Mbyá Guaraní language
# Mbyá Guaraní language

Mbya Guarani is a Tupi–Guarani language spoken by approximately 6,000 Brazilians, 3,000 Argentines, and 8,000 Paraguayans. It is 75% lexically similar to Paraguayan Guarani.

Mbya Guarani is one of a number of "Guarani dialects" now generally classified as distinct languages. Mbya is closely connected to Ava Guarani, also known as Ñandeva, and intermarriage between speakers of the two languages is common. Speakers of Mbya and Ñandeva generally live in mountainous areas of the Atlantic Forest, from eastern Paraguay through Misiones Province of Argentina to the southern Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.

## Phonology

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i ĩ | ɨ ɨ̃ | u ũ |
| Mid | ɛ ɛ̃ | | o õ |
| Open | a ã | | |

* Vowel sounds /ɛ, o/ can also be heard as [e, ɔ] in free variation.
* /i, u/ when preceding vowels can be heard as non-syllabic [i̯, u̯]

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | plain | lab. | Glottal |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | kʷ | ʔ |
| Plosive | prenasal/vd. | m ~ ᵐb | n ~ ⁿd | ɲ ~ dʒ | ŋ ~ ᵑɡ | ŋʷ ~ ɡʷ | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m ~ ᵐb | n ~ ⁿd | ɲ ~ dʒ | ŋ ~ ᵑɡ | ŋʷ ~ ɡʷ | |
| Fricative | Fricative | β̞ ~ v | | | | | h |
| Approximant | Approximant | β̞ ~ v | | (i̯) | (u̯) | (u̯) | |
| Tap | Tap | | ɾ | | | | |

* /β̞/ can also be realized as [v] or [u̯] in free variation.
* Nasal sounds /m, n, ŋ/ can also be heard as prenasalized stops [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in free variation.
* /ɲ, ŋʷ/ can be heard as [i̯~dʒ, ɡʷ] before oral vowels, and as [ɲ, ŋʷ] before nasal vowels.
