Guaran?/strong> (gwah-rah-'nee) [gwara'ni] is a language spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and northwestern Brazil. It belongs to the Tupi-Guarani language subfamily.
It is estimated that there are approximately six million Guaran?speakers worldwide.
Guaran?became a written language relatively recently. (date?) using a largely phonetic orthography.
Guaran?is, alongside Spanish, one of the official languages of Paraguay. Thus, for example, Paraguay's constitution is bilingual, and its state-produced textbooks are typically half in Spanish and half in Guaran? This policy seems to suggest that the two languages are "separate but equal".
Nonetheless, the two languages have a very complicated relationship. In practice, almost nobody in Paraguay speaks "pure Spanish" or "pure Guaran?. The more educated, more urban, and more European-descended population tends to speak Argentine-influenced Spanish with short phrases of Guaran?thrown in, while the less educated, more rural, and more native population tends to speak a Guaran?with significant vocabulary-borrowing from Spanish. This latter mix is known as Jopar?(hoe-pah-'rah) [xopa'ra].Guaran?in Paraguay