Passage
(1) To this day, Paraguay remains the only country in the Americas where a majority of the population
speaks one indigenous language: Guarani. (2) It is taught in every school. (3) And in the streets, it is a
source of national pride. (4) Paraguay differs significantly even from other multilingual Latin American
nations like neighboring Bolivia, where a majority of the population is indigenous. (5) In Paraguay,
indigenous peoples account for less than 5 percent of the population. (6) Yet Guaraní is spoken by an
estimated 90 percent of Paraguayans. (7) Unlike Bolivia, which has many official languages, Paraguay has
only two.
(8) Linguists and historians say the complex reasons for the broad use of the indigenous language here
date to the earliest days of Spain's colonization in the sixteenth century. (9) The colonial system that forced
indigenous people to work for Europeans did not penetrate big parts of the territory that eventually became
Paraguay. (10) This helped sustain Guarani.
(11) Under General Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989, Guaraní thrived. (12) General
Stroessner, the son of a Bavarian immigrant father and Guaraní-speaking mother, made it a national
language and rewarded rural Guarani speakers with land for their loyalty. (13) Democratic rule was
established in the 1990s. (14) Then more steps were taken to strengthen Guarani. (15) But not everyone is
optimistic about Guarani's prospects, pointing to factors like the increasing migration of peasants from the
rural interior, where Guarani is often the dominant language, to cities, where Spanish holds more sway.
(16) Whether Guarani can continue to thrive, even survive, in a more urban society and an increasingly
connected world remains to be seen.
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