Guarani Dialects - Varieties

Varieties

• Western Bolivian Guaraní (AKA Simba), 7,000 speakers
• Eastern Bolivian Guaraní (AKA Chiriguano, Chawuncu, Western Argentine Guaraní), 55,000 speakers
  • dialects: Avá (subdialects Chané, Tapieté AKA Ñandeva), Izoceño/Izocenio
• Paraguayan Guaraní (Guarani proper), 5 million mostly mestizo speakers
• Chiripá Guaraní (AKA Avá, Nhandéva/Ñandeva, Apytare, Tsiripá/Txiripá), 12,000 speakers
• Mbyá Guaraní (Mbya), 25,000 speakers

These share some degree of mutual intelligibility and are close to being dialects; however, Chiripá is reported to be intelligible due to bilingualism, not inherently. Also, there is a degree of intelligibility with Kaiwá–Pai Tavytera, which is not included in the by Ethnologue. Ethnologue considers Tapieté to be a separate language, intermediate between Eastern Bolivian and Paraguayan, and has shifted from the name Chiripá to Avá, though the latter is ambiguous. Paraguayan Guaraní is by far the most widely spoken variety and is what is often meant by the term 'Guaraní' outside South America.