Quechua (/ˈkɛtʃuə/,[2][3]Spanish:[ˈketʃwa]), also calledRuna simi (Quechua:[ˈɾʊnaˈsɪmɪ], 'people's language') inSouthern Quechua, is anindigenouslanguage family that originated in centralPeru and thereafter spread to other countries of theAndes.[4][5][6][7] Derived from a common ancestral "Proto-Quechua" language,[4] it is today the most widely spokenpre-Columbian language family of the Americas, with the number of speakers estimated at 8–10 million speakers in 2004,[8] and just under 7 million from the most recent census data available up to 2011.[9] Approximately 13.9% (3.7 million) of Peruvians speak a Quechua language.[10]
Although Quechua began expanding many centuries before[4][5][6][11][7] theIncas, that previous expansion also meant that it was the primary language family within the Inca Empire. The Spanish also tolerated its use until thePeruvian struggle for independence in the 1780s. As a result, various Quechua languages are still widely spoken today, being co-official in many regions and the most spokenlanguage in Peru, after Spanish.
The Quechualinguistic homeland may have been Central Peru. It has been speculated that it may have been used in theChavín andWari civilizations.[12]
Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of theInca Empire. The Inca were one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke a form of Quechua, which in theCuzco region particularly has been heavily influenced byAymara, hence some of the characteristics that still distinguish the Cuzco form of Quechua today. Diverse Quechua regional dialects and languages had already developed in different areas, influenced by local languages, before the Inca Empire expanded and further promoted Quechua as the official language of the Empire.
After theSpanish conquest of Peru in the 16th century, Quechua continued to be used widely by the indigenous peoples as the "common language". It was officially recognized by the Spanish administration, and many Spaniards learned it in order to communicate with local peoples.[13] The clergy of theCatholic Church adopted Quechua to use as the language ofevangelization. The oldest written records of the language are by missionaryDomingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published hisGrammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú (Grammar or Art of the General Language of the Indians of the Kingdoms of Peru) in 1560.[14][15] Given its use by the Catholic missionaries, the range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas.
In the late 18th century, colonial officials ended the administrative and religious use of Quechua. They banned it from public use in Peru after theTúpac Amaru II rebellion of indigenous peoples.[8] The Crown banned "loyal" pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vega'sComentarios Reales.[16]
Despite a brief revival of the language immediately after the Latin American nations achieved independence in the 19th century, the prestige of Quechua had decreased sharply. Gradually its use declined so that it was spoken mostly by indigenous people in the more isolated and conservative rural areas. Nevertheless, in the 21st century, Quechua language speakers number roughly 7 million people across South America,[9] more than any other indigenous language family in the Americas.
Currently, there are different initiatives that promote Quechua in the Andes and across the world: many universities offer Quechua classes, a community-based organization such asElva Ambía's Quechua Collective of New York promote the language, and governments are training interpreters in Quechua to serve in healthcare, justice, and bureaucratic facilities.[24]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2023)
Map of Peru showing the distribution of overall Quechua speakers by district
In 1975, Peru became the first country to recognize Quechua as one of its official languages.[25] Ecuador conferred official status on the language in its 2006 constitution, and in 2009, Bolivia adopted a new constitution that recognized Quechua and several other indigenous languages as official languages of the country.[26]
The major obstacle to the usage and teaching of Quechua languages is the lack of written materials, such as books, newspapers, software, and magazines. The Bible has been translated into Quechua and is distributed by certain missionary groups. Quechua, along withAymara and minor indigenous languages, remains essentially aspoken language.
In recent years, Quechua has been introduced inintercultural bilingual education (IBE) inPeru,Bolivia, andEcuador. Even in these areas, the governments are reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking populations. Some indigenous people in each of the countries are having their children study in Spanish for social advancement.[27]
Radio Nacional del Perú broadcasts news and agrarian programs in Quechua for periods in the mornings.
Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed in much of the Andean region, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua. Similarly, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such aswawa (infant),misi (cat),waska (strap or thrashing), are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas. Quechua has also had a significant influence on other native languages of the Americas, such asMapuche.[28]
It is difficult to measure the number of Quechua speakers.[9] The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total inEthnologue 16 is 10 million, primarily based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Highland Quechua inEthnologue, for example, is 300,000, an estimate from 1977.
The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura dialect speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, compared to the estimate in most linguistic sources of more than 2 million. The censuses of Peru (2007) and Bolivia (2001) are thought to be more reliable.
Argentina: 900,000 (1971)
Bolivia: 2,100,000 (2001 census); 2,800,000 South Bolivian (1987)
Chile: few, if any; 8,200 in ethnic group (2002 census)
The four branches of Quechua: I (Central), II-A (North Peruvian), II-B (Northern), II-C (Southern)
There are significant differences among the varieties of Quechua spoken in the central Peruvian highlands and the peripheral varieties of Ecuador, as well as those of southern Peru and Bolivia. They can be labeled Quechua I (or Quechua B, central) and Quechua II (or Quechua A, peripheral). Within the two groups, there are few sharp boundaries, making themdialect continua.
However, there is a secondary division in Quechua II between the grammatically simplified northern varieties of Ecuador, Quechua II-B, known there asKichwa, and the generally more conservative varieties of the southern highlands, Quechua II-C, which include the old Inca capital ofCusco. The closeness is at least in part because of the influence ofCusco Quechua on the Ecuadorean varieties in the Inca Empire. Because Northern nobles were required to educate their children in Cusco, this was maintained as theprestige dialect in the north.
Speakers from different points within any of the three regions can generally understand one another reasonably well. There are nonetheless significant local-level differences across each. (Wanka Quechua, in particular, has several very distinctive characteristics that make the variety more challenging to understand, even for other Central Quechua speakers.) Speakers from different major regions, particularly Central or Southern Quechua, are not able to communicate effectively.
The lack ofmutual intelligibility among the dialects is the basic criterion that defines Quechua not as a single language, but as a language family. The complex and progressive nature of how speech varies across the dialect continua makes it nearly impossible to differentiate discrete varieties;Ethnologue lists 45 varieties which are then divided into two groups; Central and Peripheral. Due to the non-intelligibility between the two groups, they are all classified as separate languages.[32]
As a reference point, the overall degree of diversity across the family is a little less than that of theRomance orGermanic families, and more of the order ofSlavic orArabic. The greatest diversity is within Central Quechua, or Quechua I, which is believed to lie close to thehomeland of the ancestral Proto-Quechua language.
Alfredo Torero devised the traditional classification, the three divisions above, plus a fourth, a northern or Peruvian branch. The latter causes complications in the classification, however, as various dialects (e.g.Cajamarca–Cañaris,Pacaraos, andYauyos) have features of both Quechua I and Quechua II, and so are difficult to assign to either.
The most widely spoken varieties in this group are Chimborazo Highland Quichua and Imbabura Highland Quichua.
Southern Quechua orQuechua II C, spoken in Bolivia, Chile, southern Peru and Northwest Argentina.
The most widely spoken varieties are South Bolivian, Cusco, Ayacucho, and Puno (Collao).
Willem Adelaar adheres to the Quechua I / Quechua II (central/peripheral) bifurcation. But, partially following later modifications by Torero, he reassigns part of Quechua II-A to Quechua I:[33]
Landerman (1991) does not believe a true genetic classification is possible and divides Quechua II so that the family has four geographical–typological branches: Northern, North Peruvian, Central, and Southern. He includes Chachapoyas and Lamas in North Peruvian Quechua so Ecuadorian is synonymous with Northern Quechua.[34]
Quechua I (Central Quechua,Waywash) is spoken in Peru's central highlands, from theAncash Region toHuancayo. It is the most diverse branch of Quechua,[35] to the extent that its divisions are commonly considered different languages.
Quechua II (Peripheral Quechua,Wamp'una "Traveler")
II-A: Yunkay Quechua (North Peruvian Quechua) is scattered in Peru's occidental highlands.
II-B: Northern Quechua (also known asRunashimi or, especially in Ecuador,Kichwa) is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also spoken in the Amazonian lowlands of Colombia and Ecuador, and in pockets of Peru.
II-C:Southern Quechua, in the highlands further south, fromHuancavelica through theAyacucho,Cusco, andPuno regions ofPeru, across much ofBolivia, and in pockets in north-westernArgentina. It is the most influential branch, with the largest number of speakers and the most important cultural and literary legacy.
Quechua shares a large amount of vocabulary, and some striking structural parallels, withAymara, and the two families have sometimes been grouped together as a "Quechumaran family". This hypothesis is generally rejected by specialists, however. The parallels are better explained by mutual influence and borrowing through intensive and long-term contact. Many Quechua–Aymara cognates are close, often closer than intra-Quechua cognates, and there is a little relationship in theaffixal system. ThePuquina language of theTiwanaku Empire is a possible source for some of the shared vocabulary between Quechua and Aymara.[28]
Quechua hasborrowed a large number ofSpanish words, such aspiru (frompero, "but"),bwenu (frombueno, "good"),iskwila (fromescuela, "school"),waka (fromvaca, "cow") andwuru (fromburro, "donkey").[37]
A number of Quechua words have enteredEnglish andFrench viaSpanish, includingcoca,condor,guano,jerky,llama,pampa,poncho,puma,quinine,quinoa,vicuña (vigogne in French), and, possibly,gaucho. The wordlagniappe comes from the Quechuan wordyapay "to increase, to add". The word first came into Spanish thenLouisiana French, with the French or Spanish articlela in front of it,la ñapa in Louisiana French or Creole, orla yapa in Spanish. A rare instance of a Quechua word being taken into general Spanish use is given bycarpa for "tent" (Quechuakarpa).[38]
In Bolivia, particularly, Quechua words are used extensively even by non-Quechua speakers. These includewawa "baby, infant",chʼaki "hangover",misi "cat",jukʼucho "mouse",qʼumer uchu "green pepper",jaku "let's go",chhiri andchhurco "curly haired", among many others. Quechua grammar also enters Bolivian Spanish, such as the use of the suffix-ri. In Bolivian Quechua,-ri is added to verbs to signify an action is performed with affection or, in the imperative, as a rough equivalent to "please". In Bolivia,-ri is often included in the Spanish imperative to imply "please" or to soften commands. For example, the standardpásame "pass me [something]" becomespasarime.
At first, Spaniards referred to the language of the Inca empire as thelengua general, thegeneral tongue. The namequichua was first used in 1560 byDomingo de Santo Tomás in hisGrammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú.[39] It is not known what name the native speakers gave to their language before colonial times and whether it was Spaniards who called itquechua.[39]
There are two possible etymologies of Quechua as the name of the language. There is a possibility that the name Quechua was derived from*qiĉwa, the native word which originally meant the "temperate valley" altitude ecological zone in the Andes (suitable for maize cultivation) and to its inhabitants.[39] Alternatively,Pedro Cieza de León andInca Garcilaso de la Vega, the early Spanish chroniclers, mention the existence of a people called Quichua in the presentApurímac Region, and it could be inferred that their name was given to the entire language.[39]
Another name that native speakers give to their own language isruna simi, "language of man/people"; it also seems to have emerged during the colonial period.[39]
Quechua only has three vowel phonemes:/a//i/ and/u/, with no diphthongs, as in Aymara (includingJaqaru). Monolingual speakers pronounce them as[æ,ɪ,ʊ] respectively, butSpanish realizations[ä,i,u] may also be found. When the vowels appear adjacent touvular consonants (/q/,/qʼ/, and/qʰ/), they are rendered more like [ɑ,ɛ,ɔ], respectively.
About 30% of the modern Quechua vocabulary is borrowed from Spanish, and some Spanish sounds (such as/f/,/b/,/d/,/ɡ/) may have become phonemic even among monolingual Quechua speakers.
Voicing is notphonemic in Cusco Quechua.Cusco Quechua,North Bolivian Quechua, andSouth Bolivian Quechua are the only varieties to haveglottalized consonants. They, along with certain kinds of EcuadorianKichwa, are the only varieties which haveaspirated consonants. Because reflexes of a given Proto-Quechua word may have different stops in neighboring dialects (Proto-Quechua*čaki 'foot' becomesč'aki and Proto-Quechua*čaka 'bridge' becomesčaka[non sequitur]), they are thought to be innovations in Quechua fromAymara, borrowed independently after branching off from Proto-Quechua.
Stress is penultimate in most dialects of Quechua. In some varieties, factors such as theapocope of word-final vowels may cause exceptional final stress. Stress in Chachapoyas Quechua falls word-initially.
Quechua has been written using theRoman alphabet since theSpanish conquest of Peru. However, written Quechua is rarely used by Quechua speakers due to limited amounts of printed material in the language.
Until the 20th century, Quechua was written with a Spanish-basedorthography, for exampleInca, Huayna Cápac, Collasuyo, Mama Ocllo, Viracocha, quipu, tambo, condor. This orthography is the most familiar to Spanish speakers, and so it has been used for most borrowings into English, which essentially always happen through Spanish.
In 1975, the Peruvian government ofJuan Velasco Alvarado adopted a new orthography for Quechua. This is the system preferred by theAcademia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, which results in the following spellings of the examples listed above:Inka, Wayna Qhapaq, Qollasuyu, Mama Oqllo, Wiraqocha, khipu, tampu, kuntur. This orthography has the following features:
It usesw instead ofhu for/w/.
It distinguishes velark from uvularq, both of which were spelledc orqu in the traditional system.[example needed]
It distinguishes simple, ejective, and aspirated stops in dialects that make these distinctions, such as that of theCusco Region, e.g. the aspiratedkhipu 'knot'.
It continues to use the Spanish five-vowel system.
In 1985, a variation of this system was adopted by the Peruvian government that uses the Quechuan three-vowel system, resulting in the following spellings:Inka, Wayna Qhapaq, Qullasuyu, Mama Uqllu, Wiraqucha, khipu, tampu, kuntur.
The different orthographies are still highly controversial in Peru. Advocates of the traditional system believe that the new orthographies look too foreign and believe that it makes Quechua harder to learn for people who have first been exposed to written Spanish. Those who prefer the new system maintain that it better matches the phonology of Quechua, and they point to studies showing that teaching the five-vowel system to children later causes reading difficulties in Spanish.[citation needed]
Writers differ in the treatment of Spanish loanwords. These are sometimes adapted to modern orthography and sometimes left as in Spanish. For instance, "I am Roberto" could be writtenRobertom kani orRuwirtum kani. (The-m is not part of the name; it is an evidential suffix, showing how the information is known: firsthand, in this case.)
The Spanish-based orthography is now in conflict with Peruvian law. According to article 20 of the decreeDecreto Supremo No 004-2016-MC, which approves regulations relative to Law 29735, published in the official newspaper El Peruano on July 22, 2016, adequate spellings of thetoponyms in the normalized alphabets of the indigenous languages must progressively be proposed, with the aim of standardizing the spellings used by the National Geographic Institute(Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IGN) The IGN implements the necessary changes on the official maps of Peru.[41]
Quechua is anagglutinating language, meaning that words are built up from basic roots followed by severalsuffixes, each of which carries one meaning. Their large number ofsuffixes changes both the overall meaning of words and their subtle shades of meaning. All varieties of Quechua are very regular agglutinative languages, as opposed toisolating orfusional ones [Thompson]. Their normal sentence order is SOV (subject–object–verb). Notable grammatical features include bipersonalconjugation (verbs agree with both subject and object),evidentiality (indication of the source and veracity of knowledge), a set oftopicparticles, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it, but some varieties may lack some of the characteristics.
In Quechua, there are sevenpronouns. First-person plural pronouns (equivalent to "we") may beinclusive or exclusive; which mean, respectively, that theaddressee ("you") is or is not part of the "we". Quechua also adds the suffix-kuna to the second and third person singular pronounsqam andpay to create the plural forms,qam-kuna andpay-kuna. In Quechua IIB, or "Kichwa", the exclusive first-person plural pronoun, "ñuqayku", is generally obsolete.
Ordinal numbers. To form ordinal numbers, the wordñiqin is put after the appropriate cardinal number (iskay ñiqin = "second"). The only exception is that, in addition tohuk ñiqin ("first"), the phraseñawpaq is also used in the somewhat more restricted sense of "the initial, primordial, the oldest".
Noun roots accept suffixes that indicatenumber,case, and theperson of apossessor. In general, the possessive suffix precedes that of number. In theSantiago del Estero variety, however, the order is reversed.[42] From variety to variety, suffixes may change.
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 todemonstratives:chay ("that") –chaypi ("there"),kay ("this") –kayman ("hither").
There are several original adverbs. For Europeans, it is striking that the adverbqhipa means both "behind" and "future" andñawpa means "ahead, in front" and "past".[43] Local and temporal concepts of adverbs in Quechua (as well as inAymara) 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: it is unknown), facing the past (we can see it: it is remembered).
Theinfinitive forms have the suffix-y (e.g.., much'a 'kiss';much'a-y 'to kiss'). These are the typical endings for theindicative in a Southern Quechua (IIC) dialect:
The suffixes shown in the table above usually indicate thesubject; the person of theobject is also indicated by a suffix, which precedes the suffixes in the table. For the second person, it is-su-, and for the first person, it is-wa- in most Quechua II dialects. In such cases, the plural suffixes from the table (-chik and-ku) can be used to express the number of the object rather than the subject. There is a lot of variation between the dialects in the exact rules which determine this.[44][45][46] In Central Quechua, however, the verbal morphology differs in a number of respects: most notably, the verbal plural suffixes-chik and-ku are not used, and plurality is expressed by different suffixes that are locatedbefore rather than after the personal suffixes. Furthermore, the 1st person singular object suffix is-ma-, rather than-wa-.[47]
Particles are indeclinable: they do not accept suffixes. They are relatively rare, but the most common arearí 'yes' andmana 'no', althoughmana can take some suffixes, such as-n/-m (manan/manam),-raq (manaraq 'not yet') and-chu (manachu? 'or not?'), to intensify the meaning. Other particles areyaw 'hey, hi', and certain loan words from Spanish, such aspiru (from Spanishpero 'but') andsinuqa (fromsino 'rather').
The Quechuan languages have three different morphemes that markevidentiality. Evidentiality refers to a morpheme whose primary purpose is to indicate the source of information.[48] In Quechuan languages, evidentiality is a three-term system: there are three evidential morphemes that mark varying levels of source information. The markers can apply to first, second, and third persons.[49] The chart below depicts an example of these morphemes fromWanka Quechua:[50]
Evidential morphemes
-m(i)
-chr(a)
-sh(i)
Direct evidence
Inferred; conjecture
Reported; hearsay
DIR:direct evidenceCONJ:conjecture
The parentheses around the vowels indicate that the vowel can be dropped when following an open vowel. For the sake of cohesiveness, the above forms are used to discuss the evidential morphemes. There are dialectal variations to the forms. The variations will be presented in the following descriptions.
The following sentences provide examples of the three evidentials and further discuss the meaning behind each of them.
[51]Regional variations: InCusco Quechua, the direct evidential presents itself as–mi and–n.
The evidential–mi indicates that the speaker has a "strong personal conviction the veracity of the circumstance expressed."[52] It has the basis of direct personal experience.
In Quechuan languages, not specified by the source, the inference morpheme appears as-ch(i), -ch(a), -chr(a).
The-chr(a) evidential indicates that the utterance is an inference or form of conjecture. That inference relays the speaker's non-commitment to the truth-value of the statement. It also appears in cases such as acquiescence, irony, interrogative constructions, and first person inferences. These uses constitute nonprototypical use and will be discussed later in thechanges in meaning and other uses section.
[56]Regional variations: It can appear as–sh(i) or–s(i) depending on the dialect.
With the use of this morpheme, the speaker "serves as a conduit through which information from another source passes." The information being related is hearsay or revelatory in nature. It also works to express the uncertainty of the speaker regarding the situation. However, it also appears in other constructions that are discussed in thechanges in meaning section.
(I was told) Shanti borrowed it. Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Hintz discusses an interesting case of evidential behavior found in the Sihaus dialect ofAncash Quechua. The author postulates that instead of three single evidential markers, that Quechuan language contains three pairs of evidential markers.[58]
The evidential morphemes have been referred to as markers or morphemes. The literature seems to differ on whether or not the evidential morphemes are acting as affixes or clitics, in some cases, such as Wanka Quechua, enclitics. Lefebvre and Muysken (1998) discuss this issue in terms of case but remark the line between affix and clitic is not clear.[59] Both terms are used interchangeably throughout these sections.
Evidentials in the Quechuan languages are "second position enclitics", which usually attach to the first constituent in the sentence, as shown in this example.[60]
Sometimes, the affix is described as attaching to the focus, particularly in the Tarma dialect ofYaru Quechua,[61] but this does not hold true for all varieties of Quechua. In Huanuco Quechua, the evidentials may follow any number of topics, marked by the topic marker–qa, and the element with the evidential must precede the main verb or be the main verb.
However, there are exceptions to that rule, and the more topics there are in a sentence, the more likely the sentence is to deviate from the usual pattern.
Evidentials can be used to relay different meanings depending on the context and perform other functions. The following examples are restricted to Wanka Quechua.
The direct evidential, -mi
The direct evidential appears in wh-questions and yes/no questions. By considering the direct evidential in terms of prototypical semantics, it seems somewhat counterintuitive to have a direct evidential, basically an evidential that confirms the speaker's certainty about a topic, in a question. However, if one focuses less on the structure and more on the situation, some sense can be made. The speaker is asking the addressee for information so the speaker assumes the speaker knows the answer. That assumption is where the direct evidential comes into play. The speaker holds a certain amount of certainty that the addressee will know the answer. The speaker interprets the addressee as being in "direct relation" to the proposed content; the situation is the same as when, in regular sentences, the speaker assumes direct relation to the proposed information.[62]
When did he come back from Huancayo? (Floyd 1999, p. 85) Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
The direct evidential affix is also seen in yes/no questions, similar to the situation with wh-questions. Floyd describes yes/no questions as being "characterized as instructions to the addressee to assert one of the propositions of a disjunction."[63] Once again, the burden of direct evidence is being placed on the addressee, not on the speaker. The question marker in Wanka Quechua,-chun, is derived from the negative –chu marker and the direct evidential (realized as –n in some dialects).
Yes, tell them, "I've gone farther." (Floyd 1999, p. 107)
This example comes from a conversation between husband and wife, discussing the reactions of their family and friends after they have been gone for a while. The husband says he plans to stretch the truth and tell them about distant places to which he has gone, and his wife (in the example above) echoes and encourages his thoughts.
AcquiescenceWith these, the evidential is used to highlight the speaker's assessment of inevitability of an event and acceptance of it. There is a sense of resistance, diminished enthusiasm, and disinclination in these constructions.
I suppose I'll pay you then. (Floyd 1999, p. 109) Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
This example comes from a discourse where a woman demands compensation from the man (the speaker in the example) whose pigs ruined her potatoes. He denies the pigs as being his but finally realizes he may be responsible and produces the above example.
InterrogativeSomewhat similar to the–mi evidential, the inferential evidential can be found in content questions. However, the salient difference between the uses of the evidentials in questions is that in the–m(i) marked questions, an answer is expected. That is not the case with–chr(a) marked questions.
what-LIM-ACC-CONJ give-ASP-12FUT all family-PL-ACC-EVEN arrive-ASP-SS
I wonder what we will give our families when we arrive. (Floyd 1999, p. 111) Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
IronyIrony in language can be a somewhat complicated topic in how it functions differently in languages, and by its semantic nature, it is already somewhat vague. For these purposes, it is suffice to say that when irony takes place in Wanka Quechua, the–chr(a) marker is used.
(I suppose) That's how you learn [that is the way in which you will learn]. (Floyd 199, p. 115) Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
This example comes from discourse between a father and daughter about her refusal to attend school. It can be interpreted as a genuine statement (perhaps one can learn by resisting school) or as an ironic statement (that is an absurd idea).
Aside from being used to express hearsay and revelation, this affix also has other uses.
Folktales, myths, and legends
Because folktales, myths, and legends are, in essence, reported speech, it follows that the hearsay marker would be used with them. Many of these types of stories are passed down through generations, furthering this aspect of reported speech. A difference between simple hearsay and folktales can be seen in the frequency of the–sh(i) marker. In normal conversation using reported speech, the marker is used less, to avoid redundancy.
Riddles
Riddles are somewhat similar to myths and folktales in that their nature is to be passed by word of mouth.
In certain grammatical structures, the evidential marker does not appear at all. In all Quechuan languages the evidential will not appear in a dependent clause. No example was given to depict this omission.[64]Omissions occur in Quechua. The sentence is understood to have the same evidentiality as the other sentences in the context. Quechuan speakers vary as to how much they omit evidentials, but they occur only in connected speech.[65]
An interesting contrast to omission of evidentials is overuse of evidentials. If a speaker uses evidentials too much with no reason, competence is brought into question. For example, the overuse of –m(i) could lead others to believe that the speaker is not a native speaker or, in some extreme cases, that one is mentally ill.[49]
By using evidentials, the Quechua culture has certain assumptions about the information being relayed. Those who do not abide by the cultural customs should not be trusted. A passage from Weber (1986) summarizes them:
(Only) one's experience is reliable.
Avoid unnecessary risk by assuming responsibility for information of which one is not absolutely certain.
Do not be gullible. There are many folktales in which the villain is foiled by his gullibility.
Assume responsibility only if it is safe to do so. Successful assumption of responsibility builds stature in the community.[66]
Evidentials also show that being precise and stating the source of one's information is extremely important in the language and the culture. Failure to use them correctly can lead to diminished standing in the community. Speakers are aware of the evidentials and even use proverbs to teach children the importance of being precise and truthful. Precision and information source are of the utmost importance. They are a powerful and resourceful method of human communication.[67]
Act of Argentine Independence, written in Spanish and Quechua (1816)
As in the case of thepre-Columbian Mesoamerica, there are a number of Andean texts in the local language which were written down in Latin characters after the European conquest, but which express, to a great extent, the culture of pre-Conquest times. For example, Quechua poems thought to date from Inca times are preserved as quotations within some Spanish-language chronicles dealing with the pre-Conquest period. However, the most important specimen of Quechua literature of this type is the so-calledHuarochirí Manuscript (1598), which describes the mythology and religion of the valley ofHuarochirí and has been compared to "an Andean Bible" and to the MayanPopol Vuh. From the post-conquest period (starting from the middle of the 17th century), there are a number of anonymous or signed Quechua dramas, some of which deal with the Inca era, while most are on religious topics and of European inspiration. The most famous dramas areOllantay and the plays describing the death ofAtahualpa.Juan de Espinosa Medrano wrote several dramas in the language. Poems in Quechua were also composed during the colonial period. A notable example are the works ofJuan Wallparrimachi, a participant in theBolivian War of Independence.[68][69]
As for Christian literature, as early as 1583, the Third Provincial Church Council of Lima, which took place in 1583, published a number of texts dealing with Christian doctrine and rituals, including a trilingualcatechism in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara[70] and a number of other similar texts in the years from 1584 to 1585. More texts of this type were published until the middle of the 17th century, mostly adhering to aQuechua literary standard that had been codified by the Third Council for this purpose.[71] There is at least one Quechuan version of theBible.[23]
Dramas and poems continued to be written in the 19th and especially in 20th centuries as well; in addition, in the 20th century and more recently, more prose has been published. However, few literary forms were made present in the 19th century as European influences limited literary criticism.[72] While some of that literature consists of original compositions (poems and dramas), the bulk of 20th century Quechua literature consists of traditional folk stories and oral narratives.[68]Johnny Payne has translated two sets of Quechua oral short stories, one into Spanish and the other into English.
A news broadcast in Quechua, "Ñuqanchik" (all of us), began in Peru in 2016.[74]
Many Andean musicians write and sing in their native languages, including Quechua and Aymara. Notable musical groups areLos Kjarkas,Kala Marka,J'acha Mallku,Savia Andina, Wayna Picchu, Wara, Alborada,Uchpa, and many others.
There are several Quechua and Quechua-Spanish bloggers, as well as a Quechua language podcast.[75]
The 1961 Peruvian filmKukuli was the first film to be spoken in the Quechua language.[76]
In the 1977 science fiction filmStar Wars, the alien characterGreedo speaks a simplified form of Quechua.[77]
^abcCerrón-Palomino, Rodolfo (2003).Lingüística quechua. Monumenta lingüística andina (2. ed.). Cuzco: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de Las Casas.ISBN978-9972-691-59-1.
^abAdelaar, Willem F. H.; Muysken, Pieter (2004).The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge (G.B.): Cambridge University press.ISBN978-0-521-36275-7.
^abTorero, Alfredo (2002).Idiomas de los Andes: linguistica e historia. Travaux de l'Institut Français d'études andines. Lima: Instituto Francés de estudios andinos Editorial horizonte.ISBN978-9972-699-27-6.
^Torero, Alfredo (1983). "La familia lingûística quechua".América Latina en sus lenguas indígenas. Caracas: Monte Ávila.ISBN92-3-301926-8.
^Torero, Alfredo (1974).El quechua y la historia social andina. Lima: Universidad Ricardo Palma, Dirección Universitaria de Investigación.ISBN978-603-45-0210-9.
^Aybar cited by Hart, Stephen M.A Companion to Latin American Literature, p. 6.
^Téllez, Eduardo (2008).Los Diaguitas: Estudios (in Spanish).Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Akhilleus. p. 43.ISBN978-956-8762-00-1.
^Ramírez Sánchez, Carlos (1995).Onomástica indígena de Chile: Toponimia de Osorno, Llanquihue y Chiloé (in Spanish) (2nd ed.).Valdivia:Universidad Austral de Chile.
^Ramírez Sanchez, Carlos (1988).Toponimia indígena de las provincias de Osorno, Llanquihue y Chiloé (in Spanish). Valdivia: Marisa Cuneo Ediciones. p. 28.
^Adelaar 2004, pp. 258–259: "The Quechua speakers' wish for social mobility for their children is often heard as an argument for not transmitting the language to the next generation.... As observed quite adequately byCerrón Palomino, "Quechua (andAymara) speakers seem to have taken the project of assimilation begun by the dominating classes and made it their own."
^Muysken, Pieter (March 2012). "Root/affix asymmetries in contact and transfer: case studies from the Andes".International Journal of Bilingualism.16 (1):22–36.doi:10.1177/1367006911403211.S2CID143633302.
^Edward A. Roberts,A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language..., 2014.
^Saenz, S. Dedenbach-Salazar. 1990. Quechua Sprachmaterialen. In: Meyers, A., M. Volland. Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte des westlichen Südamerika. Forschungsberichte des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. P. 258.
^Carnival Theater: Uruguay's Popular Performers and National Culture
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