Attitudes on the Spanish and Guarani languages

Abstract

This paper reports part of a research performed in a school in the city of Presidente Franco (Alto Paraná, Paraguay), with seven teachers who use two languages daily – Spanish and Guarani. The goal of the work was to analyze interactions in which the speakers - focus of the study - use and alternate different linguistic codes during speaking events. In order to develop the analyses, questions were elaborated to check the speakers’ attitudes regarding the use of those languages. This study was based on the contributions of Grosjean (1982), Erickson (1989), Pereira (1999), André (1995), among others. Results have shown that these teachers use their languages in different contexts and diglossic situations, which are inherent to their community. Also although the Guarani language is part of their linguistic common use, situations on its use usually depend on the context and the subject´s hegemonic view concerning the own language.