Quechua

Infobox Language
name = Quechua
nativename = Qhichwa Simi / Runa Shimi / Runa Simi
pronunciation = ['qʰeʃ.wa 'si.mi] ['χetʃ.wa 'ʃi.mi] [kitʃ.wa 'ʃi.mi] [ʔitʃ.wa 'ʃi.mi] ['ɾu.nɑ 'si.mi]
states = Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
region = Andes
speakers = 10.4 million
script = Latin alphabet
rank = 65
familycolor = American
fam1 = Quechuan
nation = Bolivia and Peru.
agency = Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua
iso1=qu |iso2=que |lc1=que |ld1=Quechua (generic)
many varieties of Quechua have their own codes.


Map of the Quechuaphone world,
with major to minor Quechua-speaking regions.

ll1=none

Quechua ("Runa Simi") is a Native American language of South America. It was already widely spoken across the Central Andes long before the time of the Incas, who established it as the official language of administration for their Empire, and is still spoken today in various regional forms (the so-called ‘dialects’) by some 10 million people through much of South America, including Peru, south-western and central Bolivia, southern Colombia and Ecuador, north-western Argentina and northern Chile. It is the most widely spoken language of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Though it is tradionally referred to as a single language many (if not most) linguists treat it as a family of related languages - Quechuan languages, which has approximately 46 dialects, grouped in at least seven languages. [citation
last=Torero
first=Alfredo
contribution = La familia lingûística quechua
year=1983
title=América Latina en sus lenguas indígenas
place = Caracas
publisher=Monte Ávila
id=ISBN 9233019268 ] [citation
last=Torero
first=Alfredo
year=1974
title=El quechua y la historia social andina
place = Lima
publisher=Universidad Ricardo Palma, Dirección Universitaria de Investigación
id=ISBN 9786034502109 ] [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90769 Ethnologue report for Quechuan (SIL)] ]

Quechua is a very regular agglutinative language, as opposed to a fusional one. Its normal sentence order is SOV (subject-object-verb). Its large number of suffixes changes both the overall significance of words and their subtle shades of meaning. Notable grammatical features include bipersonal conjugation (verbs agree with both subject and object), evidentiality (indication of the source and veracity of knowledge), a topic particle, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it."""

History

The various dialects of Quechua were widely spoken throughout the Andes long before the rise of the Inca state in the 15th century. The Incas made one dialect of Quechua (Classical Quechua, the ancestor of Southern Quechua) their official language; as they expanded their empire by conquest, this dialect became pre-Columbian Peru's "lingua franca", retaining this status after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.

The oldest records of the language are those of Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540, publishing his "Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú" in 1560.

Quechua has often been grouped with Aymara as a larger Quechumaran linguistic stock, largely because about a third of its vocabulary is shared with Aymara. This proposal is controversial, however, as the cognates are close, often closer than intra-Quechua cognates, and there is little relationship in the affixal system. The similarities may be due to long-term contact rather than from common origin. The language was further extended beyond the limits of the Inca empire by the Roman Catholic Church, which chose it to preach to natives in the Andes. Where the two languages intermix, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers and vice-versa. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as "wawa" (infant), "michi" (cat), "wasca" (strap, or thrashing) are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas.

Today, it has the status of an official language in both Peru and Bolivia, along with Spanish and Aymara. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and the introduction of the Latin alphabet, Quechua had no written alphabet. The Incas kept track of numerical data through a system of quipu-strings.

Currently, the major obstacle to the diffusion of the usage and teaching of Quechua is the lack of written material in the Quechua language, namely books, newspapers, software, magazines, etc. Thus, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially an oral language.It must be said that this situation is being greatly improved by modern technology.

Geographic distribution

There are four main dialect groups.

Quechua I or "Waywash" is spoken in Peru's central highlands. It is the most diverse branch of Quechua, [Lyle Campbell, "American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America", Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 189] such that its dialects have often been considered different languages.

Quechua II or "Wanp'una (Traveler)" is divided into three branches:
*II-A: Yunkay Quechua is spoken sporadically in Peru's occidental highlands;
*II-B: Northern Quechua (also known as "Runashimi" or, especially in Ecuador, "Kichwa") is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also spoken in the Amazonian lowlands in Ecuador and Peru;
*II-C: Southern Quechua, spoken in Peru's southern highlands, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, is today's most important branch because it has the largest number of speakers and because of its cultural and literary legacy.

This traditional classification, though still a helpful guide, has been increasingly challenged in recent years, since a number of regional varieties of Quechua seem to be intermediate between the two branches.

Number of speakers

The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources.The most reliable figures are to be found in the census results of Peru (1993) and Bolivia (2001), though they are probably altogether too low due to underreporting. The 2001 Ecuador census seems to be a prominent example of underreporting, as it comes up with only 499,292 speakers of the two varieties Quichua and Kichwa combined, where other sources estimate between 1.5 and 2.2 million speakers.

*Argentina: 100,000
*Bolivia: 2,100,000 (2001 census)
*Brazil: unknown
*Chile: very few, spoken in pockets in the Chilean Altiplano (Ethnologue)
*Colombia: 9,000 (Ethnologue)
*Ecuador: 500,000 to 1,000,000
*Peru: 3,200,000 (1993 census)

Additionally, there may be hundreds of thousands of speakers outside the traditionally Quechua speaking territories, in immigrant communities.

Vocabulary

A number of Quechua loanwords have entered English via Spanish, including "coca", "cóndor", "guano", "jerky", "llama", "pampa", "puma", "quinine", "quinoa", "vicuña" and possibly "gaucho". The word "lagniappe" comes from the Quechua word "yapay" ("to increase; to add") with the Spanish article "la" in front of it, "la yapa" or "la ñapa", in Spanish.

The influence on Latin American Spanish includes such borrowings as "papa" for "potato", "chuchaqui" for "hangover" in Ecuador, and diverse borrowings for "altitude sickness", in Bolivia from Quechua "suruqch'i" to Bolivian "sorojchi", in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru "soroche".

Quechua has borrowed a large number of Spanish words, such as "pero" (from "pero", but), "bwenu" (from "bueno", good), and "burru" (from "burro", donkey).

Phonology

The description below applies to Cusco dialect; there are significant differences in other varieties of Quechua.

Vowels

Quechua uses only three vowels: IPA|/a/ IPA|/i/ and IPA|/u/, as in Aymara (including Jaqaru). Monolingual speakers pronounce these as IPA| [æ] [ɪ] and IPA| [ʊ] respectively, though the Spanish vowels IPA|/a/ IPA|/i/ and IPA|/u/ may also be used. When the vowels appear adjacent to the uvular consonants IPA|/q/, IPA|/qʼ/, and IPA|/qʰ/, they are rendered more like IPA| [ɑ] , IPA| [ɛ] and IPA| [ɔ] respectively.

Consonants

In Quechua, there are seven pronouns. Quechua also has two first person plural pronouns ("we", in English). One is called the inclusive, which is used when the speaker wishes to include in "we" the person to whom he or she is speaking ("we and you"). The other form is called the exclusive, which is used when the addressee is excluded. ("we without you"). Quechua also adds the suffix "-kuna" to the second and third person singular pronouns "qam" and "pay" to create the plural forms "qam-kuna" and "pay-kuna".

Adjectives

Adjectives in Quechua are always placed before nouns. They lack gender and number, and are not declined to agree with substantives.

Numbers

*Cardinal numbers. "ch'usaq" (0), "huk" (1), "iskay" (2), "kimsa" (3), "tawa" (4), "pichqa" (5), "suqta" (6), "qanchis" (7), "pusaq" (8), "isqun" (9), "chunka" (10), "chunka hukniyuq" (11), "chunka iskayniyuq" (12), "iskay chunka" (20), "pachak" (100), "waranqa" (1,000), "hunu" (1,000,000), "lluna" (1,000,000,000,000).
*Ordinal numbers. To form ordinal numbers, the word "ñiqin" is put after the appropriate cardinal number (e.g., "iskay ñiqin" = "second"). The only exception is that, in addition to "huk ñiqin" ("first"), the phrase "ñawpaq" is also used in the somewhat more restricted sense of "the initial, primordial, the oldest".

Nouns

Noun roots accept suffixes which indicate person (defining of possession, not identity), number, and case. In general, the personal suffix precedes that of number - in the Santiago del Estero variety, however, the order is reversed. [ref-internet
Apellido = Jorge R.
Nombre = Alderetes
Vínculo autor =
Título = Morfoligía Nominal del Quechua Santiagueño
Año = 2005
Edición = 1997
id=
isbn=
url=http://usuarios.arnet.com.ar/yanasu/Cap3-1.htm
Fecha de acceso = 2006] From variety to variety, suffixes may change.

Adverbs

Adverbs can be formed by adding "-ta" or, in some cases, "-lla" to an adjective: "allin - allinta" ("good - well"), "utqay - utqaylla" ("quick - quickly"). They are also formed by adding suffixes to demonstratives: "chay" ("that") - "chaypi" ("there"), "kay" ("this") - "kayman" ("hither").

There are several original adverbs. For Europeans, it is striking that the adverb "qhipa" means both "behind" and "future", whereas "ñawpa" means "ahead, in front" and "past". [This is not unknown in English, where "before" means "in the past", and Shakespeare's Macbeth says "The greatest is behind", meaning in the future.] This means that local and temporal concepts of adverbs in Quechua (as well as in Aymara) are associated to each other reversely compared to European languages. For the speakers of Quechua, we are moving backwards into the future (we cannot see it - ie. it is unknown), facing the past (we can see it - ie. we remember it).

Verbs

The infinitive forms (unconjugated) have the suffix "-y" ("much'a"= "kiss"; "much'a-y" = "to kiss"). The endings for the indicative are:To these are added various suffixes to change the meaning. For example, "-cha" is used when the subject provoques the action on the subject and "-ku", is added to make the actor the recipient of the action (example: "wañuy" = "to die"; "wañuchiy" = to kill "wañuchikuy" = "to commit suicide"); "-naku", when the action is mutual (example: "marq'ay"= "to hug"; "marq'anakuy"= "to hug each other"), and "-chka", when the condition is continuing (e.g., "mikhuy" = "to eat"; "mikhuchkay" = "to be eating").

Grammatical particles

Particles are indeclinable words, that is, they do not accept suffixes. They are relatively rare. The most common are "arí" ("yes") and "mana" ("no"), although "mana" can take some suffixes, such as "-n"/"-m" ("manan"/"manam"), "-raq" ("manaraq", not yet) and "-chu" ("manachu?", or not?), to intensify the meaning. Also used are "yaw" ("hey", "hi"), and certain loan words from Spanish, such as "piru" (from Spanish "pero" "but") and "sinuqa" (from "sino" "rather").

Evidentiality

Nearly every Quechua sentence is marked by an evidential suffix, indicating how certain the speaker is about a statement. "-mi" expresses personal knowledge ("Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirmi", "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver-- I know it for a fact"); "-si" expresses hearsay knowledge ("Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirsi", "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver, or so I've heard"); "-chá" expresses probability ("Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirchá", "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver, most likely"). These become "-m, -s, -ch" after a vowel, although "-ch" is rarely used, and the majority of speakers usually employ "-chá", even after a vowel ("Mariochá", "He's Mario, most likely").

The evidential suffixes are not restricted to nouns; they can attach to any word in the sentence, typically the comment (that is, new information, as opposed to the topic).

In popular culture

* The fictional Huttese language in the "Star Wars" movies is largely based upon Quechua. According to Jim Wilce, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University, George Lucas contacted a colleague of his, Allen Sonafrank, to record the dialogue. Wilce and Sonafrank discussed the matter, and felt it might be demeaning to have an alien represent Quechuans, especially in light of Erich von Daniken's popular publications that claimed Inca monuments were created by aliens because "primitives" like the Incas could never have produced them. Sonafrank declined, but a grad student, who could pronounce but did not speak Quechua, recorded Jabba's dialogue. There are reports that the dialogue was played backwards or remixed, possibly to avoid offending Quechuans.
* The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, speaks fluent Quechua.
* The sport retailer Decathlon Group brands their mountain equipment range as Quechua.

ee also

*Aymara language
*Andes
*List of English words of Quechuan origin
*South Bolivian Quechua

Notes

References

* Cerrón-Palomino, Rodolfo. "Lingüística Quechua", Centro de Estudios Rurales Andinos 'Bartolomé de las Casas', 2nd ed. 2003
*Cole, Peter. "Imbabura Quechua", North-Holland (Lingua Descriptive Studies 5), Amsterdam 1982.
* Cusihuamán, Antonio, "Diccionario Quechua Cuzco-Collao", Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de Las Casas", 2001, ISBN 9972691365
* Cusihuamán, Antonio, "Gramática Quechua Cuzco-Collao", Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de Las Casas", 2001, ISBN 9972691373
* Mannheim, Bruce, "The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion", University of Texas Press, 1991, ISBN 0292746636
* Rodríguez Champi, Albino. (2006). Quechua de Cusco. "Ilustraciones fonéticas de lenguas amerindias", ed. Stephen A. Marlett. Lima: SIL International y Universidad Ricardo Palma. [http://lengamer.org/publicaciones/trabajos/quechua_cusco_afi.pdf]

Further reading

* Adelaar, Willem F. H. "Tarma Quechua: Grammar, Texts, Dictionary". Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press, 1977.
* Bills, Garland D., Bernardo Vallejo C., and Rudolph C. Troike. "An Introduction to Spoken Bolivian Quechua". Special publication of the Institute of Latin American Studies, the University of Texas at Austin. Austin: Published for the Institute of Latin American Studies by the University of Texas Press, 1969. ISBN 0292700199
* Curl, John, "Ancient American Poets". Tempe AZ: Bilingual Press, 2005.ISBN 1-931010-21-8 http://red-coral.net/Pach.html
* Gifford, Douglas. "Time Metaphors in Aymara and Quechua". St. Andrews: University of St. Andrews, 1986.
* Harrison, Regina. "Signs, Songs, and Memory in the Andes: Translating Quechua Language and Culture". Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. ISBN 0292776276
* Jake, Janice L. "Grammatical Relations in Imbabura Quechua". Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Garland Pub, 1985. ISBN 082405475X
* King, Kendall A. "Language Revitalization Processes and Prospects: Quichua in the Ecuadorian Andes". Bilingual education and bilingualism, 24. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters LTD, 2001. ISBN 1853594954
* King, Kendall A., and Nancy H. Hornberger. "Quechua Sociolinguistics". Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004.
* Lara, Jesús, Maria A. Proser, and James Scully. "Quechua Peoples Poetry". Willimantic, Conn: Curbstone Press, 1976. ISBN 0915306093
* Lefebvre, Claire, and Pieter Muysken. "Mixed Categories: Nominalizations in Quechua". Studies in natural language and linguistic theory, [v. 11] . Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988. ISBN1556080506
* Lefebvre, Claire, and Pieter Muysken. "Relative Clauses in Cuzco Quechua: Interactions between Core and Periphery". Bloomington, Ind: Indiana University Linguistics Club, 1982.
* Muysken, Pieter. "Syntactic Developments in the Verb Phrase of Ecuadorian Quechua". Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press, 1977. ISBN 9031601519
* Nuckolls, Janis B. "Sounds Like Life: Sound-Symbolic Grammar, Performance, and Cognition in Pastaza Quechua". Oxford studies in anthropological linguistics, 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN
* Parker, Gary John. "Ayacucho Quechua Grammar and Dictionary". Janua linguarum. Series practica, 82. The Hague: Mouton, 1969.
* Sánchez, Liliana. Quechua-Spanish Bilingualism: Interference and Convergence in Functional Categories. Language acquisition & language disorders, v. 35. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub, 2003. ISBN 1588114716
* Weber, David. "A Grammar of Huallaga (Huánuco) Quechua". University of California publications in linguistics, v. 112. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. ISBN 0520097327
* Wright, Ronald, and Nilda Callañaupa. "Quechua Phrasebook". Hawthorn, Vic., Australia: Lonely Planet, 1989. ISBN 0864420390

External links

* [http://webs.satlink.com/usuarios/r/rory/main.htm El Quechua de Santiago del Estero] , extensive site covering the grammar of Argentinian Quechua (in Spanish)
* [http://www.runasimi.de runasimi.de] Multilingual Quechua website with online dictionary (xls) Quechua - German - English - Spanish.
* [http://www.quechua.org.uk Quechua Language and Linguistics] an extensive site.
** [http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Sounds The Sounds of the Andean Languages] listen online to pronunciations of Quechua words, see photos of speakers and their home regions, learn about the origins and varieties of Quechua.
* [http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~scoronel/quechua.html CyberQuechua] , by the Quechua-speaking linguist Serafín Coronel Molina.
* [http://portal.huascaran.edu.pe:8080/CIApps/Curricular/Diccionario/index.htm Multilingual Dictionary: Spanish - Quechua (Cusco, Ayacucho, Junín, Ancash) - Aymara]
* [http://www.yungayperu.com.pe/Quechua%20Yungay.htm Toponimos del Quechua de Yungay, Peru]
* [http://red-coral.net/Pach.html Sacred Hymns of Pachacutec]
* [http://www.quechuanetwork.org/dictionary.cfm?lang=e Quechua Network's Dictionary] a very good one.
* [http://www.andes.org/q_grammar.html Quechua lessons (www.andes.org)] in Spanish and English
* [http://www.yachay.com.pe/especiales/quechua/ Quechua course] in Spanish, by Demetrio Tupah Yupanki (Red Científica Peruana)
* [http://www.fedepi.org/Q/ Detailed map of the varieties of Quechua according to SIL (fedepi.org)]
* [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Quechua-english/ Quechua - English Dictionary] : from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
* [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Ecuadorian+Quechua-english/ Ecuadorian Quechua - English Dictionary] : from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
* [http://lit.csci.unt.edu/~babylon/wikiTR MediaWiki translation tool for Quechua] Online translation Tool for Quechua
* [http://www.google.com/intl/qu/ Google Quechua]

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