Paraguayan Attitudes toward Standard Guaraní and Spanish

Shaw Nicholas Gynan (Western Washington University, US)

Abstract

Discussed here are the results of a 2001 survey, part of an ongoing study of Paraguayan Guaraní-Spanish bilingualism. Several items emerged during focus groups that were related to the development of Standard Guaraní. Positive attitudes toward the standards of Paraguay's co-official languages are related to language pride and use. There is a widespread tendency to puristic norms, which conflicts with actually patterns of use. Despite the perceived gulf between the Guaraní standard and current norms of spoken language mixing, support for a clear standard is strong, especially among the young and speakers of Guaraní. Such remarkable consensus bodes well for the establishment of Standard Guaraní in the future.

 

0. Introduction

Despite the violent consequences of the European invasion to the population of the Americas, indigenous languages survive, but many have not fared particularly well. The half a millennium following the incursion has seen Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English develop into internationally important media of communication in culture, science, and politics, while American indigenous languages have been relatively neglected. Lacking widely used written norms, and with the oral register influenced by the politically and economically dominant tongues of the colonizers, American indigenous languages have gradually become hybridized and spoken norms fragmented. This linguistic degradation is symptomatic of the sociocultural upheaval suffered by all Native American communities since the discovery of the New World.

Even though sociolinguistic norms existed among the ethnolinguistic groups of the New World, standards for formal, written language were largely a European phenomenon. Standardization, while a hallmark of assimilation (Hamel 1995), is at the same time necessary if any indigenous language is to compete and grow functionally in the post-conquest context.

The case of Guaraní, an American indigenous language spoken in Paraguay, is unique. Crystal (1992: 165) has observed correctly that it is the only indigenous language spoken by a majority of citizens in an American country. To label Paraguayan Guaraní an indigenous language, however, is somewhat problematic, since the present-day variety is heavily influenced by Spanish (de Granda 1990, 1996; Melià 1992). Relatively recent efforts to strengthen Standard Paraguayan Guaraní are both frustrated and facilitated by that influence. In the present analysis, standardization of Guaraní is examined along historical and especially synchronic social psychological dimensions, in an effort to understand what the future of this special case of survival may be.

1. A Brief History of Standard Guaraní

Although the Franciscan monk, Luis Bolaños, documented the grammar of Guaraní in the late 1500s, the earliest surviving text is the Arte y bocabulario de la lengua guaraní by the Jesuit Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, published in 1640 Melià (1992) has documented the history of "Colonial Guaraní," the language of religious and literacy education of a mission population that reached nearly 150,000 for over 150 years.

The standard that emerged during that early stage of contact was already emblematic of the profound sociocultural and semantic changes that occurred in the subjugated indigenous community. All terminology that referred to non-Christian deities was expurgated or transformed. An interesting and frequently found example is the Tupasy Ykua, the "Spring of the Virgin." Tupasy is a Jesuit neologism coined to refer to the mother of Jesus. Tupa was the God of Thunder in pre-contact religious belief, and sy is the Guaraní word for 'mother.' In 1767, all Jesuits were expelled from the Americas, ending the nearly two century period during which written Standard Guaraní was actively cultivated.

Although some examples of 19th century writing in Guaraní survive, it was not until the Chaco war between Paraguay and Bolivia that Guaraní was strengthened as a symbol of national unity. Only in the 20th century did Standard Guaraní once again gain significant, institutional support. In 1944, the Ministry of Education and Religion adopted a Guaraní alphabet based on the principles of the International Phonetic Alphabet. The 1961 founding by Dr. Decoud Larrosa of the Guaraní Linguistic Institute of Paraguay marks the beginning of a new period of institutionalization of Standard Guaraní. In 1992, Guaraní was named a co-official language with Spanish in a new national constitution, where reference to a requirement to teach a standard form of the language is made.

The establishment of a standard has met with some resistance. Rural Paraguay, where Guaraní is heavily predominant (Gynan 2001), is a largely agrarian society where written Standard Guaraní is not needed. Instead, peasants have traditionally learned enough Spanish to communicate in urban areas. The National Bilingualism Commission was founded in 1994, but many rival groups exist, notably the Athenaeum of Guaraní Language and Culture and the Guaraní Linguistic Institute of Paraguay. While there are differences of opinion regarding orthography and loanwords, all language planning groups favor some level of maintenance of Guaraní.

2. An Ethnographic Approach to Attitude Surveys

This study is quantitative, based on the results of a 46-item questionnaire, the result of several years of research with focus groups and discussions with individuals, as well as previous attitudinal studies (Rona 1966, Rubin 1968, Paraguay MEC 1978, de Granda 1980-81, Corvalán 1985, Solé 1991, Gynan 1998a, Paraguay MEC 2001). The questionnaire items reduce to the extent possible the imposition of foreign linguistic ideologies on these Paraguayan representatives of opinions about Guaraní-Spanish bilingualism. The research questions explored have been introduced by Paraguayans, not the author, whose role has been merely to standardize observations and to conduct the survey and analysis.

The questionnaire provides a series of simple, affirmative statements to which the respondent responds using a seven-point scale (Likert 1932). Following the consensus methodology in opinion research, the option of "no opinion" is allowed along with a neutral rating between the negative and positive extremes of the scale. As well, subjects are requested to indicate the degree of truth or falsehood of a statement, thus avoiding the problematic affective dimension aroused by use of "disagree" or "agree."

The statements themselves, while edited for clarity and concision, are derived entirely from documents and interviews of Paraguayans. Parallel statements for Guaraní and Spanish were devised in those instances where an attitude toward only one of the language was expressed. The guiding criterion for inclusion of questionnaire items is that they be generated by Paraguayans. Therefore, the research questions presented above follow no theoretical agenda, but represent instead dimensions identified by native speakers of Guaraní and Spanish in Paraguay.

Even this method has provoked some controversy among certain Paraguayan educators. As an example, items were included to measure attitudes toward and use of code mixing (Muysken 2000), referred to in Paraguay by the Guaraní word jopara 'corn and beans,' or 'mixture.' One prominent Paraguayan educator insists that this introduces an ideological bias, but here it is argued that since said bias is generated by Paraguayans, use of that and other folk linguistic terms constitutes an opportunity to confirm or disconfirm the extent to which those surveyed agree with a given such perceptions.

In the strict sense of the word "scientific," this study approximates to an undetermined degree the criterion, since selection of the sample is not purely random and independent. The study, regardless of such considerations, is of the opinions of a large number of people, most of whom were involved in language education in the country, and while not representative of those of Paraguay as a whole, are nevertheless important to consider. The results presented here will need to be confirmed by surveys that incorporate the requisite sampling criteria.

3. Research Questions

With respect to current attitudes toward Guaraní and Spanish, a number of studies during the last twenty years have raised and answered a number of questions. Here, as a result of a recent fairly large-scale survey of language attitudes in Paraguay, several of these questions are answered with a reasonable degree of certainty:

1. Along what discrete dimensions do Paraguayans view their sociolinguistic reality?
2. How are attitudes toward Standard Spanish and Guaraní related to language pride, language use, language value, language purism, language contact, and linguistic self-esteem?
3. Do attitudes toward Standard Spanish and Guaraní vary significantly by age and linguistic identity?
4. Are attitudes toward Standard Spanish and Guaraní significantly different?
5. Among current and future school teachers, how many identify themselves as speakers of a third language, the Guaraní-Spanish hybrid called jopara?
6. Do Paraguayans believe that school texts in Standard Spanish or Guaraní are equally distant from the spoken norm?
7. Does the perception that a text in Standard Spanish or Guaraní is distant from the spoken norm imply dislike of that standard?
8. Are Paraguayans equally enthusiastic about studying the grammar of Spanish and Guaraní?
9. Do Paraguayans apply puristic standards equally to Guaraní and Spanish?
10. Do Paraguayans believe that one language interferes more with the other?

4. Attitudinal Dimensions of Paraguayan Bilingualism

Principle components analysis was performed on the data from those individuals who reported patterns of language use with their children, 368 out of the 1,113 originally surveyed. An eight-factor solution was selected using varimax rotation and sorting the loadings (Systat 1992). Several of the resultant factors are related to the issue of language standards. The order in which the factors are presented corresponds to the percentage of variance explained by each, which is due to the number of items that load to the factor as well as the strength of the loadings.

4.1. Spanish Pride

The first factor, Spanish pride, accounts for 7.39% of variance in response to survey items. The status of Spanish as a standard language is clearly related to pride. Individuals who indicate that the Spanish language must carry on also endorse the importance of studying Spanish grammar, the use of Spanish to teach school subjects, the proximity of Spanish to the spoken norm, affective response to the written norm, and use of Spanish to impart literacy to children who speak it as their first language.

4.2. Guaraní Pride

Several of the items concerning Guaraní load to a factor identified here as Guaraní pride, but there are notable differences in the structure of Guaraní and Spanish pride. The factor accounts for only 5.46% of variance in response the questionnaire, which indicates a somewhat more "diffuse" sense of pride associated with the subordinated language. As with Spanish pride, the idea that Guaraní must carry on is correlated with items about the study of grammar, acquisition of literacy, and use of Guarani to teach school subjects.

Conspicuously absent from Guaraní pride are items related to textbooks in Guaraní, a reflection of Guaraní-Spanish diglossia (Fishman 1967, Gynan 1998b), whereby Spanish has been exclusively the language of literacy. Guaraní pride, is also associated with special qualities: race and sweetness. Finally, whereas use of code-mixing is associated positively with Spanish pride and negatively associated with Guaraní pride. Those proud of their Guaraní tend to express negative attitudes toward jopara, the folk-linguistic term used to denote hybrid uses of the two languages.

Table 1 - Principle Components Analysis of Questionnaire Items, N=368

	Spanish Pride	Guaraní Use	Spanish Use	Guaraní Pride	Linguistic Purism	Language Contact	Language Value	Linguistic Selfesteem
CSIGUE	0.76	-0.01	0.11	-0.16	-0.01	-0.03	0.11	-0.09
CASTGRAM	0.71	-0.11	0.06	0.15	0.03	0.03	0.14	0.07
CALGU	0.67	-0.02	0.05	0.13	-0.04	0.14	0.20	-0.07
CTEXTOS	0.54	0.05	0.03	-0.05	0.12	-0.10	0.09	0.34
CLEER	0.53	-0.16	-0.04	0.30	0.01	0.12	-0.05	0.05
CTXGUSTA	0.47	0.16	0.05	-0.06	0.23	-0.06	0.08	0.25
GTRABAJO	-0.06	0.73	-0.03	-0.07	0.07	-0.09	0.02	0.03
GAMIGOS	0.02	0.70	-0.09	0.01	0.16	0.00	0.01	-0.01
GMAYOR	-0.04	0.69	-0.04	0.13	-0.16	0.06	0.05	0.16
GPROFE	-0.04	0.68	-0.05	-0.03	0.14	-0.13	0.07	0.07
GPAREJA	0.01	0.68	-0.10	0.17	-0.06	0.09	-0.01	-0.11
GMENOR	-0.16	0.65	0.05	0.12	-0.11	0.00	0.04	0.16
HABLOJO	0.17	0.36	0.04	-0.03	0.08	0.22	-0.06	-0.09
CAMIGOS	0.05	-0.15	0.76	-0.11	0.06	-0.05	-0.05	0.08
CMAYOR	0.11	-0.07	0.75	0.13	-0.13	0.06	0.01	-0.05
CPROFE	0.11	-0.04	0.73	-0.08	0.14	-0.05	0.04	0.13
CPAREJA	0.13	-0.01	0.73	0.06	-0.13	0.03	0.02	-0.11
CTRABAJO	-0.01	-0.04	0.71	-0.08	0.12	-0.05	-0.05	0.02
CMENOR	-0.10	0.07	0.57	0.12	-0.13	0.07	0.07	-0.01
GUARGRAM	-0.03	0.03	-0.05	0.58	0.19	-0.11	0.02	0.06
GLEER	0.30	0.02	0.06	0.55	-0.04	-0.02	-0.11	0.00
GSIGUE	0.01	0.06	0.07	0.55	0.02	-0.09	0.07	0.03
GALGU	0.05	0.14	-0.07	0.50	0.02	-0.14	0.06	0.15
GSANG	0.04	0.22	0.06	0.45	-0.09	-0.07	0.41	-0.08
GDULCE	-0.02	-0.05	0.04	0.35	0.05	0.04	0.19	-0.12
JOPARA	0.22	0.26	0.00	-0.31	-0.12	0.08	-0.16	0.14
ELCAS	-0.06	0.04	-0.04	0.23	0.76	0.12	0.03	0.01
ELGUAR	0.20	0.06	-0.03	0.06	0.67	0.28	-0.04	0.01
GDIFIC	0.06	-0.03	0.00	-0.24	0.05	0.63	0.02	-0.09
CENTOR	0.04	0.03	0.10	-0.23	0.03	0.60	0.06	0.12
GENTOR	-0.22	0.03	-0.01	-0.07	0.15	0.57	0.01	0.21
CDIFIC	0.29	0.03	-0.09	0.11	0.04	0.55	0.03	-0.19
GAUTH	-0.03	0.14	-0.04	0.19	0.16	-0.06	0.64	0.06
CECON	0.28	-0.05	0.02	0.06	0.05	0.19	0.60	0.09
GECON	-0.14	0.06	-0.17	0.27	-0.14	0.09	0.60	0.08
CAUTH	0.22	0.01	0.06	-0.19	0.21	0.09	0.55	0.10
CSANGRE	0.24	-0.07	0.18	0.01	-0.21	-0.06	0.48	0.06
CDULCE	0.31	-0.04	0.02	-0.03	-0.19	-0.08	0.36	0.10
CHABLA	0.14	-0.04	0.04	-0.13	-0.34	0.15	0.08	0.59
GTEXTOS	-0.05	0.08	0.03	0.14	0.04	-0.16	0.13	0.58
GTXGUSTA	0.08	0.06	-0.03	-0.02	0.19	-0.13	0.09	0.58
GHABLA	0.02	0.12	-0.10	0.13	-0.36	0.27	0.04	0.54
GHABLO	0.08	0.12	-0.06	0.39	-0.18	0.05	-0.11	0.54
CHABLO	0.43	-0.11	0.19	0.01	-0.21	0.14	-0.09	0.42
CSOLO	0.07	0.00	0.07	-0.17	0.14	0.12	0.07	0.36
GSOLO	-0.34	-0.11	-0.04	0.18	0.17	0.36	0.09	0.35
Variance	3.40	3.33	3.24	2.51	1.95	2.06	2.24	2.56
Percentage	7.39	7.24	7.04	5.46	4.24	4.47	4.86	5.57

Table 1 - Key

Abbreviation	English Translation of Items (Originally in Guaraní and Spanish)
CSIGUE	Spanish must continue.
CASTGRAM	It is important to study Spanish grammar.
CALGU	I want my child to be taught some subjects in Spanish.
CTEXTOS	The Spanish of the school textbooks represents well what we speak.
CLEER	If a pupil speaks only Spanish, s/he must learn to read and write first in Spanish.
CTXGUSTA	I agree with the Spanish that is used in school textbooks.
GTRABAJO	I speak Guaraní at work.
GAMIGOS	I speak Guaraní with my friends.
GMAYOR	I speak Guaraní with my oldest son/daughter.
GPROFE	I speak Guaraní with the teachers at school.
GPAREJA	I speak Guaraní with my spouse.
GMENOR	I speak Guaraní with my youngest son/daughter.
HABLOJO	I speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix].
CAMIGOS	I speak Spanish with my friends.
CMAYOR	I speak Spanish with my oldest son/daughter.
CPROFE	I speak Spanish with the teachers at school.
CPAREJA	I speak Spanish with my spouse.
CTRABAJO	I speak Spanish at work.
CMENOR	I speak Spanish with my youngest son/daughter.
GUARGRAM	It is important to study Guaraní grammar.
GLEER	If a pupil speaks only Guaraní, s/he must learn to read and write first in Guaraní.
GSIGUE	Guaraní must continue.
GALGU	I want my child to be taught some subjects in Guaraní.
GSANG	The language of the Guaraní is in our blood.
GDULCE	Guaraní is a sweet language.
JOPARA	In Paraguay, it is acceptable to speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix].
ELCAS	All Spanish must be eliminated from spoken Guaraní.
ELGUAR	All Guaraní must be eliminated from spoken Spanish.
GDIFIC	Guaraní is a difficult language.
CENTOR	Spanish impedes Guaraní.
GENTOR	Guaraní impedes Spanish.
CDIFIC	Spanish is a difficult language.
GAUTH	In order to be authentically Paraguayan, one must know how to speak Guaraní.
CECON	In order to progress economically, one must know how to speak Spanish.
GECON	In order to progress economically, one must know how to speak Guaraní
CAUTH	In order to be authentically Paraguayan, one must know how to speak Spanish.
CSANGRE	The language of the Spaniard is in our blood.
CDULCE	Spanish is a sweet language.
CHABLA	Here in Paraguay we speak Spanish well.
GTEXTOS	The Guaraní of the school textbooks represents well what we speak.
GTXGUSTA	I agree with the Guaraní that is used in school textbooks.
GHABLA	Here in Paraguay we speak Guaraní well.
GHABLO	I speak Guaraní well.
CHABLO	I speak Spanish well.
CSOLO	In Paraguay, it is acceptable to know how to speak only in Spanish.
GSOLO	In Paraguay, it is acceptable to know how to speak only in Guaraní.

Table 2a. Perceived Distance between Written and Spoken Guaraní and Written and Spoken Castilian (Spanish), by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations; 1=Totally False and 7=Totally True)

Age	N	GTEXTOS		CTEXTOS
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 years	86	2.9	0.20	4.2	0.18
20-29 years	444	4.0	0.09	5.0	0.08
30-39 years	112	3.4	0.17	4.9	0.15
40-49 years	44	3.6	0.28	5.2	0.25
50 y más years	13	3.7	0.51	4.6	0.45

GTEXTOS = The Spanish of the school textbooks represents well what we speak
CTEXTOS = The Guaraní of the school textbooks represents well what we speak

Table 2b. Perceived Distance between Written and Spoken Guaraní and Written and Spoken Castilian (Spanish), by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	134.79	4	33.7	8.52	0.00
Error	2744.05	694	3.95
G/CTextos	167.19	1	167.19	79.99	0.00
Age*G/CTextos	17.86	4	4.46	2.14	0.07
Error	1450.5	694	2.09

Table 3a. Affective Attitudes toward Guaraní and Castilian (Spanish) Texts, by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

Age	N	GTXGUSTA		CTXGUSTA
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 years	73	4.5	0.20	4.8	0.15
20-29 years	434	4.9	0.08	5.6	0.06
30-39 years	106	4.3	0.17	5.5	0.12
40-49 years	42	4.6	0.27	5.7	0.20
50 y más years	13	5.5	0.48	5.4	0.36

GTXGUSTA = I agree with the Guaraní that is used in school textbooks
CTXGUSTA = I agree with the Spanish that is used in school textbooks

Table 3b. Affective Attitudes toward Guaraní and Castilian (Spanish) Texts, by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	54.49	4	13.62	4.25	0.00
Error	2124.61	663	3.2
G/CTXGusta	41.09	1	41.09	27.85	0.00
Age*G/CTXGusta	26.33	4	6.58	4.46	0.00
Error	978.1	663	1.48

Table 4a. Perceived Distance of Guaraní Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Guaraní Texts, by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

Age	N	GTEXTOS		GTXGUSTA
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 years	67	3.1	0.22	4.5	0.21
20-29 years	413	4.0	0.09	4.9	0.09
30-39 years	101	3.4	0.18	4.3	0.17
40-49 years	41	3.6	0.29	4.6	0.27
50 y más years	13	3.7	0.51	5.5	0.48

GTEXTOS = The Spanish of the school textbooks represents well what we speak
GTXGUSTA = I agree with the Guaraní that is used in school textbooks.

Table 4b. Perceived Distance of Guaraní Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Guaraní Texts, by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	95.31	4	23.83	5.04	0.00
Error	2977.92	630	4.73
GTextos/Gusta	136.23	1	136.23	81.3	0.00
Age*GTextos/Gusta	10.06	4	2.52	1.5	0.20
Error	1055.62	630	1.68

Table 5a. Perceived Distance of Castilian (Spanish) Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Castilian (Spanish) Texts, by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

Age	N	CTEXTOS		CTXGUSTA
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 years	67	4.4	0.19	4.8	0.16
20-29 years	413	5.1	0.08	5.6	0.06
30-39 years	101	5.0	0.16	5.5	0.13
40-49 years	41	5.2	0.25	5.8	0.20
50 y más years	13	4.6	0.44	5.4	0.35

CTXGUSTA = I agree with the Spanish that is used in school textbooks
CTXGUSTA = The Spanish of the school textbooks represents well what we speak.

Table 5b. Perceived Distance of Castilian (Spanish) Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Castilian (Spanish) Texts, by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	70.91	4	17.73	5.96	0.00
Error	1872.3	630	2.97
CTextos/Gusta	27.97	1	27.97	24.79	0.00
Age*CTextos/Gusta	1.36	4	0.34	0.3	0.88
Error	710.97	630	1.13

Table 6a. Beliefs about the Value of Studying Guaraní and Spanish Grammar, by Age of Respondents (means and standard deviations)

Age	N	GUARGRAM		CASTGRAM
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 años	96	6.6	0.08	6.2	0.09
20-29 años	493	6.5	0.04	6.2	0.04
30-39 años	123	6.2	0.07	6.1	0.08
40-49 años	46	6.1	0.12	6.1	0.13
50 y más años	15	6.3	0.21	6.1	0.23

GUARGRAM = It is important to study Guaraní grammar
CASTGRAM = It is important to study Spanish grammar

Table.6b. Beliefs about the Value of Studying Guaraní and Spanish Grammar, by Age of Respondents (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	9.59	4	2.4	2.88	0.02
Error	638.44	768	0.83
Guar/CastGram	4.21	1	4.21	6.68	0.01
Age*Guar/CastGram	4.34	4	1.09	1.72	0.14
Error	483.56	768	0.63

Table 7a. Perceived Need to Eliminate Spanish from Guaraní (ELCAS) and Guaraní from Spanish (ELGUAR), by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

Age	N	ELCAS		ELGUAR
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 años	90	3.8	0.22	3.9	0.22
20-29 años	457	4.9	0.10	4.8	0.10
30-39 años	115	4.2	0.20	4.6	0.20
40-49 años	45	3.9	0.32	4.4	0.32
50 y más años	15	3.8	0.55	4.6	0.55

ELCAS = All Spanish must be eliminated from spoken Guaraní
ELGUAR = All Guaraní must be eliminated from spoken Spanish.

Table 7b. Perceived Need to Eliminate Spanish from Guaraní (ELCAS) and Guaraní from Spanish (ELGUAR), by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	192.22	4	48.05	6.42	0.00
Error	5363.1	717	7.48
ElCas/Guar	13.49	1	13.49	8.88	0.00
Age* ElCas/Guar	16.83	4	4.21	2.77	0.03
Error	1088.96	717	1.52

Table 8a. Belief that Guaraní Interferes with Spanish or that Spanish Interferes with Guaraní, by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

		GENTOR		CENTOR
Age	N	Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 años	94	3.0	0.17	2.3	0.18
20-29 años	467	2.6	0.08	2.4	0.08
30-39 años	120	2.2	0.15	2.4	0.16
40-49 años	44	2.6	0.25	2.6	0.26
50 y más años	14	2.7	0.45	2.4	0.46

GENTOR = Guaraní impedes Spanish
CENTOR = Spanish impedes Guaraní

Table 8b. Belief that Guaraní Interferes with Spanish or that Spanish Interferes with Guaraní, by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	14.8	4	3.7	0.93	0.45
Error	2929.68	734	3.99
G/CEntor	3.91	1	3.91	2.13	0.15
Age*G/CEntor	21	4	5.25	2.86	0.02
Error	1347.81	734	1.84

Table 9a. Attitude toward Jopara and Use of Jopara, by Age of Respondent (means and standard deviation)

		JOPARA		HABLOJO
Age	N	Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
10-19 years	91	5.1	0.21	5.9	0.15
20-29 years	449	4.1	0.10	5.5	0.07
30-39 years	120	4.3	0.19	5.4	0.13
40-49 years	46	4.8	0.30	5.1	0.22
50 y más years	14	5.6	0.54	4.7	0.39

JOPARA = In Paraguay, it is acceptable to speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix]
HABLOJO = I speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix]

Table 9b. Attitude toward Jopara and Use of Jopara, by Age of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Age	79.2	4	19.8	5.2	0.0
Error	2712.2	715	3.8
Jopara	32.1	1	32.1	12.9	0.0
Age*Jopara	69.9	4	17.5	7.0	0.0
Error	1786.4	715	2.5

5.2. The Effect of Linguistic Identity on Attitudes toward Standards

Linguistic identity, which was measured informally in this study merely by asking respondents to list the languages they spoke, proves to be less useful than age as a predictor. Nevertheless, there are a couple of areas where the language of the respondent proves to be a significant predictor (Tables 10a and 10b, 11a and 11b). The attitudes of different language groups to Guaraní texts and jopara are highly revealing.

Table 10a. Perceived Distance of Guaraní Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Guaraní Texts, by Linguistic Identity of Respondent (means and standard deviations)

Linguistic Identity	N	GTEXTOS		GTXGUSTA
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
Monolingual Guaraní	48	3.3	0.30	4.7	0.31
Guaraní Dominant	317	3.7	0.12	4.5	0.12
Jopará	203	3.6	0.15	4.5	0.15
Spanish Dominant	316	3.4	0.12	4.4	0.12
Monolingual Spanish	46	2.7	0.31	3.7	0.32

GTEXTOS = The Spanish of the school textbooks represents well what we speak
GTXGUSTA = I agree with the Guaraní that is used in school textbooks

Table 10b. Perceived Distance of Guaraní Texts from Spoken Norm and Attitudes toward Guaraní Texts, by Linguistic Identity of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Linguistic Identity	73.99	4	18.5	2.8	0.02
Error	6100.51	925	6.6
GTextos/Gusta	245.98	1	245.98	96.77	0.00
Linguistic Identity*GTextos/Gusta	5.65	4	1.41	0.56	0.70
Error	2351.23	925	2.54

Table 11a. Attitude toward Jopara and Use of Jopara, by Linguistic Identity of Respondent (means and standard deviation)

Linguistic Identity	N	JOPARA		HABLOJO
		Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean	Standard Deviation
Monolingual Guaraní	36	4.2	0.35	5.4	0.23
Guaraní Dominant	288	4.2	0.12	5.6	0.08
Jopara	187	4.7	0.15	5.9	0.10
Spanish Dominant	285	4.1	0.12	5.4	0.08
Monolingual Spanish	40	3.9	0.33	4.4	0.22

JOPARA = In Paraguay, it is acceptable to speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix]
HABLOJO = I speak jopara [Guaraní-Spanish mix].

Table 11b. Attitude toward Jopara and Use of Jopara, by Linguistic Identity of Respondent (analysis of variance)

Source	SS	DF	MS	F	P
Linguistic Identity	123.3	4	30.8	8.1	0.0
Error	3162.0	831	3.8
Jopara	249.4	1	249.4	97.6	0.0
Linguistic Identity*Jopara	13.4	4	3.3	1.3	0.3
Error	2122.8	831	2.6

Although linguistic identity is unrelated to attitudes toward textbook in Spanish, it is a predictor of variation in attitudes toward the Guaraní standard. Informally, in gatherings about language education in Paraguay, complaints are raised by some about the Guaraní texts in particular. Here the monolingual Spanish group perceives the greatest gap between the texts and the spoken norm. The monolingual Guaraní speakers also tend to report a larger difference, but they are very positive about the written standard for Guaraní. Their attitude, and that of all other bilingual groups, contrast sharply with the monolingual Spanish group, which is by far the most negative about the new norm. This attitude is corroborated informally by many conversations with monolingual Spanish speakers, the majority of whom have little interest in Guaraní and often come from non-Paraguayan families.

Finally, we note that monolingual Spanish speakers are the most negative about jopara and use that variety significantly less than all the other language groups. These results confirm the principle components analysis, which had revealed that positive attitudes toward jopara were related not to Guaraní pride and Spanish use, but rather to Spanish pride and Guaraní use. In Table 11a, monolingual Spanish speakers evince manifestly more negative attitudes toward jopara. Use of jopara is related to use not of Spanish but of Guaraní, and is also a matter of Spanish pride.

5.3. Perceptions of the Guaraní and Spanish Standards

The MEC 2001 study authors concluded that "Upon considering the results..., we can confirm that, in the opinion of the speakers and at the lexical level, Guaraní is a language that is developed by means of contact with Spanish, whereas Spanish is perceived as hermetically sealed, which, with a minimum of contact with Guaraní, is converted into jopara." (Paraguay MEC 2001:57). This conclusion was based on reactions by respondents to different levels of mixing of Spanish and Guaraní. While space precludes a detailed analysis of this problem here, the results of the study discussed above do not support this contention. A series of 14 sentences, ranging from pure Guaraní to pure Spanish, was presented to the respondents, who were asked to categorize them as one language or another, or jopara. With even the slightest influence from Spanish, the vast majority of raters identified the sentences as jopara. Similarly, they rated Spanish sentences with single lexical items in Guaraní as jopara. It appears reasonable to conclude that at least this group of over 1000 Paraguayans has a clear norm for both languages.

6. Conclusion

Many of the questions presented at the outset of this study have been answered. Discrete dimensions along which Paraguayans view their sociolinguistic reality have been identified, and include several issues related to language standards. Attitudes toward Standard Spanish are a matter of Spanish pride, but whereas attitudes toward Standard Guaraní are similarly related to language pride, they are more a matter of linguistic self-esteem.

Attitudes toward Standard Spanish and Standard Guaraní are significantly different and do vary significantly by age and linguistic identity. In general, it may be observed that education in the structure of the Guaraní language over the last ten years has caused a remarkable impact, improving attitudes toward the standard notably.

Among current and future school teachers, who constituted the bulk of people identified here, approximately 20 percent identify themselves as speakers of the third language, the Guaraní-Spanish hybrid called jopara. These speakers disparage the contact variety less, but most people dislike the mixing and do it anyway.

Given the tendency of Guaraní speakers to use jopara, and the puristic idiom used in textbooks until recently, Paraguayans believe that school texts in Guaraní are more distant from the spoken norm than texts in Spanish are from the Spanish spoken norm; however, the perception that a text in Standard Guaraní is distant from the spoken norm does not imply dislike of that standard. Quite to the contrary, all ages and language groups have responded favorably to the idea of Standard Guaraní. They are enthusiastic about the study of Guaraní, defend the idea of a strict standard for the language, and disparage mixing.

Those who have complained most about the new Standard Guaraní are among the few Spanish speakers in Paraguay who don't know Guaraní. They constitute a conspicuous and influential exception to the general attitude analyzed here, which is that of a nation that is enthusiastically embracing the Standard Guaraní being disseminated in school across the country. The result may very well be, in the coming years, the only indigenous language of the Americas to enjoy a stable and well developed standard.

© Shaw Nicholas Gynan (Western Washington University, US)

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6.1. Standardvariationen und Sprachauffassungen in verschiedenen Sprachkulturen | Standard Variations and Conceptions of Language in Various Language Cultures

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