Overview of the languages commonly spoken in Bolivia
Languages of Bolivia
|
---|
|
Official
|
- Aymara
,
Araona
,
Baure
,
Besiro
,
Canichana
,
Cavineno
,
Cayubaba
,
Chacobo
,
Chiman
,
Ese Ejja
,
Guarani
,
Guarasu'we
,
Guarayu
,
Itonama
,
Leco
,
Machajuyai-Kallawaya
,
Machineri
,
Maropa
,
Mojeno-Ignaciano
,
Mojeno-Trinitario
,
More
,
Moseten
,
Movima
,
Pacawara
,
Puquina
,
Quechua
,
Siriono
,
Spanish
,
Tacana
,
Tapiete
,
Toromona
,
Uru-Chipaya
,
Weenhayek
,
Yaminawa
,
Yuki
,
Yuracare
,
Zamuco
|
---|
Main
| Spanish
|
---|
Indigenous
| Arawakan languages
,
Pano-Tacanan languages
,
Quechuan languages
,
Tupian languages
, others
|
---|
Vernacular
| Bolivian Spanish
,
Portunol
|
---|
Minority
| Standard German
,
Plautdietsch
|
---|
Foreign
| English
|
---|
Signed
| Bolivian Sign Language
|
---|
Keyboard layout
| |
---|
The
languages of
Bolivia
include
Spanish
; several dozen indigenous languages, most prominently
Aymara
,
Quechua
,
Chiquitano
, and
Guarani
;
Bolivian Sign Language
(closely related to
American Sign Language
). Indigenous languages and Spanish are official languages of the state according to the 2009 Constitution. The constitution says that all indigenous languages are official, listing 36 specific languages, of which some are extinct. Spanish and Quechua are spoken primarily in the
Andes
region, Aymara is mainly spoken in the
Altiplano
around
Lake Titicaca
, Chiquitano is spoken in the central part of
Santa Cruz department
, and
Guarani
is spoken in the southeast on the border with
Paraguay
and
Argentina
.
List of official languages
[
edit
]
The following languages are listed as official languages in the
Constitution of Bolivia
.
[1]
In 2019, the Bolivian government and the Plurinational Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures (Ipelec) announced plans to extend constitutional recognition to three additional indigenous languages.
[2]
Demographics
[
edit
]
Language
|
Number of speakers
|
Percent
|
Quechua
|
2,281,198
|
25.08%
|
Aymara
|
1,525,321
|
16.77%
|
Guarani
|
62,575
|
0.69%
|
Other native
|
49,432
|
0.54%
|
All native
|
3,918,526
|
43.09%
|
Only native
|
960,491
|
10.56%
|
|
|
|
Native and Spanish
|
2,739,407
|
30.12%
|
Only Spanish
|
4,082,219
|
44.89%
|
Spanish
|
6,821,626
|
75.01%
|
|
|
|
Foreign
|
250,754
|
2.76%
|
Spanish and foreign
|
4,115,751
|
45.25%
|
Official status
[
edit
]
The Bolivian government and the departmental governments are required to use at least two languages in their operation, one being Spanish, and the other being selected according to the circumstances and the needs of the territory in question. These requirements appear in Article 234 of the 2009 Constitution and the General Law of Linguistic Rights and Policies (Law 269 of August 2, 2012); the law provided a three-year deadline to government functionaries, although there was no immediate punishment for officials who failed to comply.
[3]
Departmental and municipal autonomous governments are required to use the languages of their territory, always including Spanish.
[4]
Following the National Education Reform of 1994, all thirty indigenous languages were introduced alongside Spanish in the country's schools.
[5]
However, many schools did not implement the reforms, especially urban schools.
[
citation needed
]
Bolivia's national anthem has been translated into six indigenous languages: Aymara, Besiro-Chiquitano, Guarani, Guarayu, Quechua, and Mojeno-Trinitario.
[6]
Bolivia has 12 million inhabitants. Only 5 languages of Bolivia are spoken by more than 30,000 people: Spanish monolingual (5 million speakers), Kichwa (2.4 million speakers), Aymara (1.5 million), Low German (Plattdeutsch) (100,000 speakers) and Guarani (33,000 speakers). Of these all are official except Plattdeutsch. There are 8 official languages spoken by between 1,000 and 8,000 people each. So of the 37 languages declared official by the constitution of 2009, 23 are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people and 2 are extinct (puquina and machajuyai-kallawaya).
[
citation needed
]
Languages without official status
[
edit
]
Standard German
is spoken by 160,000 of whom about 70,000 are
Mennonites
in
Santa Cruz Department
. These Mennonites speak
Plautdietsch
, a
German dialect
, as everyday language but use Standard German for reading and writing and as formal language e.g. in church.
[7]
Portuguese is also spoken near Bolivia's border with Brazil and around 0.2% of Bolivia speaks it as their mother tongue.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Political Constitution of the State - Article 5
- ^
"Three new indigenous languages to be officially added to Bolivian Constitution"
.
ConstitutionNet
. Retrieved
2022-01-03
.
- ^
"Funcionarios deben hablar una lengua originaria desde agosto"
.
Pagina Siete
. 2015-07-29
. Retrieved
2018-03-21
.
- ^
Nueva Constitucion Politica Del Estado
, Aprobada en grande, detalle y revision. December 2007, article 5.
- ^
Hornberger, Nancy. 1997.
Language policy, language education, language rights: Indigenous, immigrant, and international perspectives
Archived
2012-09-15 at the
Wayback Machine
. Language in Society 27:443. Retrieved on April 28, 2009.
- ^
Cuevas, Aleja (August 9, 2017).
"6 de 34 pueblos logran traducir el Himno Nacional - La Razon"
.
La Razon
(in Spanish). Archived from
the original
on 2018-03-21
. Retrieved
2018-03-21
.
- ^
Ethnologue: Paraguay
- ^
"Censo de Poblacion y Vivienda 2012 - BOLIVIA CARACTERISTICAS DE LA POBLACION"
(in Spanish). Archived from
the original
on 2021-08-01
. Retrieved
2019-12-27
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Language families
and isolates
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Proposed groupings
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Linguistic areas
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Countries
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Lists
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National language
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Indigenous
languages
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Sign languages
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