Kichwa language
Spoken in
- Quechua language family Wampuy ( Quechua II) Chinchay ( Quechua II b) Kichwa
Qu ( macro language Quechua )
Que ( macro language Quechua )
Que ( macro language Quechua )
As Kichwa (also: Quichua ) are referred to the variants of the Quechua language family as well as their spokesman in Ecuador, Colombia, and north and east ( Amazonia ) of Peru. The term " Quichua " is also used in Argentina, however, include the local variants not to Kichwa, but the Southern Quechua. Nor does this include some Quechua variants in which Kichwa is used as a proper name (eg Cajamarca Quechua, Wanka Quechua ), but this is due to a Rückentlehnung from Spanish.
Origin of the name
The name comes from the fact that the uvular plosive [q ] has become in the northern Quechua variants ( Chinchay ) to a velar plosive [k ] (corresponding to the German k), on the basis of which the sound [ i] never as [e ], [ u], however, never as [o ] is spoken. The Quechua word qichwa (pronounced " Quechua " with uvularem k, that is far back in the throat) is therefore pronounced in the north kichwa ( " kitschua "). Qichwa actually means " valley " or a height designated zone of the Andes and its inhabitants, most of whom speak or spoke Quechua. On the self-designation of the Kichwa language Runashimi is ( " man's word " on Southern Quechua Runasimi ).
Development of language in Ecuador
In today's Ecuador ( and Colombia, where there but only a few thousand speakers are ) the Quechua relatively late mother tongue of the population. At the latest with the conquest by the Inca -based Southern Quechua form however, was promoted as a lingua franca ( Lengua general) among the linguistically very different peoples of Ecuador. Due to the relocation and associated mixing of people from different backgrounds language first among the Inca, and later under the Spaniards, the Kichwa developed as a Creole form of the Quechua language. While the vocabulary of Quechua was almost completely taken over, there was a strong transformation in the phonology and grammar. These changes have taken place both in the Ecuadorian highlands and in the lowlands of Ecuador and Colombia ( Inga Kichwa ).
Repression and defense of the Kichwa language
Since the independence of Ecuador, but especially since the beginning of the 20th century, the language is increasingly being displaced by the Spanish. With its rise since the seventies have indigenous organizations in Ecuador, including ECUARUNARI made as a representation of the Kichwa ethnic groups, the defense of languages a political issue and reached the anchorage of the so-called intercultural bilingual education in the 1998 Constitution, although Spanish continue the only constitutional official language remained. Since then, many bilingual schools were opened, but without so far to achieve full coverage on their own responsibility of Kichwa communities. Can be to what extent the language loss stopped and reversed, is not yet in sight.
In 2008, the failure of a motion in Parliament, Kichwa as nationwide equal official language along with Spanish included in the new constitution. Instead, according to Article 2, paragraph 2, the Spanish official language of Ecuador; Kichwa and Shuar are official languages for " intercultural relations ", the other indigenous languages for the " official use of the [ relevant] indigenous peoples."
Number of speakers
The data on the number of speakers in Ecuador vary greatly and 750000-2 million will be usually given. In Colombia, there is likely a few thousand, give tens of thousands of speakers in the Peruvian Amazon. In the census of 2001, only about 500,000 speakers were found in all of Ecuador. The credibility of this number is disputed.
Orthography
Since the nineties, there is a uniform orthography for Ecuador ( Quichua Unificado, Shukllachishka Kichwa ), which has replaced the previous dialect- related, but at the very Spanish oriented notations. It is based on the Peruvian official alphabet ( Alfabeto oficial ) for Quechua and is used in school as well as other state institutions. The Christian churches still hold firmly to the Spanish spelling, however, as they can also be found in the translations of the Bible into different Quichua variants.
Main differences to the southern Quechua
As Southern Quechua variants of southern Peru are ( Chanka, Qusqu - Qullaw: Dialects from Huancavelica southwards ), Bolivia and Argentina respectively. Here the differences of the Kichwa of Ecuador are presented in comparison.
Examples:
- Pronunciation
In the debate, there are also differences from the southern Quechua. In addition to the approximation of the original [q ] to the [k ] are: "ll" is pronounced as in Argentina ( j in French Journal ), " mp" as [ mb ], "nt " as [ nd] and " nk " as [ ng ]. In some dialects, there is also an "f", where else would a "p " occurs. However, the voiced plosives b, d, g and f are not the phonemic and are therefore - in line with other Quechua variants - in the new orthography as p, t, k or p repeatedly. The "ch" falls before " n" through assimilation in the debate with the "ll" together. Unlike in the southern dialects, the original " sh" has (like German: sch ) and has received phonemic character (eg pushak = " leader"; pusak = " eight ").
- Vocabulary
The vocabulary corresponds mainly to the southern Quechua, but there are exceptions as some important words that Kichwa only with the central Peruvian ( Ancash, Huánuco, Junín ) and northern Peru Quechua has in common. The two most common are chusku place for tawa "four" and Tamya instead of para for " Rain". These borrowings from other indigenous languages of Ecuador.
Variants of the Kichwa
Regional variants of the Kichwa of Ecuador
According to SIL International, there are nine " Quichua languages " in Ecuador, during the Protestant FEDEPI specifies eight variants ( kanar and Saraguros - Kichwa summarized ). The phonetic differences are based on a sample set shows ( " The men will come in just two days " ), in addition to the comparison in " Unity Kichwa " and Southern Quechua:
(Source: FEDEPI - http://quichua.net/Q/Ec/Ecuador/E-QSC.html [ with map], extended Retrieved on Sep 16, 2006, no longer available.. )
Kichwa in the Peruvian Amazonia
The Kichwa of northern Peru in the enclaves of San Martín ( Lamas Quechua ) and Loreto corresponds to the debate largely to Kichwa dialects of Ecuador and Colombia, but it has not the grammatical transformation or creolization participated ( as there is for B continue. two "we" forms).