ABSTRACT
The linguistic and cultural situation in Paraguay is unique in Latin America. In this country, Guarani is used as a means of communication by the majority and not, as is the case in many other regions across the Americas, the minority of the population. The Jesuits who learned Guarani created a uniform language form based on several Guarani dialects, adapting them to European cultural patterns and Christian ways of thinking. During the Chaco War against Bolivia between 1932 and 1935, the use of Spanish in the war field was forbidden by the government because the Guarani language was again associated with the national unity of Paraguay. Due to the long history of bilingualism in Paraguay, Spanish, and Guarani have influenced each other over the years. This influence is very strong in both languages at the level of the lexicon, but only rudimentary at the level of phonetics, phonology, and morphosyntax.
