Quechua: Language of the Incas

On this page:

Introduction
Quechua Literature
Structure
Things my mother-in-law always says...
Further Resources

Introduction

Runasimi ``language of the people'' is the indigenous language of a large portion of the South American highlands. There are about 10 million speakers today.

The term Quechua covers a variety of distinct languages and dialects. A search of the Ethnologue Data Base turned up 29 dialects spoken in Peru. The most important dialect is that spoken in Cuzco, the seat of the former Inca Empire. Quechua spread by means of conquests realized before and during that empire. It displaced several earlier languages, only to find itself increasingly displaced today by Spanish. In spite of this intense competition, Quechua in its various forms remains a vital language in Peru and elsewhere.

I've only begun studying Quechua myself so I make no warranty as to the accuracy of the information on this page. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know.

Quechua Literature

The ancient South Americans lacked an alphabetic writing system, but at least two types of mnemonic systems were developed. The khipu involved a system of cords and knots and were probably used for accounting and keeping administrative records. The tokapu, a system of pictographs, probably represented individual cities and noble families. Inca nobles were often depicted wearing ponchos embroidered with these symbols.

When the Spanish arrived in Peru there was disagreement over whether and how the native languages should be used. By the second half of the 16th century, it was decided that local languages should be used at least for religious instruction. The roman alphabet was adapted to Quechua and grammars, dictionaries, and catechisms began to appear. Soon chronicilers began recording the massive body of Quechua oral history and literature. The most famous such compliation, Santacruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamangua's Relación de las antigüedades deste reyno del Pirú, contains an elborate description of Quechua religion and philosophy. Much of it was written in Spanish, but contains many passages in Quechua, including entire poems and prayers.

The oral tradition of the native Peruvians surives today, and finds expression in many forms, especially music, of which the wayñu (love song), and qhashwa (festival song) are especially compelling. Today this music often mixes Spanish and Quechua.

Spanish-speaking Peruvians owe a substantial part of their daily vocabulary to Quechua, including words such as choclo (from "choqllo", corn), llama, chakra (field), and rocoto ("roqoto", hot pepper). Quecha, in turn, has readily assimilated a vast array of Spanish terms, including kwenta ("cuenta", bill), and lus ("luz", electricity). But this borrowing is not limited to objects and concepts introduced from the Old World: paloma ("dove"), for example, happily exists alongside the native urpi. This resiliency has allowed Quechua to retain its vitality in today's technological age.

Structure

Quechua is often called an ``agglutinative language,'' which means that words are built up out of a root word combined with suffixes that color its meaning. For example, here is how you would say ``Do you speak Quechua?'':

Runasimita rimankichu?

This sentence is built of two root words: runasimi (``Quechua''), and rimay (``to speak''). Suffixes supply the additional meaning:

runasimi-: Quechua
-ta: Indicates the object of the sentence.
rima-: Root of the verb rimay.
-nki: Present tense ending for second person singular.
-chu: Interrogative particle.

Runasimi is itself a compound word; it comes from runa ``people'' and simi ``mouth.''

Things my mother-in-law always says...

My mother-in-law speaks perfect Spanish, but she always drops in some Quechua. Here are some of the phrases my wife grew up with.

Manan kanchu.: We're out of it. (Literally, ``There isn't any.'')
Paqarinkama: See you tomorrow. She says this before going to bed.

Further Resources

To give you a flavor of the language, I've included some of my study notes on the pages that follow. They're intended to give you an idea of how Quechua works and whet your appetite for further study.

For serious study, you will want to consult one of the following texts. Note that most of them are in Spanish. In fact, it will probably be very difficult to get far studying Quechua without having at least some familiarity with Spanish.

Chaparro, Carmelo.
  Gramatica pedagogica del quechua cusqueno / Carmelo Chaparro.  1a ed.
Lima, Peru : Ediciones Sagsa, 1984.  216 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 21 x 22 cm.

Perez Carrasco, Mauro.
  Kechwa o runa-simi : idioma imperial del Tawantin-Suyo, aprendamos para peru
anizar mas al Peru = Kechwa, lenguage humano : Tawantin-Suyupa qapaq simin
yachasun Peru llaqtanchik musoqmanta aswan sutinchanapa / Mauro Perez
Carrasco.  1ra. ed.  Lima, Peru : Bendezu, [1986?]  119 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Soto Ruiz, Clodoaldo.
  Quechua, manual de ensenanza / Clodoaldo Soto Ruiz.  2a. ed., corr. y
actualizada.  Lima : Instituto de Estudios Peruanos : Universidad de Illinois
en Urbana-Champaign, 1993.  442 p.

Wright, Ronald.
  Quechua Phrasebook. Hawthorn, Australia : Lonely Planet Publications, 1989.
96 p.