the "ahora" emphasizes when the action will take place)
* "Habló por mi" (literally from the Guarani "oñe'ẽ cherehe", used as a synonym of "habló de mi")
* Paraguayisms, words and sentences in Spanish, but influenced by Guarani. Examples:
* "Me hallo" ("hallar" is used as a synonym for "alegrar" instead of indicating the location situation)
* "Anda por su cabeza" (influenced by the Guarani "oiko iñakãre", which would be "hace lo que quiere, sin control, sin juicio")
* "Te voy a quitar una foto" ("quitar" is used as a synonym for "sacar" or "tomar" in the case of taking pictures)

The regions in green present post-vocalic aspiration of /s/; the regions in blue do not.

### Similarities with Rioplatense Spanish[edit]

Due to the geographical and cultural proximity of Paraguay and Argentina, the two countries' dialects are often confused. In fact, along the border between Argentina and Paraguay, the local dialects of both countries have fused, creating a northeastern Argentine variety very similar to Paraguayan Spanish in the provinces along the border.[9] Examples:

* Common use of the expression «che».
* Sporadic aspiration of /s/ in colloquial speech.
* Educated voseo and similar in conjugation.
* Shares part of the River Plate lexicon (e.g., some words in Lunfardo).

### Voseo[edit]

Voseo is a peculiar characteristic of Paraguayan Spanish which is heavily influenced by the River Plate dialect (since historically in Paraguay Guarani was always spoken, and Spanish was relegated to the inhabitants of the capital or the most favored classes in the interior of the country). Another characteristic of voseo is how long it has been around for. "Voseo is the oldest form of Castilian Spanish". After the second half of the 20th century, the teaching of voseo depended on whether the teacher used vos or not. Adding to the strong Argentinian influence, either by the media or by the geographical and cultural proximity, voseo stayed as a distinctive characteristic of Paraguayan. Although it is rarely taught in schools today, voseo is beginning to regain some popularity in the form of an accepted regional dialect.

## Dialects[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2023)

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### Andean Spanish[edit]

Main article: Andean Spanish

## See also[edit]

* Paraguay portal
* Language portal

* Paraguay–Spain relations
* Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española
* Jopará – a colloquial form of Guarani that uses a large number of Spanish loan words.
* Paraguayan Guaraní (dialect)
* Paraguayan Academy of Language
* Yopará

## References[edit]

1. ^ Spanish → Paraguay at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
3. ^ a b Simon Romero, "An Indigenous Language With Unique Staying Power", The New York Times, March 12, 2012
4. ^ William R. Long, "Native Guarani Vies with Spanish Paraguay's 2 Languages Source of Pride, Concern", Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1988
5. ^ J. K. Choi, 2005, "Bilingualism in Paraguay: Forty Years After Rubin's Study". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 26(3), 233-248, as cited by Sarah Gevene Hopton Tyler, 2010, "Intergenerational Linguistic Changes to the Spanish Dialect of Three Participant Groups from Greater Asunción (Paraguay)", M.A. thesis, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, p. 3.
6. ^ Gerardo, Kayser (2001). El dialecto rioplatense = The River Plate dialect. Buenos Aires: Editorial Dunken.
7. ^ Luis Flórez, review of Malmberg's Notas sobre la fonética del español en el Paraguay[permanent dead link] (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1947), in Thesaurus: Boletín del Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 6 (1950), 301.
8. ^ Paul Cassano, "The Substrate Theory in Relation to the Bilingualism of Paraguay: Problems and Findings", in Anthropological Linguistics, 15 (1973), 406-426, as cited in D. Lincoln Canfield, Spanish Pronunciation in the Americas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), p. 70.
9. ^ Barrenechea, Ana María. "Estudios lingüísticos y dialectológicos: Temas hispánicos". Hachette Universidad: 115–35.

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Dialects and varieties of Spanish by continent

Africa and Asia|

* Canarian
* Equatoguinean
* Philippine
* Saharan

Americas
(Pan-American)|

| Caribbean|

* Cuban
* Dominican
* Panamanian
* Puerto Rican
* Trinidadian

|

Central America|

* Belizean
* Costa Rican
* Guatemalan
* Honduran
* Nicaraguan
* Pachuco
* Salvadoran

North America|

* United States
* Caló (Chicano)
* Californian
* Isleño
* New Mexican
* Mexican
* Sabine River

South America|

* Amazonic
* Andean
* Bolivian
* Chilean
* Chilote
* Chiloé Archipelago
* Colombian
* Cordobés
* Central Argentina
* Cuyano
* Central western Argentina
* Ecuadorian
* Equatorial
* Coastal Ecuador
* Llanero
* Los Llanos Colombia/Venezuela
* Maracucho
* Zulia State
* Paisa
* Paisa Region
* Paraguayan
* Pastuso
* Colombia-Ecuador border
* Peruvian
* Ribereño
* Coastal Peru
* Rioplatense
* Coastal Argentina
* Uruguayan
* Venezuelan

Europe
(Peninsular)|

* Andalusian
* Canarian
* Castilian
* Castrapo (Galicia)
* Castúo (Extremadura)
* Murcian
* spoken by Catalan speakers

Other|

* Standard
* Llanito
* Judaeo-Spanish
* Haketia
* Tetuani Ladino
* Caló (Para-Romani)
* Spanglish
* Portuñol (mixed language)
* Palenquero (creole)
* Chavacano (creole)
* Media Lengua (mixed language)
* Papiamento (Portuguese-based creole with Spanish influence)

Extinct|

* Cocoliche and Lunfardo
* Coastal Argentina, Uruguay
* Malespín
* Central America
* Bozal

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* e

Languages of Paraguay

Official languages|

* Spanish
* Guaraní

Indigenous
languages|

| Guaicuruan|

* Toba Qom

|

Mascoian|

* Angaité
* Enlhet
* Enxet
* Kaskihá
* Sanapaná
* Toba-Maskoy

Matacoan|

* Iyo'wujwa Chorote
* Maka
* Nivaclé

Tupi–Guarani|

* Aché
* Ava Guarani
* Pai Tavytera

Zamucoan|

* Ayoreo
* Chamacoco

Other European languages|

* Portuguese
* German (Plautdietsch)
* Italian

Sign languages|

* Paraguayan Sign Language

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