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Quechua
*** Shopping-Tip: Quechua
{{Infobox Language
|name=Quechua
|nativename=Runa Simi
|pronunciation=['ɾu.nÉ? 'si.mi]
|states=
Argentina,
Brazil,
Bolivia,
Chile,
Colombia,
Ecuador,
Peru
|region=
Andes
|speakers=10,000,000
|rank=83
|familycolor=American
|family=
Quechuan languages Quechuan
|nation=
Bolivia and
Peru
|agency=
Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua
|iso1=qu|iso2=que
|lc1=que|ld1=Quechua (generic)
many
Quechuan languages varieties of Quechua have their own codes.|ll1=none}}
'''Quechua''' ('''Runa Simi''' in Quechua; '''Runa''', "human" + '''Simi''', "speech", literally "mouth"; i.e. ''popular speech'') is a
Native American language of
South America. It was the language of the
Inca Empire, and is today spoken in various dialects by some 10 million people throughout South America, including modern southern
Colombia and
Ecuador, throughout
Peru and
Bolivia, north-western
Argentina and northern
Chile. It is the most widely spoken of all
Amerindian American Indian languages.
Quechua is a very regular language, but a large number of infixes and suffixes change both the overall significance of words and their subtle shades of meaning, allowing great expressiveness. It includes grammatical features such as
bipersonal conjugation and conjugation dependent on mental state and veracity of knowledge, spatial and temporal relationships, and many cultural factors.
History
Today's theories about Quechua's origin put its initial territorial domain in modern Peru's Central Coast, possibly in the ancient city of
Caral, around
2600 BC.
Inca kings of
Cuzco made Quechua their official language and, with Inca conquest in the
14th century, the Empire's language became Ancient Peru's ''lingua franca''. By the time of the
Spanish conquest, in the
16th century, the language had already spread throughout the Andean region.
Quechua has often been grouped with
Aymara language Aymara as a larger Quechumaran linguistic stock, largely because about a third of its vocabulary is shared with Aymara. This proposal is controversial, however: 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 time contact rather than from common origins. The language was further extended beyond the limits of the Inca empire by the
Catholic Church, which chose it to preach to Indians in the
Andes area.
Today, it has the status of an official language in both Peru and Bolivia, along with
Spanish language 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
khipu-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. Significantly, most of the native speakers of Quechua are illiterate. Thus, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially an oral language.
Geographic distribution
There are two main dialect groups.
Quechua I or ''Waywash'' is spoken in Peru's central highlands. It is the most archaic and diverse branch of Quechua, such that its dialects have been often considered a different tongue.
Quechua II or ''Wanp'una (Traveler)'' is divided into three branches:
Yunkay Quechua is spoken sporadically in Peru's occidental highlands;
Northern Quechua (also known as ''Quichua'' or ''Runashimi'') is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador;
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.
Vocabulary
A number of Quechua
loanwords have entered
English language English via
Spanish language Spanish, including ''
coca'', ''
condor'', ''
guano'', ''
jerky (food) 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 article ''la'' in front of it, ''la yapa'', in Spanish.
Sounds
The description below applies to Cusco dialect; there are significant differences in other varieties of Quechua.
Vowels
Quechua uses only three vowels: '''/a/''', '''/i/''', and '''/u/''', similar to
Classical Arabic. Monolingual speakers pronounce these as ['''æ ɪ ʊ'''] respectively, though the
Spanish language Spanish vowels ['''a i u'''] may also be used. When the vowels appear adjacent to the uvular consonants '''/q/''', '''/q'/''', and '''/q
h/''', they are rendered more like ['''{{IPA|É‘}}'''], ['''É›'''] and ['''É”'''] respectively.
Consonants
The language is spelled as the IPA apart from the palatal consonants /tʃ ɲ ʎ j/ which are spelled <ch ñ ll y> respectively.
None of the plosives or fricatives are voiced; voicing is not
phoneme phonemic in the Quechua native vocabulary. However, in the Cusco dialect, each plosive has three forms: simple,
ejective consonant ejective, and
aspiration (phonetics) aspirated (a feature that is considered to be of
Aymara origin). For example:
simple ejective aspirated
p p′ p
h
t t′ t
h
tʃ tʃ′ tʃ
h
k k′ k
h
q q′ q
h
{{Listen|filename=qu-pata_phata_p'ata.ogg|title=Voiceless bilabial plosives|description=Pronunciation of
voiceless bilabial plosive phonemes in Quechua|format=
Ogg}}
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.
Writing system
Quechua has been written using the Roman alphabet since the
Spanish conquest of Peru. However, written Quechua is not utilized by the Quechua-speaking people at large, either because they are part of the illiterate majority, or because Spanish is more useful, 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 Qapaq, 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
Cusco) 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 Quechua three-vowel system. Examples: ''Inka, Wayna Qapaq, 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.
Writers differ in the treatment of Spanish loanwords. Sometimes these are adapted to the modern orthography, sometimes they are left in Spanish. For instance, "I am Robert" could be written ''Robertom kani'' or ''Ruwirtum kani''. (The ''-m'' is not part of the name; it is an evidential suffix.)
Peruvian linguist
Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino has proposed an orthographic norm for all Quechua, called
Southern Quechua. This norm, accepted by many institutions in Peru, has been made by combining conservative features of two most common dialects:
Ayacucho Quechua and
Cusco Quechua (which is also used in Bolivia and Argentina). For instance:
{| class="wikitable"
!Ayacucho
!Cusco
!Southern Quechua
!Translation
|-
| upyay
| uhyay
| upyay
| "to drink"
|-
| utqa
| usqha
| utqha
| "fast"
|-
| llamkay
| llank'ay
| llamk'ay
| "to work"
|-
| ñuqanchik
| nuqanchis
| ñuqanchik
| "we (inclusive)"
|-
| -chka-
| -sha-
| -chka-
| (progressive suffix)
|-
| punchaw
| p'unchay
| p'unchaw
| "day"
|}
Grammar
*
Pronouns
{| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" align="right" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px gray solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; vertical-align: center;"
| colspan=2 rowspan=2 style="background:white;border-top:2px white solid;border-right:1px solid gray;border-bottom:1px solid gray;border-left:2px white solid;"|
| colspan=2 align="center" style="background:#9FB6CD;"|
'''Number'''
|-
| align="center" style="background:#B9D3EE"|'''''Singular'''''
| align="center" style="background:#B9D3EE"|'''''Plural'''''
|-
| rowspan=3 style="background:#9FB6CD"|
'''Person'''
| align="center" style="background:#B9D3EE"|'''''First'''''
|Ñuqa
|Ñuqanchik ''(inclusive)''
Ñuqayku ''(exclusive)''
|-
| align="center" style="background:#B9D3EE"|'''''Second'''''
|Qam
|Qamkuna
|-
| align="center" style="background:#B9D3EE"|'''''Third'''''
|Pay
|Paykuna
|}
In Quechua, there are seven pronouns. Quechua also has two first person plural pronouns ("we", in English). One is called the
inclusive we 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 we 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".
*
Verbs
The infinitive forms (unconjugated) have the suffix ''-y'' (''much'a''= "kiss"; ''much'a-y'' = "to kiss"). The endings for the indicative voice are:
{| align="center"
!
! 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
| -sun
| -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-nku
| -nqa-ku
| -sqa-ku
|}
To these are added various interfixes and suffixes to change the meaning. For example, ''-ku-'', is added to make the actor the recipient of the action (example: ''wañuy'' = "to die"; ''wañukuy'' = "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").
*
Particles
These are indeclinable words, that is, they do not accept suffixes. They are relatively rare. The most common are ''arÃ'' ("yes") and ''mana'' ("no"), although ''mana'' can take the suffix ''-n'' (''manan'') 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"); ''-cha'' expresses probability (''Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufircha'', "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver, most likely"). These become ''-m, -s, -ch'' after a vowel.
Trivia
The fictional
Huttese language in the
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' movies is largely based upon Quechua.
The commonly used word for hangover in
Ecuador is Quechua: chuchaqui.
The commonly used word for altitude sickness in
Bolivia is Quechua: sorojchi.
See also
*
Aymara language
*
Andes
*
List of English words of Quechuan origin
*
South Bolivian Quechua language
*
Quechua Swadesh list Swadesh list of Quechua words
References
* Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino, ''LingüÃstica Quechua'', Centro de Estudios Rurales Andinos 'Bartolomé de las Casas', 2nd ed.
2003
* Mannheim, Bruce, ''The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion'', University of Texas Press,
1991, ISBN 0292746636
External links
{{InterWiki|code=qu}}
{{Wikibookspar||Quechua}}
-
Quechua Network's Dictionary a very good one.
-
Quechua lessons in Spanish and English
-
Quechua course in Spanish from the Red Cientifica Peruana
-
Quechua - English Dictionary: from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
-
Ecuadorian Quechua - English Dictionary: from [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org Webster's Online Dictionary] - the Rosetta Edition.
Category:Languages of Argentina
Category:Languages of Bolivia
Category:Languages of Chile
Category:Languages of Colombia
Category:Languages of Ecuador
Category:Languages of Peru
Category:Quechuan languages
bg:Кечуа
ca:QuÃtxua
cs:KeÄ?uánÅ¡tina
cv:Кечуа (чĕлхе)
cy:Cetshwa
da:Quechua
de:Quechua
es:Quechua {{Link FA|es}}
eo:Keĉua lingvo
fr:Quechua
it:Quechua
li:Quechua
nl:Quechua
ja:ケ�ュア
nn:Quechua
pl:Język keczua
pt:QuÃchua
qu:Runa Simi
ru:Кечуа (Ñ?зык)
simple:Quechua
fi:Ketšua
sv:Quechua
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*** Shopping-Tip: Quechua
