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Languages of South America


The languages of South America can be divided into three broad groups:

The languages introduced by the process of the European colonization of the Americas are chiefly European, some of whom have given rise to the formation of creoles.

Portuguese is the majority language of South America, by a small margin. Spanish, with slightly fewer speakers than Portuguese, is the second most spoken language on the continent.

Other official and majority languages in specific countries are:

Indigenous languages of South America include, among several others, Quechua languages in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador; Guaraní in Paraguay and, to a much lesser extent, in Bolivia; Aymara in Bolivia, Peru, and less often in Chile; and Mapudungun is spoken in certain pockets of southern Chile and, more rarely, Argentina.

In Bolivia, Quechua, Aymara, and Tupi Guarani are co-official alongside Spanish. In Paraguay, Guarani shares joint official status with Spanish. In Colombia, the languages of the country's ethnic groups are constitutionally recognized as official languages in their territories; more than 60 such aboriginal languages exist today. In Peru, Quechua, Aymara, and other indigenous languages are co-official in the areas where they are predominant. There are many other languages once spoken in South America that are extinct today (such as the extinct languages of the Marañón River basin).


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