Guarani dialects

The Guaraní dialects belong to the Tupí-Guaraní branch of the Tupian linguistic family.

In Latin America, the indigenous language that is most widely spoken amongst non-indigenous communities is Guaraní. South America is home to more than 280,000 Guaraní people, 51,000 of whom reside in Brazil. The Guaraní people inhabit regions in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, as well as Argentina. There are more than four million speakers of Guaraní across these regions.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) classified Guaraní's language vitality as "vulnerable". UNESCO's definition of "vulnerable" is meant to highlight that although the majority of Guaraní children can speak Guaraní, the use of the language is restricted to particular contexts (e.g., familial settings). Although the Guaraní language may only be classified as "vulnerable," there are other languages within the Tupí-Guaraní branch that are classified as "extinct" and "critically endangered" (e.g., Amanayé and Anambé respectively).

The Guaraní language has been an object of study since the arrival of the Jesuits in the seventeenth century. The differences among the three dialects of the Guaraní language can be noted primarily in their distinct phonologies and syntax, as these vary depending on the social context that the language is being used. Of note, the Mbyá prioritize oral transmission. Literacy within the Mbyá received an increased level of importance in the late 1990s as a product of new educational institutions in the villages. Lemle (1971) contends that in spite of there being almost forty dialects within the Tupí-Guaraní family, there exist numerous similarities between the words of these dialects.

These share some degree of mutual intelligibility and are close to being dialects; however, Chiripá is reported to be intelligible due to bilingualism, not inherently. Also, there is a degree of intelligibility with Kaiwá–Pai Tavytera, which is not included in the Ethnologue. Ethnologue considers Tapieté to be a separate language, intermediate between Eastern Bolivian and Paraguayan, and has shifted from the name Chiripá to Avá, though the latter is ambiguous. Paraguayan Guarani is by far the most widely spoken variety and is what is often meant by the term "Guarani" outside South America.

The Tupí-Guaraní branch within the Tupí family that has been the object of most linguistic studies within this family. As a result, the linguistic literature available on Tupí-Guaraní languages is extensive, ranging from grammars, bibliographies, histories of language development, typological studies, to dissertations on the phonology of the Guaraní language.

According to Silvetti and Silvestri (2015), Guaraní only came to be a written language following the arrival of the Jesuits. Silvetti and Silvestri propound that "it was the Jesuits who gave it a grammar and a syntax and made it into one of the ‘lenguas generales’ used for the evangelization of the natives".

In light of this, we will highlight important literary works on Guaraní linguistics of three Jesuits, namely: (i) Jesuit Joseph de Anchieta; (ii) Jesuit Antonio Ruiz de Montoya; and lastly, (iii) Jesuit Alonso de Aragona. The first Guaraní grammar written was that of Jesuit Joseph de Anchieta (1595). Ringmacher contends, however, that Jesuit Antonio Ruiz de Montoya's Arte de la lengua Guaraní (1640), a documentation of Guaraní grammar, served as a significant point of reference and departure for all proceeding grammatical works concerning the Guaraní language. Montoya's analysis of the Guaraní morphology and syntax stands accurate until this day. Montoya also produced a Guaraní dictionary known as Tesoro de la Lengua Guaraní (1639). In this work, he not only created the first dictionary of this kind, but also provided examples of contexts in which to use the various words he documented. Lastly, Jesuit Alonso de Aragona produced a pedagogical grammar that was completed in 1629, but only printed in 1979. The intention of Aragona's work was to help those seeking ways to learn Guaraní.