Paraguay is distinctive among Latin American nations in that the most dominant language is not a European-derived tongue, but a form of Native American Guarani. Although Spanish is also widely spoken in Paraguay, the Guarani language lives on.
Could other Latin American countries have an indigenous language as the language of the majority? Let's look at some contenders:
1. Mexico - A majority of Mexican citizens continued to speak an indigenous first language by 1820, and this figure fell just below 40% by the end of the century. Philip II of Spain tried to make Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, the predominant language of New Spain in the mid-1500's. Could a Nahuatl-speaking Mexico exist to this day, bolstered by post-colonial nationalism?
2. In Peru, which has a largely indigenous and mestizo population, Quechua was once much more widespread, only falling after the defeat of Tupac Amaru III and the rise of independence.
3. Bolivia, with its indigenous majority, might be in the same state with Aymara,
4. Brazil -This is more of a stretch. Early Portuguese settlers learned "lingua geral," a form of Tupi simplified by the Jesuits, as the primary language of the fledling colony in its early colonial haydays. Like Guarani in Paraguay, it had a cross-demographic appeal over race and class, picked up by Tupi, Portuguese, mixed-race people, non-Tupi tribes, and African slaves alike, but it was eventually drowned out by a mass influx of people who found Portuguese more convenient.
5. Guatemala - Could there be a Mayan pidgin to bridge the gap between the country's highly-diverse indigenous majority?