Guaraní

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Guaraní

Guaraní (gwäränēˈ), indigenous group living in the eastern lowland area of South America, related to the Tupí of the Rio São Francisco and the Tupinambá on the Atlantic coast. The Guaraní language is currently spoken by some 6 million people in Paraguay (where it is widely spoken and an official language) and in adjacent portions of Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. At the time of the Spanish conquest (16th cent.), the Guaraní lived in settlements consisting of four to eight large communal dwellings, each of which accommodated 100 people or more. Chiefs resided patrilocally, but other men lived in their wives' houses and performed bride-service. They depended primarily on intensive agriculture supplemented by fishing, hunting, and gathering; the staple crops were corn and manioc. Men cleared fields that women tilled. Although their material culture was not advanced, Guaraní songs, dances, and myths constituted a rich body of folklore. Their religion was based on an impressive and elaborate mythology. The shaman was believed to possess supernatural powers that allowed him to ward off evil and cure sickness. The Guaraní survived initial contact with rapacious conquistadors because Paraguay lay apart from the main routes of Spanish trade and influence. Early Jesuit missionaries established the historically controversial system of reductions, which (for a short time) protected them from the slave-trade, and hispanicized them. Surviving Guaraní continue to practice communal agriculture in some rural areas and Guaraní culture has had a strong influence on present-day Paraguayan musical folklore.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Guarani

a South American Indian language (spoken by the Caingua. Guayaqui, Apapocuva, Ivapare, Guayana, Chane, Chiriguano, and other tribes), which belongs to the Tupi-Guarani family of languages. Before the colonization of South America (16th century), it was spoken over the territory of what is now Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. The Guarani language forms the basis of the so-called common language (lingua geral), that to this day serves as a means of intertribal communication among the Indians of South America. It has been subjected to the influence of the Spanish and Portuguese languages since the 16th century. In Paraguay missionaries continued to use Guarani and compiled several dictionaries and grammars based on the Roman alphabet, thus contributing to the survival of the language. In present-day Paraguay, Spanish js the official state language, although Guarani is spoken by approximately 80 percent of the population, and newspapers and books are published in the language.

REFERENCES

Cornelsen. E. Lingua Guarani. Rio de Janeiro. 1937.
Ayrosa. P. “Apontamentos para a bibliografia da lingua Tupi-Guarani.” Universidade de Säo Paulo, bulletin no. 4. 1943.
Jover Peralta, A., and T. Osuna. Diccionario guaraní-español. Buenos Aires [1951].