Quechuan languages

Quechua
Kechua
Qhichwa simi Runa simi
Native to	Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina
Region	Central Andes
Ethnicity	Quechua
Native speakers	8.9 million (2007)
Language family	Quechumaran? Quechua
Dialects	Quechua I     Ancash     Huánuco     Yaru     Wanka     Yauyos–Chincha Quechua II     Cajamarca–Cañaris     Northern       Kichwa (Ecuador)       Lowland Peruvian     Southern
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Peru Bolivia Ecuador
Language codes
ISO 639-1	qu
ISO 639-2	que, qwe
ISO 639-3	que
Glottolog	quec1387

Quechuan /ˈkɛtʃwən/, also known as runa simi ("people's language"), is a Native American language family spoken primarily in the Andes region of South America, derived from a common ancestral language. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 8 million to 10 million speakers.

History

Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of the Inca Empire. The Inca were just one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke forms of Quechua. In the Cuzco region, Quechua was influenced by local languages such as Aymara. The Cuzco variety of Quechua developed as quite distinct. In similar way, a diverse group of dialects developed in different areas related to existing local languages when the Inca Empire ruled and imposed Quechua as the official language.

After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Quechua continued to be used widely as the "general language" and main means of communication between the Spaniards and the indigenous population. The Roman Catholic Church adopted Quechua to use as the language of evangelization. Given use by the missionaries, the range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas.

However, administrative and religious use of Quechua was terminated in the late 18th century, when it was banned from public use in Peru in response to the Túpac Amaru II rebellion. The Crown banned even "loyal" pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vega's Comentarios Reales.

Despite a brief revival of the language immediately after independence in the 19th century, the prestige of Quechua had decreased sharply. Its use gradually was restricted to more isolated and conservative rural areas.

The oldest written records of the language are by missionary Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published his Grammatica 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 Royalty of Peru) in 1560.

Current status

Map of Peru showing the distribution of individual Quechua languages by district.

Today, Quechua has the status of an official language in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, along with Spanish.

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 a spoken language.

In recent years, Quechua has been introduced in Intercultural bilingual education (IBE) in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, which is, however, reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking population. There is an ongoing process of Quechua-speaking populations shifting to Spanish for the purposes of social advancement.

Radio Nacional del Peru has news and agrarian programs for periods in the mornings in Quechua.

Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua. Conversely, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as wawa (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 profound impact on other native languages of the Americas, such as Mapudungun.

Number of speakers

The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total in Ethnologue 16 is 10 million, mostly based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Quechua in Ethnologue, for example, is 300,000, an estimate from 1977. The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, where most sources estimate over 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
• Colombia: 25,000 (2000–2007)
• Ecuador: 2,300,000 (Adelaar 1991)
• Peru: 3,260,000 (2007 census); 3,500,000 to 4,400,000 (Adelaar 2000)

Additionally, there are an unknown number of speakers in emigrant communities, including Queens, New York and Paterson, New Jersey in the United States.

Classification

The four branches of Quechua: I (Central), II-A (North Peruvian), II-B (Northern), II-C (Southern)

There are significant differences between the varieties of Quechua spoken in the central Peruvian highlands and the peripheral varieties of Ecuador on the one hand and southern Peru and Bolivia on the other. These can be labeled Quechua I (or Quechua B, central) and Quechua II (or Quechua A, peripheral). Within these two groups, there are few sharp boundaries, making them dialect continua. However, there is a secondary division in Quechua II between the grammatically simplified northern varieties of Ecuador, Quechua II-B, known there as Kichwa, and the generally more conservative varieties of the southern highlands, Quechua II-C, which include the old Inca capital of Cuzco. The closeness is at least in part due to the influence of Cuzco Quechua on the Ecuadorean varieties during the Inca Empire, as northern nobles were required to educate their children in Cuzco, maintaining Cuzco as the prestige dialect in the north.

Speakers from different points within any one of these three regions can generally understand each other reasonably well. There are nonetheless significant local-level differences across each. (Wanka Quechua, in particular, has several very distinctive characteristics that make this variety distinctly difficult to understand, even for other Central Quechua speakers.) Speakers from different major regions, meanwhile, particularly Central vs Southern Quechua, are not able to communicate effectively.

The lack of mutual intelligibility 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 44 that they judge require separate literature. As a reference point, the overall degree of diversity across the family is a little less than that of the Romance or Germanic families, and more of the order of Slavic or Arabic. The greatest diversity is within Central Quechua, AKA Quechua I, which is believed to lie close to the homeland of the ancestral Proto-Quechua language.

Family tree

Alfredo Torero devised the traditional classification, the three divisions above plus a fourth, northern Peruvian, branch. The latter cause complications in the classification, however, as they (Cajamarca-Lambayeque, Pacaraos, and Yauyos) have features of both Quechua I and Quechua II, and so are difficult to assign to either. Torero's classification is,

• Quechua I or Quechua B or Central Quechua or Waywash, spoken in Peru's central highlands and coast.
  • The most widely spoken varieties are Huaylas, Huaylla Wanca, and Conchucos.
• Quechua II or Quechua A or Peripheral Quechua or Wanp'una, divided into
  • Yungay (Yunkay) Quechua or Quechua II A, spoken in the northern mountains of Peru; the most widely spoken dialect is Cajamarca.
  • Northern Quechua or Quechua II B, spoken in Ecuador (Kichwa), northern Peru, and Colombia (Inga Kichwa)
    • The most widely spoken varieties are Chimborazo Highland Quichua and Imbabura Highland Quichua.
  • Southern Quechua or Quechua II C, spoken in Bolivia, southern Peru, Chile, and Argentina.
    • The most widely spoken varieties are South Bolivian, Cuzco, Ayacucho, and Puno (Collao).

Willem Adelaar adheres to the Quechua I / Quechua II (central/peripheral) bifurcation, but partially following later modifications by Torero, reassigns part of Quechua II-A to Quechua I:

Proto-Quechua

Quechua I Pacaraos Central Ancash (Huaylas–Conchucos) Huánuco (Alto Pativilca–Alto Marañón–Alto Huallaga) Yaru Wanka (Jauja–Huanca) Yauyos–Chincha (Huangáscar–Topará)  Quechua II   (Peripheral)   Northern Peruvian  (Quechua II-A, reduced) Ferreñafe (Cañaris) Cajamarca (Quechua II-A split) Lincha (Quechua II-A split) Laraos  Northern Quechua  (Quechua II-B) Ecuadorian Quechua (Highlands and Oriente) Chachapoyas (Amazonas) Lamas (San Martín) Southern Quechua (Quechua II-C) Ayacucho Cuzco Puno (Collao) Northern Bolivian (Apolo) Southern Bolivia Santiago del Estero

Landerman (1991) does not believe a truly genetic classification is possible, and breaks up 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 that Ecuadorian is synonymous with Northern Quechua.

Geographical distribution

Quechua I (Central Quechua, Waywash) is spoken in Peru's central highlands, from Ancash to Huancayo. It is the most diverse branch of Quechua, 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 as Runashimi or, especially in Ecuador, Kichwa) is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also spoken in the Amazonian lowlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and in pockets in Peru
• II-C: Southern Quechua, in the highlands further south, from Huancavelica through the Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno regions of Peru, across much of Bolivia, and in pockets in north-western Argentina. It is the most influential branch, with the largest number of speakers and the most important cultural and literary legacy.

Cognates

A sampling of words in several Quechuan languages:

	Standardized II-C Southern Quechua	Ayacucho (II-C)	Cuzco (II-C)	Bolivia (II-C)	Ecuador (II-B)	Cajamarca (II-A)	San Martin (II-B)	Junin	Ancash (I)
'ten'	chunka	chunka /ˈt͡ʃuŋka/	chunka	chunka	chunga	trunga	chunka	trunka	chunka
'sweet'	misk'i	miski /ˈmiski/	misk'i	misk'i	mishki	mishki	mishki	mishki	mishki
'he gives'	qun	qun /χɒn/	qun	qon	kun	qun	kun	un	qun
'one'	huk	huk /huk/	hux	uj	shuk	suq	suk	huk	huk or huq
'two'	iskay	iskay /ˈiskai/	iskay	iskay	ishkay	ishkay	ishkay	ishkay	ishkay or ishkee
'yes'	arí	arí /aˈɾi/	arí	arí	arí	arí	arí	arí	awmi
'white'	yuraq	yuraq /ˈjoɾaχ/	yuraq	yuraj	yurak	yuraq	yurak	yulaq	yuraq

Quechua and Aymara

Quechua shares a large amount of vocabulary, and some striking structural parallels, with Aymara, and these 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 little relationship in the affixal system.

Vocabulary

A number of Quechua loanwords have entered English via Spanish, including coca, condor, guano, jerky, llama, puma, quinine, quinoa, vicuña and possibly gaucho. The word lagniappe comes from the Quechuan 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 Quechuan suruqch'i to Bolivian sorojchi, in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru soroche. In Bolivia particularly, Quechua words are used extensively even by non-Quechua speakers. These include wawa (baby, infant), ch'aki (hangover), misi (cat), juk'ucho (mouse), q'omer uchu (green pepper), jacu ("lets go"), chhiri and chhurco (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 standard "pásame" (pass me), becomes pasarime.

Quechua has borrowed a large number of Spanish words, such as piru (from pero, but), bwenu (from bueno, good), iskwila (from "escuela," school), waka (from "vaca," cow) and burru (from burro, donkey).

Etymology of Quechua

At first, Spaniards referred to the language of the Inca empire as the lengua general, the general language. The name quichua is first used in 1560 by Domingo de Santo Tomás in his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú. It is not known what name the native speakers gave to their language before colonial times, and whether it was Spaniards who called it quechua.

There are two possible etymologies of Quechua as the name of the language. There is a possibility that the name Quechua was derived from *qiĉ.wa, the native word which originally meant the "temperate valley" altitude ecological zone in the Andes (suitable for maize cultivation) and to its inhabitants.

Alternatively, Pedro Cieza de León and Garcilaso de la Vega, the early Spanish chroniclers, inform about the existence of the people called Quichua in the present-day Apurímac Region, and it could be inferred that their name was given to the entire language.

The Hispanicised spellings Quechua and Quichua have been used in Peru and Bolivia since the 17th century, especially after the III Lima Council. Today the various local pronunciations of "Quechua Simi" include [ˈqʰeʃwa ˈsimi], [ˈχetʃwa ˈʃimi], [ˈkitʃwa ˈʃimi], [ˈʔitʃwa ˈʃimi].

Another name that native speakers give to their own language is runa simi, "language of man/people"; it also seems to have emerged during the colonial period.

Phonology

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

Vowels

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

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Stop	plain	p	t	tʃ	k	q
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tʃʰ	kʰ	qʰ
	ejective	p’	t’	tʃ’	k’	q’
Fricative			s				h
Approximant	central			j	w
	lateral		l	ʎ
Rhotic			ɾ

None of the plosives or fricatives are voiced; voicing is not phonemic in the Quechua native vocabulary of the modern Cusco variety.

About 30% of the modern Quechua vocabulary is borrowed from Spanish, and some Spanish sounds (e.g. f, b, d, g) may have become phonemic, even among monolingual Quechua speakers.

Aspirated and ejective renderings of consonants are only phonemic in some varieties of Quechua. Others only use plain /p/, /t/, /t͡ʃ/, and /k/.

Stress

Stress is penultimate in most dialects of Quechua. In some varieties the apocope of word-final vowels or other factors may cause exceptional final stress.

Writing system

Main article: Quechua alphabet

Quechua has been written using the Roman alphabet since the Spanish conquest of Peru. However, written Quechua is not used by the Quechua-speaking people at large due to the lack of printed referential material in Quechua.

Until the 20th century, Quechua was written with a Spanish-based orthography. Examples: Inca, Huayna Cápac, Collasuyo, Mama Ocllo, Viracocha, quipu, tambo, condor. This orthography is the most familiar to Spanish speakers, and as a corollary, has been used for most borrowings into English.

In 1975, the Peruvian government of Juan Velasco adopted a new orthography for Quechua. This is the writing system preferred by the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua. Examples: Inka, Wayna Qhapaq, Qollasuyu, Mama Oqllo, Wiraqocha, khipu, tampu, kuntur. This orthography:

• uses w instead of hu for the /w/ sound.
• distinguishes velar k from uvular q, where both were spelled c or qu in the traditional system.
• distinguishes simple, ejective, and aspirated stops in dialects (such as that of Cuzco) which have them – thus khipu above.
• continues to use the Spanish five-vowel system.

In 1985, a variation of this system was adopted by the Peruvian government; it uses the Quechuan three-vowel system. Examples: 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 suggest 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 point to studies showing that teaching the five-vowel system to children causes reading difficulties in Spanish later on.

For more on this, see Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift.

Writers differ in the treatment of Spanish loanwords. Sometimes these are adapted to the modern orthography, and sometimes they are left in Spanish. For instance, "I am Roberto" could be written Robertom kani or Ruwirtum kani. (The -m is not part of the name; it is an evidential suffix.)

The Peruvian linguist Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino has proposed an orthographic norm for all Southern Quechua. This norm, el Quechua estándar or Hanan Runasimi, which is accepted by many institutions in Peru, has been made by combining conservative features of two widespread dialects, Ayacucho Quechua and Cusco Quechua. For instance:

English	Ayacucho	Cusco	Southern Quechua
to drink	upyay	uhyay	upyay
fast	utqa	usqha	utqha
to work	llamkay	llank'ay	llamk'ay
we (inclusive)	ñuqanchik	nuqanchis	ñuqanchik
(progressive suffix)	-chka-	-sha-	-chka-
day	punchaw	p'unchay	p'unchaw

Grammar

Morphological type

All varieties of Quechua are very regular agglutinative languages, as opposed to isolating or fusional ones. Their normal sentence order is SOV (subject–object–verb). Their 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 set of topic particles, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it, although some languages and varieties may lack some of these characteristics.

Pronouns

		Number
		Singular	Plural
Person	First	Ñuqa	Ñuqanchik (inclusive) Ñuqayku (exclusive)
	Second	Qam	Qamkuna
	Third	Pay	Paykuna

In Quechua, there are seven pronouns. Quechua 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 ("us and you"). The other form is called the exclusive, which is used when the addressee is excluded. ("us 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. From variety to variety, suffixes may change.

Examples using the word wasi (house)

Function		Suffix	Example	(translation)
suffix indicating number	plural	-kuna	wasikuna	houses
possessive suffix	1.person singular	-y, -:	wasiy, wasii	my house
	2.person singular	-yki	wasiyki	your house
	3.person singular	-n	wasin	his/her/its house
	1.person plural (incl)	-nchik	wasinchik	our house (incl.)
	1.person plural (excl)	-y-ku	wasiyku	our house (excl.)
	2.person plural	-yki-chik	wasiykichik	your (pl.) house
	3.person plural	-n-ku	wasinku	their house
suffixes indicating case	nominative	–	wasi	the house (subj.)
	accusative	-(k)ta	wasita	the house (obj.)
	instrumental	-wan	wasiwan	with the house, and the house
	abessive	-naq	wasinaq	without the house
	dative	-paq	wasipaq	to the house
	genitive	-p(a)	wasip(a)	of the house
	causative	-rayku	wasirayku	because of the house
	benefactive	-paq	wasipaq	for the house
	locative	-pi	wasipi	at the house
	directional	-man	wasiman	towards the house
	inclusive	-piwan, puwan	wasipiwan, wasipuwan	including the house
	terminative	-kama, -yaq	wasikama, wasiyaq	up to the house
	transitive	-(rin)ta	wasinta	through the house
	ablative	-manta, -piqta	wasimanta, wasipiqta	off/from the house
	comitative	-(ni)ntin	wasintin	along with the house
	immediate	-raq	wasiraq	first the house
	intrative	-pura	wasipura	among the houses
	exclusive	-lla(m)	wasilla(m)	only the house
	comparative	-naw, -hina	wasinaw, wasihina	than the house

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 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 – i.e. it is unknown), facing the past (we can see it – i.e. 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:

	Present	Past	Future	Pluperfect
Ñuqa	-ni	-rqa-ni	-saq	-sqa-ni
Qam	-nki	-rqa-nki	-nki	-sqa-nki
Pay	-n	-rqa(-n)	-nqa	-sqa
Ñuqanchik	-nchik	-rqa-nchik	-su-nchik	-sqa-nchik
Ñuqayku	-yku	-rqa-yku	-saq-ku	-sqa-yku
Qamkuna	-nki-chik	-rqa-nki-chik	-nki-chik	-sqa-nki-chik
Paykuna	-n-ku	-rqa-(n)ku	-nqa-ku	-sqa-ku

The suffixes shown in the table above usually indicate the subject; the person of the object is also indicated by a suffix (-a- for first person and -su- for second person), which precedes the suffixes in the table. 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.

Various suffixes are added to the stem to change the meaning. For example, -chi is a causative and -ku is a reflexive (example: wañuy = "to die"; wañuchiy = to kill wañuchikuy = "to commit suicide"); -naku is used for mutual action (example: marq'ay= "to hug"; marq'anakuy= "to hug each other"), and -chka is a progressive, used for an ongoing action (e.g., mikhuy = "to eat"; mikhuchkay = "to be eating").

Grammatical particles

Particles are indeclinable, 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

The Quechua languages have three different morphemes that mark evidentiality. Evidentiality refers to a morpheme whose primary purpose is to indicate the source of information. In the Quechua languages, evidentiality is a three-term system. This means that there are three evidential morphemes that mark varying levels of source information. These markers can apply to first, second, and third person. The chart below depicts an example of these morphemes from the Wanka Quechua language.

Wanka Quechua

Evidential Morphemes	-m(i)	-chr(a)	-sh(i)
Meaning	Direct evidence	Inferred; conjecture	Reported; hearsay

The parentheses around the vowels indicate that the vowel can be dropped in when following an open vowel. For the sake of cohesiveness, the above forms will be used to broadly discuss the evidential morphemes. However, it should be noted that 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.

-m(i) : Direct Evidence and Commitment

Regional variations: In the Cuzco dialect, 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.” It has the basis of direct personal experience.

Wanka Quechua

ñawi-i-wan-mi	lika-la-a
eye-1P-with-DIR	see-PST-1

I saw them with my own eyes.

-chr(a) : Inference and Attenuation

Regional variations: In Quechua 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. This 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 non-prototypical use and will be later discussed in the Changes in Meaning and Other Uses section.

Wanka Quechua

kuti-mu-n'a-qa-chr	ni-ya-ami
return-AFAR-3FUT-now-CONJ	say-IMPV-1-DIR

I think they will probably come back.

-sh(i) : Hearsay

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 the Changes in Meaning section.

Wanka Quechua

shanti-sh	prista-ka-mu-la
Shanti-REP	borrow-REF-AFAR-PST

(I was told) Shani borrowed it.

Hintz discusses an interesting case of evidential behavior found in Sihaus Quechua. The author postulates that instead of three single evidential markers, this Quechua language contains three pairs of evidential markers.

Affix or Clitic

It may have been noted 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 come cases, such as Wanka Quechua, enclitics. Lefebvre and Muysken (1998) discuss this issue in terms of case but remark as to how the line between affix and clitic is not a clear one. Both terms will be used interchangeably throughout these sections.

Position in the Sentence

The evidentials in the Quechua languages are “second position enclitics” that attach to the first constituent in the sentence as shown in the examples below.

huk-si	ka-sqa	huk	machucha-piwan	payacha
once-REP	be-SD	one	old.man-WITH	woman

Once there were an old man and an old woman.

They can also occur on a focused constituent.

Pidru	kunana-mi	wasi-ta	tuwa-sha-n
Pedro	now-DIR.EV	house-ACC	build-PROG-3SG

It is now that Pedro is building the house.

Sometimes the affix is described as attaching to the focus, especially when in reference to Tarma Quechua, but this does not hold true for all varieties of Quechua. In Huanuco Quechua. The evidentials 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 this rule as well. The more topics there are in a sentence, the more likely to deviate from the usual form.

Chawrana-qa	puntataruu-qu	trayaruptin-qa	wamrata-qa	mayna-shi	Diosninchi-qa	heqarkaykachisha	syelutana-shi
so:already-TOP	at:the:peak-TOP	arriving-TOP	child-TOP	already-IND	our:God-TOP	had:taken:her:up	to:heaven:already-IND

When she (the witch) reached the peak, God had already taken the child up into heaven.

Changes in Meaning and Other Uses

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. 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. Therefore, the speaker assumes the speaker knows the answer, or else why would they bother asking. This 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; this situation is the same as when, in regular sentences, the speaker assumes direct relation to the proposed information.

imay-mi	wankayuu-pu	kuti-mu-la
when-DIR	Huancayo-ABL	return-AFAR-PAST

When did he come back from Huancayo?

(Floyd 199, p. 85)

The direct evidential affix is also seen in Yes/No Questions. This is similar to the situation with the Wh-Questions. Floyd describes the Yes/No questions as being “characterized as instructions to the addressee to assert one of the propositions of a disjunction”. 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).

tarma-kta	li-n-chun
Tarma-ACC	go-3-YN

Is he going to Tarma?

(Floyd 1999, p. 89)

The inferential evidential, -chr(a)

While –chr(a) is usually used in an inferential context, it has some non-prototypical uses.

Mild Exhortation

In these constructions the evidential works to reaffirm and encourage the addressee’s actions or thoughts.

mas	kalu-kuna-kta	li-la-a	ni-nki-chra-ri
more	far-PL-ACC	go-PST-1	say-2-CONJ-EMPH

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 far places he has gone, and his wife (in the example above) echoes and encourages his thoughts.

Acquiescence

With 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.

paaga-lla-shrayki-chra-a

pay-POL-1›2FUT-CONJ-EMPH

I suppose I'll pay you then.

(Floyd 1999, p. 109)

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.

Interrogative

Somewhat 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. This is not the case with –chr(a) marked questions.

ima-lla-kta-chr	u-you-shrun	llapa	ayllu-kuna-kta-si	chra-alu-l
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)

Irony

Irony in language can be a somewhat complicated topic due to how it functions differently in languages and, by its semantic nature, 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.

chay-nuu-pa-chr	yachra-nki
that-SIM-GEN-CONJ	know-2

(I suppose) That's how you learn [i.e., that is the way in which you will learn].

(Floyd 199, p. 115)

This example comes from discourse between a father and daughter about her refusal to attend school. It can be interpreted as a genuine statement, i.e., perhaps one can learn by resisting school, or as an ironic statement, i.e., that's an absurd idea.

The hearsay evidential, -sh(i)

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 eliminate redundancy.

Riddles

Riddles are somewhat similar to myths and folktales due to their nature to be passed by word of mouth.

ima-lla-shi	ayka-lla-sh	juk	machray-chru	puñu-ya-n	puka	waaka
what-LIM-REP	how^much-LIM-REP	one	cave-LOC	sleep-IMPF-3	red	cow

(Floyd 1999, p. 142)

Omission and Overuse of Evidential Affixes

In certain grammatical structures, the evidential marker does not appear at all. In all the Quechuan languages the evidential will not appear in a dependent clause. Sadly, no example was given to depict this omission. Omissions can and do occur in Quechua. The sentence is understood to have the same evidentiality as the other sentences in the context. It varies among Quechuan speakers as to how much they omit evidentials, though these occur only in connected speech.

An interesting contrast to omission of evidentials is overuse of evidentials. If a speaker uses evidentials too much with no reason, their 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 of the language or, in some extreme cases, that one is mentally ill.

Cultural Aspect

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 nicely below:

1. (Only) one’s experience is reliable.
2. Avoid unnecessary risk by assuming responsibility for information of which one is not absolutely certain
3. Don’t be gullible. There are many folktales in which the villain is foiled by his gullibility.
4. Assume responsibility only if it is safe to do so. Successful assumption of responsibility builds stature in the community. (

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.

Literature

Although the body of literature in Quechua is not as sizable as its historical and present-day prominence would suggest, it is nevertheless not negligible.

As in the case of the Mesoamerican civilizations, there are a number of surviving Andean documents in the local language that were written down in Latin characters after the European conquest, but which express to a great extent the culture of pre-conquest times. The Quechua literature of this type is somewhat scantier, but nevertheless significant. It includes the so-called Huarochirí Manuscript (1598), describing the mythology and religion of the valley of Huarochirí, as well as Quechua poems quoted within the Spanish-language texts of some chronicles dealing with the pre-conquest period. There are a number of anonymous or signed Quechua dramas dating from the post-conquest period (starting from the 17th century), some of which deal with the Inca era, while most are on religious topics and of European inspiration. The most famous of these dramas are Ollantay and the plays describing the death of Atahualpa. For example, Juan de Espinosa Medrano wrote several dramas in the language. Poems in Quechua were also composed during the colonial period.

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. 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. Johnny Payne has translated two sets of Quechua oral short stories, one into Spanish and the other into English.

Many Andean musicians write and sing in their native languages, including Quechua and Aymara. Notable musical groups are Los Kjarkas, Kala Marka, J'acha Mallku, Savia Andina, Wayna Picchu, Wara and many others.

In popular culture

• The 1961 Peruvian film Kukuli was the first film to be spoken in the Quechua language.
• In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope the character Greedo uses a simplified version of Quechua in conversation with Han Solo.
• The '90s TV series The Sentinel included numerous references to the shamanism and spirituality of the Peruvian Chopec as well as including many Quechua words in several episodes.
• The sport retailer Decathlon Group brands their mountain equipment range as Quechua.
• In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy has a dialogue in Quechua with Peruvians. He explains he learned the language in Mexico from a couple of the "guys" he met while briefly riding with Pancho Villa. This adventure was featured in the pilot episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The guys were most likely Peruvian mercenaries recruited to the División del Norte.
• In The Adventures of Tintin books The Seven Crystal Balls and its sequel Prisoners of the Sun, there are Quechua characters who are in league with the Inca and facilitate the abduction and incarceration of Professor Calculus at the Temple of the Sun for committing sacrilege by wearing the funerary bangle of Rascar Capac.
• In Trading Card Game Yu-Gi-Oh!, monsters in the card series Earthbound Immortals have their name originated from Quechua. In the animated series, Earthbound Immortals are described as powerful beasts sealed in Nazca Lines, which each one of them represents.
• On the TV cartoon series The Emperor's New School, the main and other characters have quechua names as Kuzco (Cusco, that means "navel of the world"), Pacha (ground) and Chicha (kind of beer).
• In Da Vinci's Demons, season 2 they meet a group of Indians who speak this language
• In Calle 13's song, Latin America (Grammy winner 2011 - the beginning there is a DJ introducing Calle 13 and the singer responds back in Quechuan, "this one is for you all" before starting)

See also

• Andes
• Aymara language
• List of English words of Quechuan origin
• Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift
• South Bolivian Quechua
• Proto-Oto-Manguean language

References

• Rolph, Karen Sue. Ecologically Meaningful Toponyms: Linking a lexical domain to production ecology in the Peruvian Andes. Doctoral Dissertation, Stanford University, 2007.
• Adelaar, Willem F. H (2004-06-10). The Languages of the Andes. ISBN 9781139451123. 
• Adelaar, Willem. The Languages of the Andes. With the collaboration of P.C. Muysken. Cambridge language survey. Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-36831-5
• 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 9972-691-36-5
• Cusihuamán, Antonio, Gramática Quechua Cuzco-Collao, Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de Las Casas", 2001, ISBN 9972-691-37-3
• Mannheim, Bruce, The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion, University of Texas Press, 1991, ISBN 0-292-74663-6
• Rodríguez Champi, Albino. (2006). Quechua de Cusco. Ilustraciones fonéticas de lenguas amerindias, ed. Stephen A. Marlett. Lima: SIL International y Universidad Ricardo Palma. Lengamer.org
• Aikhenvald, Alexandra. Evidentiality. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.
• Floyd, Rick. The Structure of Evidential Categories in Wanka Quechua. Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1999. Print.
• Hintz, Diane. “The evidential system in Sihuas Quechua: personal vs. shared knowledge” The Nature of Evidentiality Conference, The Netherlands, 14–16 June 2012. SIL International. Internet. 13 April 2014.
• Lefebvre, Claire, and Pieter Muysken. Mixed Categories: Nominalizations in Quechua. Dordrecht, Holland: Kluwer Academic, 1988. Print.
• Weber, David. "Information Perspective, Profile, and Patterns in Quechua." Evidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology. Ed. Wallace L. Chafe and Johanna Nichols. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub, 1986. 137-55. Print.

Further reading

• Adelaar, Willem F. H. Modeling convergence: Towards a reconstruction of the history of Quechuan–Aymaran interaction About the origin of Quechua, and its relation with Aymara, 2011.
• 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 0-292-70019-9
• Coronel-Molina, Serafín M. Quechua Phrasebook. 2002 Lonely Planet ISBN 1-86450-381-5
• Curl, John, Ancient American Poets. Tempe AZ: Bilingual Press, 2005.ISBN 1-931010-21-8 Red-coral.net
• Gifford, Douglas. Time Metaphors in Aymara and Quechua. St. Andrews: University of St. Andrews, 1986.
• Heggarty and David Beresford-Jones, Paul (2009). "Not the Incas? Weaving Archaeology and Language into a Single New Prehistory". London: British Academy Review 12: 11-15 
• Harrison, Regina. Signs, Songs, and Memory in the Andes: Translating Quechua Language and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989. ISBN 0-292-77627-6
• Jake, Janice L. Grammatical Relations in Imbabura Quechua. Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Garland Pub, 1985. ISBN 0-8240-5475-X
• 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 1-85359-495-4
• 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 0-915306-09-3
• 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. ISBN 1-55608-050-6
• 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 90-316-0151-9
• 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.
• Plaza Martínez, Pedro. Quechua. In: Mily Crevels and Pieter Muysken (eds.) Lenguas de Bolivia, vol. I, 215-284. La Paz: Plural editores, 2009. ISBN 978-99954-1-236-4. (in Spanish)
• Sánchez, Liliana. Quechua-Spanish Bilingualism: Interference and Convergence in Functional Categories. Language acquisition & language disorders, v. 35. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub, 2003. ISBN 1-58811-471-6
• Weber, David. A Grammar of Huallaga (Huánuco) Quechua. University of California publications in linguistics, v. 112. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. ISBN 0-520-09732-7
• Quechua bibliographies online at: Quecha.org.uk

External links

• Spoken Cusco Quechua, language course Donald F. Solá
• Course of Classical Quechua as used in the Manuscript of Huarochiri Gerald Taylor, French Institute of Andean Studies.
• Qayna Kunan Paqarin: Una introducción al quechua chanca. 2011 Electronic book of the complete course of the grammar of quechua, R. Zariquiey, G. Córdova.
• Breve gramática de Quechua RunasimiNet: aprendiendo quechua en línea. Learn Quechua with this online course from the Catholic University PUCP Lima.
• RUNASIMI About Quechua and written in the Quechua language. It offers a quantity of texts in Quechua in diverse quechua dialects and languages. In the following languages: Quechua, Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.
• El Quechua de Santiago del Estero, extensive site covering the grammar of Argentinian Quechua (in Spanish)
• Quechua Language and Linguistics an extensive site.
  • The Origins and Diversity of Quechua
  • 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.
• Toponimos del Quechua de Yungay, Peru
• Sacred Hymns of Pachacutec YouTube
• Quechua lessons (www.andes.org) in Spanish and English
• Quechua course Spanish to Quechua
• Detailed map of the varieties of Quechua according to SIL (fedepi.org)
• Cuzco and Bolivian Quechua being compared, with English translations
• Modelling the Quechua-Aymara relationship. Pieter Muysken
• Los Quechuas en el Perú Documentary about the Peruvian quechua language, in Quechua.
• Zorros de arriba, documental Quechua - Education in the Runasimi Language of Perú
• Piruw mama llaqtap siminkunamanta Las lenguas del Perú, documental en el Quechua cuzqueño
• Saqrakuna, televisión juvenil quechua Tarpurisunchis
• El zorro y el condor Video de un cuento andino, CEC Guaman Poma de Ayala, Cusco.

Dictionaries

• Diccionario Quechua: Español–Runasimi–English Dictionary of Ayacucho Quechua from Clodoaldo Soto Ruiz. It explains Quechua words in Quechua itself and in Spanish and English.
• 10 Quechua dictionaries online
• Quechua Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)

Historical

• "A Guiding Light to the Indians" is a document from the mid-1700s which documents the Quechua language.