Quechua Totally Explained

Everything about Quechua totally explained

Quechua (Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America. It was already widely spoken across the Central Andes long before the time of the Incas, who adopted it as the official language of administration for their Empire, and is still spoken today in various regional forms (the so-called ‘dialects’) by some 10 million people through much of South America, including Peru, south-western and central Bolivia, southern Colombia and Ecuador, north-western Argentina and northern Chile. It is the most widely spoken language of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
   Quechua is a very regular agglutinative language, as opposed to a fusional one. Its normal sentence order is SOV (subject-object-verb). Its large number of suffixes changes both the overall significance of words and their subtle shades of meaning. Notable grammatical features include bipersonal conjugation (verbs agree with both subject and object), evidentiality (indication of the source and veracity of knowledge), a topic particle, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it.
History
The various dialects of Quechua were widely spoken throughout the Andes long before the rise of the Inca state in the 15th century. The Incas made one dialect of Quechua (Classical Quechua, the ancestor of Southern Quechua) their official language; as they expanded their empire by conquest, this dialect became pre-Columbian Peru's lingua franca, retaining this status after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
   The oldest records of the language are those of Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540, publishing his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú in 1560.
   Quechua has often been grouped with Aymara as a larger Quechumaran linguistic stock, largely because about a third of its vocabulary is shared with Aymara. This proposal is controversial, however, as the cognates are close, often closer than intra-Quechua cognates, and there's little relationship in the affixal system. The similarities may be due to long-term contact rather than from common origin. The language was further extended beyond the limits of the Inca empire by the Roman Catholic Church, which chose it to preach to natives in the Andes. Where the two languages intermix, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers and vice-versa. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as wawa (infant), michi (cat), wasca (strap, or thrashing) are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas.
   Today, it has the status of an official language in both Peru and Bolivia, along with Spanish and Aymara. Before the arrival of the Spaniards and the introduction of the Latin alphabet, Quechua had no written alphabet. The Incas kept track of numerical data through a system of quipu-strings.
   Currently, the major obstacle to the diffusion of the usage and teaching of Quechua is the lack of written material in the Quechua language, namely books, newspapers, software, magazines, etc. Thus, Quechua, along with Aymara and the minor indigenous languages, remains essentially an oral language. It must be said that this obstacle is being greatly improved by modern technology.
Geographic distribution
There are four main dialect groups. Quechua I or Waywash is spoken in Peru's central highlands. It is the most diverse branch of Quechua, such that its dialects have often been considered different languages. Quechua II or Wanp'una (Traveler) is divided into three branches:
II-A: Yunkay Quechua is spoken sporadically in Peru's occidental highlands;
II-B: Northern Quechua (also known as Runashimi or, especially in Ecuador, Kichwa) is mainly spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. It is also spoken in the Amazonian lowlands in Ecuador and Peru;
II-C: Southern Quechua, spoken in Peru's southern highlands, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, is today's most important branch because it has the largest number of speakers and because of its cultural and literary legacy.
This is, at least, the traditional classification, and is still a helpful guide, though it has come to be increasingly challenged in recent years, since a number of regional varieties of Quechua seem to be intermediate between the two branches.
Number of speakers
The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The most reliable figures are to be found in the census results of Peru (1993) and Bolivia (2001), though they're probably altogether too low due to underreporting. The 2001 Ecuador census seems to be a prominent example of underreporting, as it comes up with only 499,292 speakers of the two varieties Quichua and Kichwa combined, where other sources estimate between 1.5 and 2.2 million speakers.
Argentina: 100,000
Bolivia: 2,100,000 (2001 census)
Brazil: unknown
Chile: very few, spoken in pockets in the Chilean Altiplano (Ethnologue)
Colombia: 9,000 (Ethnologue)
Ecuador: 500,000 to 1,000,000
Peru: 3,200,000 (1993 census) Additionally, there may be hundreds of thousands of speakers outside the traditionally Quechua speaking territories, in immigrant communities.
Vocabulary
A number of Quechua loanwords have entered English via Spanish, including coca, cóndor, guano, jerky, llama, pampa, puma, quinine, quinoa, vicuña and possibly gaucho. The word lagniappe comes from the Quechua word yapay ("to increase; to add") with the Spanish article la in front of it, la yapa or la ñapa, in Spanish.
   The influence on Latin American Spanish includes such borrowings as chuchaqui for "hangover" in Ecuador, and diverse borrowings for "altitude sickness", in Bolivia from Quechua suruqch'i to Bolivian sorojchi, in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru soroche.
   Quechua has borrowed a large number of Spanish words, such as pero (from pero, but), bwenu (from bueno, good), and burru (from burro, donkey).
Phonology
The description below applies to Cusco dialect; there are significant differences in other varieties of Quechua.
Vowels
Quechua uses only three vowels: /a/ /i/ and /u/, as in Aymara (including Jaqaru). Monolingual speakers pronounce these as [æ] [ɪ] and [ʊ] respectively, though the Spanish vowels /a/ /i/ and /u/ may also be used. When the vowels appear adjacent to the uvular consonants /q/, /qʼ/, and /qʰ/, they're rendered more like [ɑ], [ɛ] and [ɔ] respectively.
Consonants

labial alveolar postalveolar palatal velar uvular glottal

plosive / affricate p t tʃ k q

aspirated plosive or affricate pʰ tʰ tʃʰ kʰ qʰ

ejective p’ t’ tʃ’ k’ q’

fricative s h

nasal m n ɲ

lateral approximant l ʎ

flap ɾ

central approximant j w

None of the plosives or fricatives are voiced; voicing isn't 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 (for example 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 isn't utilized 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 controversial 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 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 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.
   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're left in Spanish. For instance, "I am Robert" could be written Robertom kani or Ruwirtum kani. (The -m isn't part of the name; it's an evidential suffix.)
   Peruvian linguist Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino has proposed an orthographic norm for all Quechua, called 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 most common dialects: Ayacucho Quechua and Qusqu-Qullaw Quechua (spoken in Cusco, Puno, Bolivia, and Argentina). For instance:

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"

To listen to recordings of these and many other words as pronounced in many different Quechua-speaking regions, see the external website The Sounds of the Andean Languages. There is also a full section on the new Quechua and Aymara Spelling.
Grammar

Pronouns

Number
Singular Plural

Person First Ñuqa Ñuqanchik (inclusive)Ñuqayku (exclusive)

Second Qam Qamkuna

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, which is used when the speaker wishes to include in "we" the person to whom he or she's speaking ("we and you"). The other form is called the exclusive, which is used when the addressee is excluded. ("we without you"). Quechua also adds the suffix -kuna to the second and third person singular pronouns qam and pay to create the plural forms qam-kuna and pay-kuna.
Adjectives
Adjectives in Quechua are always placed before nouns. They lack gender and number, and are not declined to agree with substantives.
Numbers

Cardinal numbers. ch'usaq (0), huk (1), iskay (2), kimsa (3), tawa (4), pichqa (5), suqta (6), qanchis (7), pusaq (8), isqun (9), chunka (10), chunka hukniyuq (11), chunka iskayniyuq (12), iskay chunka (20), pachak (100), waranqa (1,000), hunu (1,000,000), lluna (1,000,000,000,000).
Ordinal numbers. To form ordinal numbers, the word ñiqin is put after the appropriate cardinal number (for example, 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. wasi (house)>

Function Suffix Example (translation)

suffix indicating number plural -kuna wasikuna houses

possessive suffix 1.person singular -y wasiy 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 abessive -naq wasinaq without the house

ablative -manta, -piqta wasimanta, wasipiqta away from the house

accusative -(k)ta wasita the house (obj.)

adessive -(ni)ntin wasintin the house (obj.)

benefactive -paq wasipaq for the house

causative -rayku wasirayku because of the house

comitative (instrumental) -wan wasiwan with the house

comparative -naw, -hina wasinaw, wasihina than the house

dative -paq wasipaq for the house

directional -man wasiman towards the house

exclusive -lla(m) wasilla(m) only the house

genitive -p(a) wasip(a) of the house

immediate -raq wasiraq first the house

inclusive -piwan, puwan wasipiwan, wasipuwan including the house

interactive -pura wasipura among the houses

locative -pi, -traw wasipi, wasitraw in the house

similative -masi wasimasi neighbour

transitive -(rin)ta wasinta through the house

terminative -kama, -yaq wasikama, wasiyaq up to 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's 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're moving backwards into the future (we can't see it - ie. it's unknown), facing the past (we can see it - ie. we remember it).
Verbs
The infinitive forms (unconjugated) have the suffix -y (much'a= "kiss"; much'a-y = "to kiss"). The endings for the indicative are:

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-nku -nqa-ku -sqa-ku

To these are added various suffixes to change the meaning. For example, -cha is used when the subject provoques the action on the subject and -ku, is added to make the actor the recipient of the action (example: wañuy = "to die"; wañuchiy = to kill wañuchikuy = "to commit suicide"); -naku, when the action is mutual (example: marq'ay= "to hug"; marq'anakuy= "to hug each other"), and -chka, when the condition is continuing (for example, mikhuy = "to eat"; mikhuchkay = "to be eating").
Grammatical particles
Particles are indeclinable words, that is, they don't accept suffixes. They are relatively rare. The most common are arí ("yes") and mana ("no"), although mana can take some suffixes, such as -n/-m (manan/manam), -raq (manaraq, not yet) and -chu (manachu?, or not?), to intensify the meaning. Also used are yaw ("hey", "hi"), and certain loan words from Spanish, such as piru (from Spanish pero "but") and sinuqa (from sino "rather").
Evidentiality
Nearly every Quechua sentence is marked by an evidential suffix, indicating how certain the speaker is about a statement. -mi expresses personal knowledge (Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirmi, "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver-- I know it for a fact"); -si expresses hearsay knowledge (Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirsi, "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver, or so I've heard"); -chá expresses probability (Tayta Wayllaqawaqa chufirchá, "Mr. Huayllacahua is a driver, most likely"). These become -m, -s, -ch after a vowel, although -ch is rarely used, and the majority of speakers usually employ -chá, even after a vowel (Mariochá, "He's Mario, most likely").
   The evidential suffixes are not restricted to nouns; they can attach to any word in the sentence, typically the comment (that is, new information, as opposed to the topic).
In popular culture

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

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