SECTION:
Standard Variations and Conceptions of Language in Various Language Cultures
Shaw N. Gynan (Western Washington Univ. Bellingham, US)
Social Psychological Dimensions of Paraguayan Bilingualism: Attitudes toward Standard Guaraní and SpanishWhereas the standard for Spanish in Paraguay is not an significantly contentious issue, the standard for Guaraní, an indigenous language spoken by some 90% of the population and co-official with Spanish since 1992, is more problematic. In the study reported on here, a brief sociolinguistic history of the Guaraní norm is presented, and multiple social psychological dimensions of Paraguayan bilingualism are analyzed. The results of a survey and interviews involving over 1000 individuals indicate clearly differentiated attitudes toward the two languages. While these subjects may not be representative of the country as a whole, they are a good sample of the current and future teaching corps, and therefore their perceptions are worthy of attention. Their attitudes reveal a diglossic situation of functional complementary distribution of the two languages, one which is being challenged by changes in language policy. Sociopolitical and cultural unity are thus realized through affective and utilitarian media of expression. As is the case in many post-colonial contexts throughout the world, the Paraguayan situation challenges and is exacerbated by monolingual ideologies.
The theories of language development of Kloss, elaborated by Hymes, Cooper and others, are useful in studying the question of standardization of Guaraní. Paraguayan Guaraní has been unregulated by writing since 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled. One hears comments to the effect that "La lengua no le pertenece a nadie," no one owns the language. So there is some resistence to the idea of regulation. Despite a historical lack of literacy in Paraguayan Guaraní, the language has experienced lexical development, typically through the wholesale importation of terminology from Spanish. In this regard, calls for revindication of Guaraní have typically occurred in a puristic context.
The survey reveals a number of interesting, distinct phenomena. Language identity and language use are revealed as separable, as are language attitudes. There is a significant percentage (roughly 25%) of people in this sample who identify themselves as speakers of neither Spanish nor Guaraní, but rather jopara, a folklinguistic term that refers to the mixture of the two languages. A larger percentage of subjects use the term to describe their use of the two languages. Thus, whereas a minority identify themselves as speakers of the mixture, a large majority report use of jopara, which is shown to be moderately correlated with use of Guaraní and with pride toward Spanish.
Jopara also denotes the mixture per se, and refers nearly exclusively to lexical phenomena. Semantic and syntactic calques appear to escape the notice of the vast majority of this educated group. There is also good evidence supporting a distinction made recently between jopara and jehe¹a, the latter term denoting loanwords from Spanish, as opposed to language mixing. Only 10% of respondents identify mixture as Guaraní (or Spanish, depending on the stimulus sentence), but nearly three times this percentage identify loanwords as Guaraní. An example will help clarify this phenomenon. The Spanish word guapo means hard-working in Guaraní. In the following sentence the word displays full morphological incorpation into the Guaraní language: Iguapoitéva pe karia¹y ³The one who is hard-working is that fellow.² Despite the difference that reflects the status of the loanword, very few respondents supply the term jehe¹a, showing the specialized nature of the word.
Certain independent variables have proven useful in analysis of variance in Paraguayan language attitudes. Sex is significant with respect to use of the two official languages. The consistently higher figures among women reflect socioeconomic realities. The age of the speaker has proven to be a promising area of study, since there are significant differences in attitudes toward Paraguayan bilingualism. The use of the mixture is on the rise among younger informants, but their attitudes are more negative than those of adults. Conceptually related items regarding language purism show a similar pattern, with younger informants more inclined toward purism, no doubt a result of their education in standard versions of the two official languages. Language identity and linguistic self-esteem are important predictors of use and attitude. Finally, area is an important predictor, since urban centers tend to be bilingual and rural areas much more dominant in Guaraní.
The study reveals that a monolingual ideology is stronger among Spanish speakers. Guaraní speakers tend to pass on both languages to their children. Opposition to written Guaraní is found among Spanish speakers. Among this sample of Paraguayans, bilingualism is viewed as functional and desireable, the way in which national unity can be achieved. This study therefore confirms the notion of bilingual sociofunctional equilibrium. The desire for such balanced societal bilingualism supports the utility of knowledge of two languages in a bilingual society and challenges the diglossic differentiation that has characterized the Paraguayan situation for over two centuries.
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