- Official language in
- Peru, Bolivia
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
Quechua is one of the official languages of Peru, alongside Spanish, in the areas where it predominates. It is also one of the official languages of Bolivia, whose constitution names Quechua alongside Spanish and dozens of other Indigenous languages as official throughout the state. Ecuador's constitution instead names Kichwa, a separately named language, as an official language for intercultural relations. This app's cards represent Cuzco Quechua, spoken in the Department of Cuzco and adjoining parts of the Departments of Apurímac and Puno — a region of high plateaus and mountain valleys in southern Peru.
Sources
- Constitute Project — "Peru's Constitution of 1993 with Amendments through 2021" (English translation) — Art. 48 (official languages)
- Constitute Project — "Bolivia (Plurinational State of)'s Constitution of 2009" (English translation) — Art. 5.I (official languages)
- Constitute Project — "Ecuador's Constitution of 2008 with Amendments through 2021" (English translation) — Art. 2 (official languages)
- Sola, Donald F. (1967). "The Structure of Cuzco Quechua." Cornell University (ERIC microfiche, digitized) — p.1-1 (dialect region: Cuzco, Apurímac, Puno)
Script & pronunciation
This app writes Quechua in the Latin script. Cuzco Quechua's sound system has three vowel phonemes — i, u, and a — and three parallel series of stop consonants: plain, aspirated, and glottalized (ejective). The app's cards mark a glottalized consonant with an apostrophe after the letter, as in p'unchay ('day / daytime') in the card Allin p'unchaykim ('Good morning / Good day'). The app's romanization also divides words into syllables with hyphens and marks the stressed syllable in capital letters, as in ru-na-SI-mi-ta ri-MAN-ki-chu, the romanization of Runasimita rimankichu? ('Do you speak Quechua?').
Sources
- Sola, Donald F. (1967). "The Structure of Cuzco Quechua." Cornell University (ERIC microfiche, digitized) — §2.01–2.21, p.2-1–2-2 (phoneme inventory: three vowels, plain/aspirated/glottalized stops)
Grammar essentials
Quechua is a suffixing language: grammatical relations that many other languages mark with separate prepositions are instead marked by suffixes attached to the noun, including suffixes meaning roughly 'to', 'from', 'in/at', and 'with'. In the noun phrase, a modifier such as an adjective comes before the noun it modifies, as in this app's card Chiri unuta quway, allichu. ('Please give me cold water'), where chiri ('cold') precedes unu ('water'); the case suffix -ta attaches only once, at the end of the whole phrase. Yes/no questions are formed with a suffix that is always associated with a distinct interrogative intonation, as in this app's card Runasimita rimankichu? ('Do you speak Quechua?'), whose verb ends in -chu. Negation is formed by placing mana before the word being negated, which itself also carries that same suffix, as in this app's card Ukhuqa mana limpichu. ('The room is not clean'). Quechua also grammatically marks the source of a speaker's information: a suffix on the predicate signals that the speaker witnessed or took part in what they describe, as in this app's card Tawantinsuyupi kawsayninchis sumaqmi. ('The culture of Tawantinsuyu (the Inca Empire) is wonderful.'), whose sumaqmi ends in this suffix; a different suffix instead marks information the speaker knows only through hearsay.
Sources
- Sola, Donald F. (1967). "The Structure of Cuzco Quechua." Cornell University (ERIC microfiche, digitized) — §4.51–4.52, §4.621–4.622, §5.14, §6.22 (interrogative -chu, negation, evidentiality -mi/-si, case suffixes, modifier order)
Politeness & etiquette
Quechua marks politeness with suffixes attached to the verb. One such suffix carries a deferential, plural sense toward the addressee, as in this app's card Hatun qillqayuq menuchu kankichis? ('Do you have large-print menus?'), whose verb kankichis ends in -chis. Polite requests combine the imperative with a suffix meaning that the action is done for the speaker's benefit, producing a sense like 'please do this for me,' as in this app's card Qallariq kani — reglata willaway. ('I'm a beginner — can you explain the rules?'), whose willaway ends in -way.
Sources
- Sola, Donald F. (1967). "The Structure of Cuzco Quechua." Cornell University (ERIC microfiche, digitized) — §5.213, §5.225, §5.2322, pp.5-20, 5-24, 5-27 (cislocative -wa, imperative -y, deferential -chis)