NandevaBiblia — Tapieté (Nandeva) New Testament (Paraguay)
Overview
NandevaBiblia is the complete New Testament (27 books) in the Tapieté language of the Gran Chaco region, published by The Seed Company in 2023 and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 3686). The project name Nandeva (also spelled Ñandeva) is the self-designation used by Tapieté speakers, meaning approximately "our people" or "we the people" — a common Guaraní collective noun using the first-person plural inclusive prefix ñande/nande- + the suffix -va ("those who are"). This autonym creates some confusion with unrelated "Ñandeva" Guaraní communities of Brazil and Paraguay, but within the Chaco context refers specifically to the Tapieté group. Tapieté (ISO 639-3: tpj) is a Tupi-Guaraní language of the Gran Chaco, belonging to the same major family as Guaraní (the national language of Paraguay) but forming a distinct branch associated with the Chaco forest rather than the eastern Paraguayan lowlands.
Language and People
Tapieté (ISO 639-3: tpj; autonym: Nandeva/Ñandeva) is a Tupian language: Tupian → Tupi-Guaraní → Bolivian Guaraní sub-branch (Group 2 or related). The Tupi-Guaraní family is one of the most widely spread language families in South America, extending from the Río de la Plata basin northward through the Amazon. Tapieté is one of the Chaco-associated Guaraní varieties, related to the Chiriguano/Ava Guaraní (Western Argentine Guaraní, ISO gnw) and other Bolivian Guaraní languages of the western Chaco zone, while being distinct from the Eastern Guaraní languages of Paraguay's eastern forests.
The Tapieté/Nandeva community inhabits:
- Boquerón and Alto Paraguay Departments, Paraguay — in the Gran Chaco lowlands
- Salta Province, Argentina (particularly Tartagal and Rivadavia Banda Sur area) — the largest concentration
- Bolivia — in Tarija and Santa Cruz Departments
Estimated speakers: approximately 2,000–3,000 total across Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia — a small and vulnerable community. The 2023 NT completion is a major milestone for this dispersed Chaco community.
Cultural Context
The Tapieté people were traditionally semi-nomadic hunters, gatherers, and horticulturalists of the Gran Chaco — the vast lowland plain of thorny forest, wetlands, and savannas covering parts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The Chaco was long resisted as a region by colonial powers due to its hostile environment; the Gran Chaco War (Bolivia vs. Paraguay, 1932–1935) brought outside disruption to indigenous communities including the Tapieté. Today Tapieté communities live in settled villages but maintain cultural practices and their Guaraní language identity. The language's name Nandeva ("our people") expresses a distinctive identity separate from neighboring Chaco groups. The Seed Company's 2023 NT represents the first complete New Testament in Tapieté.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by The Seed Company (seedcompany.com, Fort Worth, Texas), a Wycliffe Global Alliance member organization founded 1993.