An Indigenous Language With Unique Staying Power (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

MEMO FROM PARAGUAYAn Indigenous Language With Unique Staying Power
Noah Friedman-Rudovsky for The New York Times

The group Invidente plays typical Guaraní music on a Guaraní-language
television show. The language is spoken by an estimated 90 percent of
Paraguayans.
By SIMON ROMERO<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/simon_romero/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Published:
March 12, 2012
ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — Legislators on the floor of Congress deliver speeches
in it. Lovers entwined on Asunción’s park benches murmur sweet nothings
with its high-pitched, nasal and guttural sounds. Soccer fans use it when
insulting referees.

To this day, Paraguay remains the only country in the Americas where a
majority of the population speaks one indigenous language: Guaraní. It is
enshrined in the Constitution, officially giving it equal footing with the
language of European conquest, Spanish. And in the streets, it is a source
of national pride.

“Only 54 of nearly 12,000 schools teach Portuguese,” said Nancy Benítez,
director of curriculum at the Ministry of Education, of the language of
Brazil, the giant neighbor that dominates trade with Paraguay. “But every
one of our schools teaches Guaraní.”
​

Access full article below:
​
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/world/americas/in-paraguay-indigenous-language-with-unique-staying-power.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20140518/57c1a722/attachment.htm>