Adelaar Willem, Muysken Pieter. The languages of the Andes
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234 3 The Inca Sphere
(‘to answer’, ‘to ask’, ‘to tell’) to ways of thinking (‘to ponder’, ‘to intend’, ‘to consider
as’). The verb n
y
i- is the only Quechua verb that can and must be accompanied by a direct
quotation, which accordingly can refer either to a spoken message, or to the content of
a thought. Its gerund form (QIIC ni-spa,QIni-r)regularly marks the end of a direct
quotation, regardless of whether the main verb in the sentence is also n
y
i- or some other
verb of communication.
The wide range of semantic interpretations covered by n
y
i- has probably favoured
the introduction (especially with bilingual speakers) of Spanish loan verbs referring to
particular subinterpretations of n
y
i-, e.g. pinsa- ‘to think’ or kontesta- ‘to answer’.
Although the noun inventory of Quechua is less frugal than the verbal lexicon, it was
not free of conspicuous gaps that may have stimulated the introduction of loan words.
An interesting example is the word for ‘animal’, Spanish animal, one of the earliest
loans from that language into Quechua. Apparently, Quechua speakers lacked a generic
term referring to any animal, but would use enumerations of specific animals, followed
by ima ‘et cetera’, or cover terms referring to all creatures (including men) living in a
particular geographical environment or climatic zone.
In Quechua morphology and syntax, there are mechanisms for the formation of ab-
stract terms, but such terms are not often used. For instance, instead of referring to
‘heroic deeds’ in general, Quechua speakers would rather speak of the fact that a partic-
ular person acted heroically on a particular occasion. Institutional terms were also few
in number. Typical concepts such as ‘war’ or ‘peace’ are hard to translate into Quechua.
Instead of saying ‘a war breaks out’, traditional Quechua speakers would rather say ‘an
enemy has appeared’.
Like many verbs, nouns may also cover an unusually wide range of semantic interpre-
tations. A typical example is the word for ‘town’ (Quechua I marka, Quechua II l
y
aqta).
It refers to any geographically defined community of people, ranging from a tiny hamlet
to a nation. Originally, the term l
y
aqta also referred to the sanctuary that secured the
social cohesion of the community. Curiously, Quechua speakers have not felt the need
to borrow Spanish terms in order to narrow down the meaning of marka/l
y
aqta.Apar-
allel case is paˇca,which can mean ‘world’, ‘earth’, ‘space’, ‘time’, or ‘circumstances’,
depending on the context.
Quechua often makes no formal distinction between a group and its members; the
word ayl
y
u, for instance, refers to a traditional Andean lineage group but also to anyone
of its individual members. In a modern context this same word is frequently interpreted
either as ‘family’, or as ‘a relative’. Names of places and terms referring to topological
conditions in general are often used to denote people or any other living beings associated
with these places, without the addition of a particular suffix. For instance, the ancient
Colla (qul
y
a) people had their capital at a town called Hatun Colla (hatun qul
y
a) ‘Great
Colla’, near modern Juliaca. In Pacaraos the local autonym paqraw is used for the village,
3.2 The Quechuan language family 235
as well as for its inhabitants. In Ayacucho Quechua the term sal
y
qakuna (plural of sal
y
qa
‘high altitude zone’) is used to denote all living creatures that have their habitat in that
area.
In contrast to the general tendency of economy, the Quechua lexicon is remarkably
rich in some particular semantic domains, such as verbs referring to forms of carrying
and holding. In Ayacucho Quechua, the verb roots amu- ‘to hold in the mouth’, apta-
‘to hold or carry a handful’, asta- ‘to transport (going back and forth)’, marqa-‘tocarry
in the arms’, mil
y
qa- ‘to hold on the lap’, ‘to carry in a skirt’, puqtu- ‘to carry with both
hands’, qipi- ‘to carry on the back’ and wantu- ‘to carry among four (as of a litter)’
all refer to ways of carrying or holding, in addition to the general terms for ‘to carry’,
apa-, and ‘to hold’, hapi-. Another richly differentiated area is verbs referring to postures
of the body.
Kinship terminology in Quechua distinguishes gender of owner, rather than gender
of referent. The classic examples are the words for ‘child’, ‘son’ or ‘daughter’. These
words differ according to whether the relationship to the father or the mother is referred
to (ˇcuri for ‘father’s child’; wawa for ‘mother’s child’; only Cuzco Quechua and Ecuado-
rian Quechua have separate terms for ‘father’s daughter’: ususi and uˇsi, respectively). In
the case of siblings, both the gender of the owner and of the referent are differentiated
(Ayacucho Quechua wawqi ‘brother’s brother’, turi ‘sister’s brother’, n
y
an
y
a ‘sister’s
sister’, pani ‘brother’s sister’). On the other hand, in the terms for ‘father’ and ‘mother’
only the referent is differentiated for gender. The elaborate, traditional kinship termi-
nology of Quechua became reduced as a result of the introduction of Christianity and
European-style family relations. The once socially and ritually important distinctions
between woman’s relatives and man’s relatives have all but disappeared.
The Quechua numeral system is decimal. The basic numerals do not have a trans-
parent etymology. There are two competing terms for ‘four’, which are distributed
geographically; for all the other numerals a single term is available, although the shape
of the term for ‘one’ is subject to variation. The Quechua numerals (in a reconstructed
form) are huk/suk/ˇsuk ‘one’, iˇskay ‘two’, kimsa ‘three’, tawa (Quechua II) or ˇc
.
usku
(Quechua I) ‘four’, piˇcqa ‘five’, suqta ‘six’, qanˇc
.
is ‘seven’, pusaq ‘eight’, isqun ‘nine’,
ˇc
.
unka ‘ten’, paˇc
.
ak ‘hundred’ and waranqa ‘thousand’. Unit numbers are added to larger
entities by means of the ending -(ni)yuq ‘having’, as in ˇc
.
unka iˇskay-ni-yuq ‘twelve’.
Spatial deictic systems in Quechua either consist of two, or of three terms. The
proximate and non-proximate terms kay ‘this’ and ˇcay ‘that’ (or their reflexes) are found
throughout all dialects. The Quechua IIB dialects lack a third term, ‘that one over there’,
which is present in a variable form in the other dialects (Ayacucho, Tarma wak; Ancash
taqay; Bolivian Quechua haqay, etc.). Pacaraos Quechua is exceptional in having a six-
term system, in which differences of altitude play a role (cf. section 3.2.9). Although
spatial deictics can be used anaphorically, their use in relation to time is limited. For
236 3 The Inca Sphere
instance, the proximate spatial deictic kay must be replaced by the root kanan or kunan
(‘now’, ‘present-day’) when temporal reference is in order (Cuzco Quechua kunan
p’unˇcay ‘this day’, ‘today’). Interrogative pronouns vary according to type of refer-
ent (person, thing, place, time, etc.) even when used attributively (e.g. Tarma Quechua
pi: nuna ‘which person?’, pi: ‘who?’; may marga ‘which town?’, may ‘what place?’; but
ima ‘what?’). Almost all Quechua dialects have complex deictic expressions that fulfil
the function of independent pronouns (e.g. Huanca may-ˇc
.
u kay-ˇc
.
u:-pis ‘everywhere’,
literally ‘anywhere and here as well’; Tarma ima ayga ‘all kinds of’, literally ‘what and
how many’). There are interrogative and deictic verbs denoting expressions such as ‘to
do what?, ‘to say what?’, ‘to act thus’.
Quechua has root names for the basic colours ‘black’ yana,‘white’ yuraq,‘grey’uqi,
‘red to brown’ puka and ‘yellow’ qil
y
u. The words for ‘blue’ (QIIB San Mart´ın ankaˇs;
QIIC Cochabamba ankaˇs, anqas) and ‘green’ (QIIC Cuzco, Cochabamba q ’umir)have
been replaced by Spanish loan terms in many of the dialects.
Compounds in Quechua resemble hierarchically organised noun phrases in that they
are always head-final. Since such noun phrases may lack internal case marking, it is not
easy to establish criteria applying exclusively to compounds. However, the existence of a
few rare cases of phonetic adjustment and semantic specialisation constitute unequivocal
evidence that Quechua indeed has compounds, e.g. Tarma Quechua xarabaˇc
.
a ‘naked’
(from xara ‘skin’ and paˇc
.
a ‘belly’) and paˇcamanka ‘earth-oven’ (from paˇca ‘earth’ and
manka ‘pot’).
Synonyms play an important role in Quechua folk poetry and song texts, due to the
practice of difrasismo,awidespread stylistic device in native American languages. Some
words that are frequently found in poetry have canonical synonym counterparts, as is the
case of kuya- ‘to love’, ‘to pity’. It is frequently resumed by means of its near synonym
wayl
y
u-, a verb which is seldom used outside that context. However, native synonyms are
scarce due to the general paucity of Quechua vocabulary items. Therefore, already in the
seventeenth century, synonyms were taken from the official Quechua language to match
dialect forms (Itier 1992). In a modern context, Spanish is the language that provides
synonyms when no Quechua items are available, as is illustrated by the following lines of
a song interpreted by the well-known charango
41
player Jaime Guardia from Ayacucho.
(The verb diqa- [dex
.
a], from Spanish dejar, has the same meaning as the native saqi-
‘to leave’, ‘to abandon’.)
(118) kay kuya-q-ni-ki-ta saqi-rpari-spa-yki
kay wayl
y
u-q-ni-ki-ta diqa-rpari-spa-yki
this love-AG-EU-2P-AC leave-LB-SS-2S
‘...leaving behind the one here who loves you’ (twice)
41
The charango is a musical instrument resembling a small guitar.
3.2 The Quechuan language family 237
Onomatopoeic roots make up an important part of the Quechua lexicon and contribute
greatly to the richness of expression of the language. Unfortunately, onomatopoeic words
are often not considered as real words, a reason why they are not included in most of
the dictionaries. For instance, in northern Jun´ın Quechua (San Pedro de Cajas) we find:
ha:kal=ha:kal-ya- ‘to pant’, parara- ‘the sound of engines’, pirpi-l
y
a=pirpi-r ‘moving
like an arrow’, puqlulu- ‘the sound of heavy rain’, qiˇc
.
iˇc
.
i- ‘the sound of static electricity’,
quˇc
.
uˇc
.
a- ‘the sound of gnashing teeth’, qur=qur-ya- ‘to coo (as pigeons do)’, and many,
many more.
3.2.8 Asketch of an Ecuadorian Quechua dialect (Salasaca)
Salasaca is a group of comunidades in the province of Tungurahua, central Ecuador, that
together form a clearly defined ethnic group, the Salasacas. This group is recognised as
separate from neighbouring groups, and is often claimed to be a direct descendant of a
community of Bolivian mitimaes in the popular tradition. However, the dialect spoken
in Salasaca, though characteristic, closely resembles that of neighbouring groups in
Tungurahua and the province of Cotopaxi.
The Quechua dialects of Ecuador are morphologically, syntactically and lexically
quite similar. The main differences lie in a number of morphophonological processes
that have affected the affixes in particular. While a southern dialect such as Ca˜nar is
rather conservative, Salasaca Quechua has undergone most of the processes involved.
We will illustrate different morphosyntactic features of Ecuadorian Quechua, as
well as the phonological characteristics of central dialects such as Salasaca Quechua,
with a presentation and analysis of a folk tale, Miˇzi aˇcku diablomunda ‘The terrible
devil dog’.
1. n
y
awba-ga kawsa-ˇska ˇsux ˇcolo kay sixsiwayku n
y
an-bi
first-TO live-SD.3S one cholo this Sigsihuaico road-L
‘In earlier days a white man lived on the road to Sigsihuaico.’
2. ˇcolo-ga awatero ga-ˇska
cholo-TO water.guard be-SD.3S
‘This man was a water guard.’
3. ˇsux p
h
unˇza yaku larka t
h
uni-ˇska-da hapi-rga
one day water ditch cave.in-SN-AC catch-PA.3S
‘One day the irrigation ditch caved in.’
While in sentences 2 and 3 we have verb-final word order, the regular pattern in most
Quechua varieties, sentence 1 shows a different pattern with the verb following the topic.
Case marking is constituent final: locative -bi in sentence 1 and accusative -da in 3. We
notice the use of a -ˇska tense glossed as ‘sudden discovery’ in sentences 1 and 2, followed
by past-tense -rga in 3. For the third person there is no overt subject agreement in either
238 3 The Inca Sphere
past tense, but there is in the present. Appositive nominal expressions such as sixsiwayku
n
y
an in sentence 1 and yaku larka in sentence 3 are also head-final. Sentence 2 contains
an example of the copula, ga-inthis variety of Quechua (ka-inPeruvian Quechua).
In sentence 3 there is a case of a nominalisation, very frequent in Quechua, with the
resultative nominaliser -ˇska (homophonous with the tense marker).
4. ˇci-munda ni-ˇska
that-AB say-SD.3S
‘Therefore he said:’
5. ima-munda larka-ga t
h
uni-gu-n-ˇza kay sixsiwayku ˇcaka-bi-ga
what-AB ditch-TO cave in-PR-3S-DL this Sigsihuaico bridge-L-TO
‘“Why is the ditch at the Sigsihuaico bridge caving in?”’
We notice in sentence 5 that question words tend to be fronted, and that ele-
ments marked with topic -ga can occur both at the beginning and at the end of the
utterance.
6. ˇcay ˇzuˇzu tuta ˇcapa-ki-ga, aˇcku-ga rumi siki-bi siri-gu-ˇska ni-n
that tender night watch-DS-TO, dog-TO stone bottom-L lie-PR-SD.3S
say-3S
‘That evening while he was keeping watch, there was a dog lying asleep
at the bottom of a stone, they say.’
7. yaku-ga t
h
uni-ˇsa gulun munda-ˇska
water-TO cave.in-SS boink heap.up-SD.3S
‘Pouring in, the water came down with a bang.’
In sentence 6 we have the different subject adverbial subordination marker -ki
(< *-kpi,Peruvian Quechua -pti), and in 7 the same subject marker -ˇsa (<*-ˇspa).
In sentence 6 furthermore, we notice the progressive marker -gu- (< *-ku-, Southern
Peruvian Quechua -ˇcka-).
8. ˇci-munda ˇcolo-ga ni-ˇska
that-AB cholo-TO say-SD.3S
‘Then the man said:’
9. kay aˇcku-ga ˇsux miˇzi-ku-ma-ˇcari
this dog-TO one terror-DI-EM-DU
‘“This dog must be a devil.”’
10. awatero-ga upaˇza-wa kuˇcu-ya-ˇska
water.guard-TO quietly-DI near-TF-SD.3S
‘The guard came closer quietly.’
3.2 The Quechuan language family 239
We notice an emphatic marker -ma in sentence 9, possibly from -mi+ari, and a
diminutive -wa in 10, probably from wawa ‘child’. The ablative -munda is often attached
to demonstratives that function as narrative sequencers, throughout the story.
11. ˇci-munda-ga sumirru-da ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-ˇska
that-AB-TO hat-AC leave-CA-SD.3S
‘Then he took off his hat.’
12. ˇsux rosariyo-da kunga-munda ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-ˇska aˇcku-mun ˇcura-ˇci-nga-bux
one rosary-AC neck-AB leave-CA-SD.3S dog-to put-CA-FN-B
‘He took a rosary from his neck to put in on the dog.’
13. aˇcku-ku-ga hatari-ˇska
dog-DI-TO get.up-SD.3S
‘The dog jumped up.’
14. ˇci-munda-ga ˇcolo-da kati-ˇsa puri-ˇska-ˇza-mi
that-AB-TO cholo-AC follow-SS walk-SD.3S-DL-AF
‘Then he just walked following the man.’
Very widespread is the same subject purposive -nga-bux in sentence 12; its different
subjects pendant is -ˇcun.
15. kayi-ndix tuta aˇcku-ga swen
y
o-bi ˇsita-ˇska ˇcolo-mun
next.day-IN night dog-TO dream-L throw-SD.3S cholo-AL
‘The next night the dog appeared to the man in a dream.’
16. n
y
uka kunga-munda kay rosariyo-da ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-ba-y
I neck-AB this rosary-AC leave-CA-CS-IM.2S
‘“Please take this rosary off my neck.’
17. maˇsna kuˇcki-da ni-ngi
how.much silver-AC say/want-2S
‘How much money do you want?’
In sentence 16 we notice that possession in Ecuadorian Quechua is not marked with
person markers on the possessed noun, but with a preposed pronoun, marked genitive for
all persons but the first. The suffix -ba, possibly derived from Peruvian Quechua -pu-wa
‘benefactive + first-person object’, is used to soften imperatives and to mark deference.
Sentence 17 shows the use of the verb ni- ‘say’ in the meaning of ‘want’, which derives
from its use in a verbal periphrastic construction (‘I say I’ll eat’ becomes ‘I want to eat’;
cf. Muysken 1977).
18. baul kuˇcki-da ni-ki-biˇs ku-ˇsa-ˇza-mi
trunk silver-AC say-DS-AD give-F.1S-DL-AF
‘Even if you want a trunk of silver, I’ll give it to you.’
240 3 The Inca Sphere
19. uku hunda-da ni-ki-biˇsmaˇsna-da ni-ki-biˇsn
y
uka-ga ku-ˇsa-ˇza-mi
room full-AC say-DS-AD how.much-AC say-DS-AD I-TO
give-F.1S-DL-AF
‘Even if you want a room full, whatever you want, I’ll give you.”’
20. aˇcku-ga swen
y
o-bi ˇsina-mi ni-ˇska
dog-TO dream-L thus-AF say-SD.3S
‘The dog said in the dream.’
The use of the verb ku- ‘give’ in sentences 18 and 19 without object marking ex-
emplifies the much reduced object marking in this variety of Quechua, either com-
pletely gone or reduced to the first-person object marker -wa.Asinmany Quechua
varieties, the combination of additive -biˇs (Peruvian Quechua -pas/-pis) and the ad-
verbial subordinator yields an indefinite or even concessive interpretation (‘even
though’). We see in sentence 19 that question words double as indefinite quantifiers.
In sentence 19 the adjective (presumably) hunda ‘full’ follows the noun uku ‘room’
(as it does in English, for that matter), but in general attributive adjectives precede
nouns.
21. utun maki ga-ˇsa-mi mana pudi-ˇska rosariyo-da ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-nga-bux
stump hand be-SS-AF not can-SD.3S rosary-AC leave-CA-FN-B
‘Being stump-handed he could not take the rosary off.’
22. kayi-ndix p
h
unˇza awatero-ga aˇcku-da riku-ˇsa ni-ˇska
next.day-IN day water.guard-TO dog-AC see-SS say-SD.3S
‘The next day the water guard, upon seeing the dog, said:’
23. aˇcku, ima-ˇsa n
y
uka-da swen
y
o-ˇci-ngi
dog what-SS I-AC dream-CA-2S
‘“Dog, with what in mind do you make me dream?”’
Sentence 21 contains an example of the innovative modal + infinitive combinations
in Ecuadorian Quechua, with -nga-bux used on the complement. While grammar books
describe Quechua as having both a negative adverb mana ‘not’ and a concomitant neg-
ative particle -ˇcu on the verb, the latter is absent in sentence 21. In sentence 23 we
see the ease with which nouns, in this case a Spanish borrowing, are incorporated into
causative verbs with causative -ˇci-. Notice finally the verbal use of the question word ima
‘what’.
24. bweno rosariyo-da ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-ˇsa pero n
y
uka-mun kuˇcki-da ku-ngi
good rosary-AC leave-CA-F.1S but I-to silver-AC give-F.2S
‘“Good, I will take off the rosary but you will give me money.”’
3.2 The Quechuan language family 241
25. ˇsina ni-ki-ga aˇcku-ga ˇcay tuta-ˇza-dix kuˇcki-da pay-bux wasi-bi
ˇcura-ˇska
thus say-DS-TO dog-TO that night-DL-EM silver-AC he-G house-L
place-SD.3S
‘When the man had said this, the dog put the money in his house that
very night.’
26. kayi-ndix p
h
unˇza kuˇcki-da riku-ˇsa awatero-ga rosariyo-da
ˇzuxˇsi-ˇci-ˇska
next.day-IN day silver-AC see-SS water.guard-TO rosary-AC
leave-CA-SD.3S
‘The next day the water guard, after seeing the money, took off the
rosary.’
In sentences 24–26 we see, as before, the very characteristic alternation of same subject
-ˇsa/different subject -ki marking to indicate the perspective in the story, forever shifting
between the two protagonists. In sentence 24 we see two examples of the only category
of Spanish borrowings which is at all frequent, next to single nouns: bweno ‘good’ and
pero ‘but’, which serve as discourse markers. In sentence 25 there is an example of the
genitive marker -bux (Peruvian Quechua -pa), which has emerged through syncretism
with the benefactive (Peruvian Quechua -paq).
27. ˇci k
h
ipa aˇcku-ga akapana tuku-ˇska
that after dog-TO whirlwind become-SD.3S
‘After that the dog became a whirlwind.’
28. gulun-ˇza ruru-ˇsa kutupagzi-mun ri-ˇska
bang-DL make-SS Cotopaxi-AL go-SD.3S
‘With a bang it went to Cotopaxi.’
29. ˇcaˇsna-mi awatero riku tuku-ˇska
thus-AF water.guard rich become-SD.3S
‘Thus the water guard became rich.’
30. yaku larka-ga na kutin t
h
uni-rga-ˇcu
water ditch-TO not again cave.in-PA.3S-NE
‘And the water channel did not cave in again.’
In sentence 27 there is a postposition, k
h
ipa ‘after’. Location-specifying postpositions,
such as rumi siki-bi ‘at the bottom of the stone’ in sentence 6, are particularly frequent
in Quechua.
This story is typical of many similar tales, juxtaposing Christianity with paganism
(Cotopaxi is one of the sacred mountains, but had been transformed into a gate of hell
in the colonial period) and untamed nature with (agri)culture, and containing the motif
of a poor man making good.
242 3 The Inca Sphere
Above we have limited ourselves to grammatical features. The text also exemplifies
many of the phonological characteristics of Salasaca Quechua. These include:
a. voicing of stops after vowels and sonorants across morpheme boundaries,
hence:
papa-ta > papa-da ‘potato-AC’
pantiyon-pi > pantiyon-bi ‘cemetery-L’
Notice that only affixes are affected productively by this rule, and even among the
affixes we have reciprocal -nuku (< *-naku), not *-nugu or *-nagu (though -nau in
fairly close-by Tena lowland Quechua), next to -rga (<*-rka) ‘past’, -nga (<*-nka)
‘infinitive’, etc.
b. raising of /a/ to [i] or [u]:
-man > -mun
-manta > -munda
-pak > -pux
-rak > -rix
-paˇs > -piˇs
-tak > -tix
This rule is obligatory in affixes, but applies optionally in affixed lexemes as well:
kayi-ndix (<*kaya-ntik) ‘next’ and ruru-ˇsa (<*rura-ˇspa) ‘making’.
c. optional, though very frequent, deletion of the final stop of the affix in
word-final position:
pay-pak > pay-bu ‘her/his’, ‘for her/him’
may-man > may-mu ‘where to’.
d. consonant cluster simplification in some affixes, yielding -kpi > -ki ‘dif-
ferent subject adverbial subordinator’, and -ˇspa > -ˇsa ‘same subject
adverbial coordinator’.
e. vowel cluster simplification, yielding miˇza-y > miˇzi ‘terror’ and tuku-y >
tuki ‘all’, as well as wiˇcay > iˇci ‘above’ and wira > ira ‘fat’.
f. the palatal ˇz is pronounced as a palatal affricate before voiceless stops,
yielding kuˇzki > kuˇcki and aˇzku > aˇcku.
3.2.9 Asketch of a Peruvian Quechua dialect (Pacaraos)
Pacaraos Quechua is spoken in the village of Pacaraos, a district capital situated near
the upper reaches of the Chancay river at an altitude of more than 3,000 metres (for
further details see Adelaar 1982, 1986a). The Chancay river waters the Pacific slopes of
the Andes. The district of Pacaraos, which comprises several more villages, is part of
the province of Huaral, belonging to the department of Lima.
Pacaraos lies on the border of a Quechua-speaking area (on the cordillera side) and a
Hispanicised area (the lower Chancay valley). The dialect known as Pacaraos Quechua
3.2 The Quechuan language family 243
may be restricted to the village of Pacaraos itself, although not all communities in the
area have been checked for the existence of Quechua speakers and dialect affiliation. It
is not unlikely that the Pacaraos dialect speech community originally extended further
down the Chancay valley, possibly as far as the coast.
In the late 1970s most speakers of Pacaraos Quechua were women in their sixties
or older. The dialect may be moribund at the time of writing (1999), although some
villagers, in particular youngsters raised by their grandmothers, are likely to conserve a
passive knowledge of it.
Pacaraos Quechua holds an intermediate position between Quechua I and Quechua II,
but the grammatical similarity with the neighbouring Quechua I dialects is an obvious
fact. Apart from some unique grammatical features to be discussed below, it is the
lexicon of Pacaraos Quechua that holds a number of surprises. Some vocabulary items
(e.g. kunan ‘now’) appear to be typically Quechua IIC; others are reminiscent of Aymaran
(e.g. aˇcara ‘old’, uni- ‘to hate’, wilka ‘sun’), or are unique for Pacaraos (e.g. arapu- ‘to
answer’, ˇcaqpa ‘clothes’, rapqa- ‘both’). The six-term deictic system, in which altitude
differences are encoded, has already been mentioned in section 3.2.7.
Phonologically, Pacaraos Quechua presents the particularity of a phonemic stress
distinction involving a choice between final and penultimate syllables. Final stress is a
characteristic of the first-person marker -y,asintarp´uy ‘I sow’, and of a number of other
suffixes that are subject to elision when in word-final position. Like Quechua I, Pacaraos
Quechua distinguishes between long and short vowels.
The uvular consonant q is always a fricative in Pacaraos. It is voiceless when ad-
jacent to a voiceless consonant and word-finally. Elsewhere, it is mainly voiced. A
unique feature of Pacaraos Quechua is the occurrence in native words of a vibrant op-
position (trill vs. tap) in prevocalic position, e.g. rraqak ‘girl’ versus rapqa-n ‘both
of them’. The trilled rr sounds very much like the equivalent sound in Castilian
Spanish.
In what follows, some characteristics of the Pacaraos dialect will be exemplified and
discussed by means of a fragment of a myth concerning a drought and subsequent famine.
These events are said to have occurred in pre-Christian times as a result of excessive
heat due to the simultaneous appearance of two suns. The story was told to the author
in 1979 by the late Mrs Lorena C´ordova.
1. amru:na-qa ...mana-ˇs miku-y ka-rqa-s-a: say wata say wilka
yarka-rqa-mu-pti-n
famine-TO...not-HS eat-IF be.there-PA.3S-NE-EM that year that sun
rise-PF-H-DS-3S
‘Famine...there was nothing to eat that year, when those two suns
arose.’