Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift
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In recent years,
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
has revised the official spelling for place-names originating from
Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...
and the
Quechuan languages Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely ...
. A standardized alphabet for Quechua was adopted by the Peruvian government in 1975; a revision in 1985 moved to a three-vowel orthography. The major changes are to replace the digraph with the single letter , and to replace the consonants ''c''/''q ' with either or , as appropriate in the word in question. ''K'' and ''q'' represent different sounds in most Andean languages: k is a
velar stop In phonetics and phonology, a velar stop is a type of consonantal sound, made with the back of the tongue in contact with the soft palate (also known as the velum, hence velar), held tightly enough to block the passage of air (hence a stop consonan ...
, as in Spanish and English; q is a
uvular stop In phonetics and phonology, a uvular stop is a type of consonantal sound, made with the back of the tongue in contact with the uvula, which hangs down in front of the throat (hence uvular), held tightly enough to block the passage of air (hence a ...
. As Spanish does not have uvular , traditional spellings lose this distinction (although sometimes a double ''cc'' was used to represent the k-like sounds of Quechua that differed from the "plain k" sound known in Spanish; e.g., in place names such as Ccarhuacc, Chopcca, Cconocc, Llacce, Manyacc, Chihuilluyocc, Chilcahuaycco, etc.), and Quechua or Aymara sources must be consulted to select the right consonant. For instance, the Temple of the Sun in
Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...
is called the ''
Qurikancha Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (''"The Golden Temple,"'' from Quechua ''quri'' gold; ''kancha'' enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire. ...
'' in Quechua, with both sounds (''quri'' "gold", ''kancha'' "courtyard, enclosure"), and is spelled ''Coricancha'' in hispanicized spelling. Additionally, the phoneme inventory of Quechua and Aymara includes just three vowels, , , and . Older Spanish transcriptions (as well as the 1975 standard) used the letters and as well; this is because the pronunciation of and opens to and adjacent to a , an instance of allophonic variation. For instance, Quechua ''qucha'' 'lake' sounds to Spanish speakers like ''cocha'', as in the sample ''Huiracocha'' below. Some sources, such as dictionary published by the
Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua The High Academy of the Quechua Language (Spanish: ''Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua''; Quechua: ''Qhichwa Simi Hamut'ana Kuraq Suntur'') or AMLQ is a Peruvian organization dedicated to the research, promotion, and dissemination of the Quech ...
, still use the five-vowel 1975 orthography. In Bolivia and Southern Peru, including Cuzco, there are three versions of all the stop consonants: the basic unaspirated sounds (''p, t, ch, k, q''), an aspirated series spelled with an ''h'' (''ph, th, chh, kh, qh''); and finally an ejective series spelled with an apostrophe (''p', t', ch', k', q''). In Aymara and
Southern Quechua Southern Quechua ( qu, Urin qichwa, es, quechua sureño), or simply Quechua (Qichwa or Qhichwa), is the most widely spoken of the major regional groupings of mutually intelligible dialects within the Quechua language family, with about 6.9 mil ...
, these are distinct sounds, making a total of 15 stop consonants, and these differences must be shown in the spelling: in the example words below, the ''kh'' in ''khipu'' is not the same as the ''k'' in ''Inka'' or in ''Tiwanaku''; nor is the ''qh'' sound at the start of "qhapaq" the same as the ''q'' sound at the start of "Qusqu". In most regions north of Cusco, these variants do not exist, and only the basic unaspirated sounds are used. These changes are considered to be part of a general process of spelling standardisation and reassertion of the right of these native languages to their own spelling system appropriate for their sound systems, which are very different from that of Spanish. This accompanies a growth of pride in the
Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
heritage of these countries, and moves to recover the prestige of their indigenous languages. These spelling changes are part of the official alphabets for Quechua and Aymara in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, though debate continues on the extent to which they are to be used when writing in Spanish.


Regulations

Today the Spanish spellings are in conflict with Peruvian law. According to Article 20 of ''Decreto Supremo No 004-2016-MC'' (Supreme Decree) which approves the Regulations to Law 29735, published in the official newspaper ''El Peruano'' on July 22, 2016, adequate spellings of the
toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
s in the normalized alphabets of the indigenous languages must progressively be proposed with the aim of standardizing the namings used by the National Geographic Institute ''(Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IGN)''. The ''IGN'' realizes the necessary changes in the official maps of Peru. The following table shows examples of modern spellings of Aymara and Quechua expressions according to the normalized alphabets, their meanings and common Spanish spellings.Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)
Quechuan Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely ...
and
Aymaran Aymaran (also Jaqi or Aru) is one of the two dominant language families in the central Andes alongside Quechua languages, Quechuan. The family consists of Aymara language, Aymara, widely spoken in Bolivia, and the endangered Jaqaru language, Jaqa ...
Wikipedias are also a good example of using of the modern spelling.


References


External links


Ima hinataq runasimita sumaqta qillqay
How to write Quechua well.

With many more details and integrated sound files to listen to the pronunciations. {{DEFAULTSORT:Quechuan And Aymaran Spelling Shift Spelling Aymaran languages Quechuan languages