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SEMANTIC TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE PARAGUAY LINGUISTIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Since the beginning of the conquest of the American continent the confrontation of indigenous and
European cultures has been observed. Languages, as a part of any culture, an indispensable element of any
society respond to the changes in social, political and economic life, respond to the revision of moral and
religious values and concepts. This response is revealed in the changes of the structure of the language in
general and in the changes of each component of the above-mentioned structure in particular, and it refers to different levels of the language: phonetics, grammar, syntax, vocabulary.
Bartomeu MeliĂĄ, by analogy with biology, calls the relations between ĐĄastellano (Castilian Spanish)
and Guarani a âlinguistic ecologyâ, because language interaction can cause either their flourishing or such
changes that can lead to the contamination of the semantics of the words.
Semantic transformations have a piecemeal character determined not only by temporal factors, but
also by other circumstances among which, along with the geographical aspect, cultural aspect has essential value. The meaning of the words depends on the emotions of the speaker; âsubstitution of the words
and creation of neologisms form speechâ. This is in its turn an area of a particular incidence where in one
way or another the process of loss of identity has been taking place, whether it is indigenous or Paraguayan language, but we can point it out according to certain features.
Language interaction brings enormous potential capacity of future development and enrichment.
Thus, for example, the Spanish language in due time was enriched with the Arabic language and later with
Anglicisms (Americanisms), etc.
We talk here about the borrowings that the recipient language adopts because of its relevant needs.
For example, the conquerors brought to America the animals that the native people did not know.
These animals were very useful for their everyday life activities. As the Guarani did not have lexical
units in their language to name them, they adapted the notions of the Spanish language with certain
phonological changes: vaka âvacaâ(âcowâ), kabayĂș âcaballoâ (âhorseâ), kabara âcabraâ (âgoatâ), ovechĂĄ
âobejaâ (âgoatâ), etc.
In addition to new technologies in all spheres of economic and socio-political life, Europeans reversed
the perception of cultural, moral and religious life. They introduced to the daily life the names of the
numerals, the months of the year, the days of the week, etc., which the Guarani-speakers accepted as
their own. They made them a part of the new system with which the Guarani world had come into contact.
For example, to name the days of the week the Guarani have their own notions. ArakÔi
âlunesâ(âMondayâ), araapy âmartesâ(âTuesdayâ), etc. Although in everyday life, together with the GuaranĂ words, Spanish words are used: Oky vaâekue lunes guive âit was raining since Mondayâ / HaÊŒe heÊŒi:
âAsáșœvaÊŒerĂŁ lunes pyharevete ha aju jueves pyhareâ âI was leaving on Monday morning early and coming
back Thursday night,â he says.
It is important to bear in mind that in the 20th-21st centuries the Guarani appealed to anglicisms to denote the novelties of the modern world: restaurante, gĂŒisqui, radio, celular, etc.
At the time of initial contacts, the Indians also contributed their first three words to ĐĄastellano (Castilian Spanish): guaranĂ, mandioca, avatĂ or, it is better to say, choclo âsoft cornâ.
A notable area of semantic transformations comprises the words denoting relationships in Guarani.
Contacts with colonizers caused almost no changes in this sphere. As a result, in their speech today we still
hear this lexis almost intact, almost without semantic changes, especially in their religious songs, mystical
stories. It is about the languages paĩ, mbyå, aché.
The words related to the Guarani worldview, their religion in general are of a particular interest from
the point of view of the semantic changes.
For example, the word guahu âsong of the Indiansâ lost its ritual sense and acquired the rude meaning
âhowlâ or âbarking of a dogâ. However, in certain cases it continues to maintain its original meaning: aguahu
papa âto sing a dirge; to cry telling thingsâ. Another kotyhu7
ritual song is not even remembered today.
Thus, as the result of the intercommunication of two religious cultures on the one hand we find that
the GuaranĂ religious discourse and the poetics of its songs lost their face because of the colonial religious
service proficiency. On the other hand, we observe the emergence of a new language: The Christian
Guarani with notable differences in semantics compared to so called âclassicâ GuaranĂ.
Spanish, as the language of the ruling class, privileged during the time of colonization underwent
fewer changes at all levels of the system. In the semantic field, the appearance of new meanings or nuances of the discourse markers is distinguished: that is the class of words (homophones of adverbs, conjunctions,
collocations, etc., such as: en fin, bueno, verdad, pues, etc. âat last, well, true, then or othersâ) who lost their
original meaning due to the process of its dissolution, the function of which is the exhortation, smoothing,
etc., of the speech. Un poco âa littleâ after its adaptation into Guarani, along with its original equivalent,
now also corresponds to the standard peninsular Spanish phrase âpor favorâ (âpleaseâ).
Semantic changes of the languages, as a reflection of the changes in social life, caused the emergence of
a unique linguistic continuum that characterizes a new society, not just a biological mixture of nations, but a
cultural one that let us distinguish Paraguayans from their relatives living in the Rio de la Plata region, Argentina.
As a result of the interaction of the two languages, Spanish and Guarani, today in Paraguay âthe third
languageâ JoparĂĄ exists and is used at all levels of social life