How the Word "Bilingual" Simplifies Reality: Insights from the Paraguayan Experience.
This article presents an overview of the current situation of Paraguay's languages, focusing on the Indigenous languages spoken in the territory and their multilingual practices. Using the previous literature on the languages of Paraguay, census data, and legal texts, I show how the myth of Spanish-...
| Published in: | Journal of Multilingual Theories & Practices Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 80 - 113 |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of Toronto Press
Sep2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=187950525&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 187950525 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 26324490 MMLV jtl: Journal of Multilingual Theories & Practices issn: 26324490 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2025 vid: 6 iid: 1 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 187950525 10.3138/jmtp-2024-0001 ppf: 80 ppct: 33 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 861KB tig: atl: How the Word "Bilingual" Simplifies Reality: Insights from the Paraguayan Experience. aug: au: Pöllänen, Roosa affil: Languages, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland su: Indigenous languages of the Americas Language planning Language policy Multilingualism Social attitudes Bilingualism Eurocentrism Paraguay sug: subj: Paraguay Indigenous languages of the Americas Language planning Language policy Multilingualism Social attitudes Bilingualism Eurocentrism keyword: bilingualism Indigenous languages of Paraguay language planning small-scale multilingualism ab: This article presents an overview of the current situation of Paraguay's languages, focusing on the Indigenous languages spoken in the territory and their multilingual practices. Using the previous literature on the languages of Paraguay, census data, and legal texts, I show how the myth of Spanish-Paraguayan Guaraní bilingualism has influenced societal perceptions and policies and, as a consequence, how the Indigenous languages have received very little attention in both academic and social contexts. It is argued that by challenging Western ideas of language and bi- and multilingualism, and re-evaluating Western practices of defining and naming languages, a more adequate picture of language use in Paraguay can be achieved, leading to the development of more inclusive language description and planning for the country's Indigenous languages. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Multilingual Theories & Practices is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Multilingual Theories & Practices holder: University of Toronto Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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