U.S. linguist works with indigenous women to preserve Paraguay’s Guana language

Linguist Shaw N. Gynan, from Western Washington University, has been working with four indigenous women in northern Paraguay’s Rio Apa community to preserve the endangered Guana language.

Roughly half of Paraguay’s 7 million people are bilingual in Spanish and Guarani, the major indigenous language, which has official status, but 19 other pre-Columbian languages also survive.