Jopara () or Yopará () is a colloquial form of Guarani spoken in

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

which uses a number of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

loan word A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing (linguistics), borrowing. Borrowing ...

s. Its name is from the Guarani word for “mixture”. The majority of Paraguayans, particularly younger ones, speak some form of Jopara.

Social context

Speakers of both Guarani and Spanish typically employ a great deal of

code-switching In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. These alternations are generally intended to ...

between the two languages, hence why the blending of the two languages is called "Jopara," meaning "mixture." The relative amount of Guarani or Spanish used in speech varies depending upon the birth of the speakers, the place where they speak, with whom they are speaking, the topic of discussion, and how they want their meaning to be interpreted. Generally, the rural and older population tends to use more Guarani, while the urban and younger population uses more Spanish—the rural and older population ''understands'' more Guarani and the urban and younger more Spanish. General and every-day conversation is often suited to Guarani, while technical and specific or formal conversation is often suited for Spanish. Since 1992, under the Paraguay's Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) Act, Guarani in its "pure form"—different from the day-to-day speech of Jopara—has been taught in schools. This led to contradictory opinions: some say that teaching pure Guarani is the best means to preserve the language's integrity, while others argue that how Guarani is taught differs greatly from how it is commonly spoken.

Lexicon

Many grammatical markers for features found in Guarani but not in Spanish, like

evidentiality In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and if so, what kind. An evidential (also verificational or validational) is the particul ...

markers, are borrowed from Guarani. For example (Guarani words in bold): * ''La niña ndaje no comía más casi dos días voi y por eso estaba un poco desnutrida, pero el tua ánga igual le pegaba'' * It is said that the girl would not eat for more than two days. Well, for that reason she was somewhat malnourished, but the stepfather would still hit her. Some Spanish words, when put in a sentence mixed with Guarani, have a different meaning from that of standard Spanish. They can come from

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

s of equivalent Guarani expressions. For example: * ''Tu hijo creció todo ya.'' * ''Ituichapáma nememby.'' * Your son grew all already. In some instances, Jopara speakers simply substitute a word in either Guarani or Spanish while speaking. For example: * Moõ opyta a/nde''baño''? * Where is the/your bathroom?

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jopara Languages of Paraguay Language contact Mixed languages South America Native-based pidgins and creoles Spanish-based pidgins and creoles

Social context

Lexicon

See also

References