The language policies about the Guarani in Paraguay and the imaginary bilingualism

Abstract

This paper is based on our doctoral thesis in which we discursively analyze the role the Guarani language plays as an official language in Paraguay nowadays. The theoretical framework adopted is the field of the History of Linguistic Ideas (AUROUX, 1998, 2009 [1992], 2010 [1994]; ORLANDI, 1983, 1988, 2008 [1990]), in its interlacement with the Discourse Analysis of the French line (PÊCHEUX, 1988 [1975], 1990 [1969]; 2010 [1994]). With the objective of comprehending the meanings produced around the imaginary of bilingualism, we analyzed the actions of the Secretariat of Linguistic Policies, from the description of three projects, among which we selected the one entitled Rohayhu Che Ñe’ẽ: una semana en lengua guaraní. We observed the functioning of the discourses about the Guarani in the Paraguayan and also in the Latin-American space of enunciation (GUIMARÃES, 2005), for its incorporation as an official working language in Mercosur. By the analysis undertaken, it was possible to verify how the memory (PÊCHEUX, 2007) about the languages is inserted in the production of language policies about the bilingualism, by the promotion of an imaginary bilingualism. In the battle between the languages, in the textualities analyzed, the effects of meaning ideologically and historically produced are materialized, in a process that continues to promote the Spanish language and to mute the Guarani language in Paraguay.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2016.21231