ABSTRACT
In Paraguay, this chapter realizes an interesting example of the competing claims of an indigenous language and a world language for the status of national language. Paraguayans are generally happy to recognise Spanish as a useful language for official business. Many Paraguayans consider that Guaraní is an important symbol of Paraguayan identity. Many countries have regarded the development of a single national language as a way of symbolising the unity of a nation. Over the last hundred years, nationhood and independence have been very important political issues throughout the world. In the struggle to establish a distinct national identity, and to secure independence from colonial rule, the development of a national language has often played an important part. In Indonesia, by contrast, the government did not select the language of the political and social elite, the Javanese, as the national language.
