CONNOTATIVE-STYLISTIC FUNCTIONS OF PARAGUAYISMS IN THE NOVEL “GUNTER’S WINTER” BY JUAN MANUEL MARCOS

The presentation is about the peculiarities of the linguistic units which are typical for Paraguay together with its forms of speech, and the use of paraguayisms in literature analyzed.  A description and general classification of the paraguayisms from several points of view are made by: Formal classification: phonetic paraguayisms; grammatical (morphosyntactic); lexicals (including idioms and turns of speech). Lexico-semantic classification - from the point of view of appearance of connotations. 

The sociolinguistic aspect is underlined in the use of paraguayisms in the daily life by the Paraguayans and in the literature of the country. The maximum attention in the article is paid to the lexical units.  It is mentioned that the peculiarities of the language of Paraguay can be explained by considering the fact that Paraguay is a bilingual country where both Spanish and Guarani are spoken alike. In this regard, Paraguay is the only country in the world where the native language is officially enacted as the national language in accordance with the Paraguayan Constitution. In addition, the article deals with the mixture of Spanish and Guarani, that is to say, with the so-called Jopará. 

Another point of view of this article is to pay attention to the functions of paraguayisms which emerge in the novel titled Gunter's winter by Juan Manuel Marcos. This novel is an example of the new Latin American Postboom literary movement, and has been considered by notorious specialists as the main Paraguayan novel of the last four decades, as well as one of the ten most important books in the history of Paraguay. Additionally, it has been recognized by the Ministry of Education of Paraguay to be of National Educational Interest, and it has been translated into more than 40 languages.