Tuesday, October 18 2022, 2:30pm Park Hall Room 145 From 2:30pm-4:00pm The Constitution of Paraguay, a country known for its widespread bilingualism, finally declared Guaraní as having an “official” status equal to that of Spanish in 1992. More recently, two linguistic governing bodies have also been formed: La Secretaria de la Politica Linguistica in 2011 and the Academia de la Lengua Guarani in 2012. The challenge of how to standardize and implement official bilingualism has presented many challenges and debates and with the emergence of cell phones, social media and other modern technologies, creative solutions are being developed. Kerry Steinberg lived for over two years in a rural, Guaraní-speaking community in Paraguay from 2003-2005 before the emergence of these technologies. This summer, she traveled to Asunción, Paraguay to investigate the development of the Guaraní language and its future.