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Language Lineage

Southern Quechua

Torero's Quechua II-C, the largest branch, with millions of speakers. It includes the Quechua of Cusco and Bolivia, which took aspirated and ejective consonants from Aymara.

c. 1st millennium CE – presentSouthern Peru (Ayacucho, Cusco, Puno), Bolivia, northwest Argentina and northern Chile
On this page
  1. Cusco and Ayacucho
  2. Suppression and Recognition
  3. In its own words
  4. Where it's spoken
  5. Turning points

01

Cusco and Ayacucho

Southern Quechua is the most widely spoken Quechua, with several million speakers. Its two main varieties are Ayacucho-Chanka and Cusco-Collao, which extends into Bolivia. They are mutually intelligible but sound quite different. Cusco-Collao has aspirated and ejective stops, p pʰ pʼ, a contrast it shares with Aymara, its neighbour on the altiplano, and it has weakened consonants at the end of syllables, so that llaqta 'town' is pronounced llaxta.

In 1584 the Third Council of Lima printed a trilingual catechism in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, the first book printed in South America. It was written in a standard based on southern Quechua.

02

Suppression and Recognition

After the great rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in 1780–1781, colonial authorities treated Quechua culture as dangerous. The sentence against the rebels banned Inca dress and symbols and ordered that Indigenous people be taught Castilian. Quechua remained the everyday language of the southern Andes but lost its prestige. Peru made Quechua an official language in 1975, and Bolivia's 2009 constitution recognises it among 36 official Indigenous languages.

A sample

In its own words

Southern Quechua (Bolivia)

ama qhilla, ama llulla, ama suwa
ama
don't
qhilla,
lazy
ama
don't
llulla,
liar
ama
don't
suwa
thief
‘Do not be lazy, do not lie, do not steal.’
Sources (1)
  • Constitución Política del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. 2009. Article 8.

On the map

Where it’s spoken

Spoken todayShading marks whole countries, not the regions within them.
  1. Peruc. 3 million
  2. Boliviac. 1.5 million
  3. Argentinac. 60,000–100,000
  4. Chile

Figures are rough first-language estimates, rounded, from censuses and Ethnologue. Counts for small or scattered communities are especially uncertain.

Rings along the limb

Turning points

Oldest first.

  1. Sound lawBefore the 16th century CEContested

    Aspirates and ejectives from Aymara

    p t ch k q → p pʰ pʼ, t tʰ tʼ … (Cusco-Collao, contact with Aymara)

    Cusco-Collao and Bolivian Quechua gain a three-way contrast of plain, aspirated and ejective stops, like Aymara's, which Ayacucho Quechua lacks. Contact with Aymara is the usual explanation, but how and when the contrast arose is debated.

    Compare with other consonant shifts across families →

    Sources (2)
    • Mannheim, Bruce. 1991. The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion. Austin: University of Texas Press.
    • Adelaar, Willem F. H. with Pieter C. Muysken. 2004. The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Writing1584

    The first book printed in South America

    Antonio Ricardo prints in Lima the Doctrina Christiana y catecismo para instruccion de los Indios, in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, prepared for the Third Council of Lima. It sets a standard for missionary Quechua.

    Sources (1)
    • Mannheim, Bruce. 1991. The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  3. Sound law16th – 18th century CE

    Syllable-final weakening in Cusco

    stops → fricatives / _ $ (llaqta → ʎaχta)

    In Cusco-Collao Quechua, stops at the end of a syllable become fricatives or are otherwise weakened: llaqta 'town' > [ʎaχta], rimaq 'speaker' > [rimaχ]. Colonial texts let the change be dated.

    Compare with other weakening and voicing across families →

    Sources (1)
    • Mannheim, Bruce. 1991. The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  4. Contact1781Contested

    After Túpac Amaru II

    Following the defeat of Túpac Amaru II's rebellion, colonial authorities ban Inca dress and symbols and order that Indigenous people be taught Castilian, ending Quechua's colonial prestige. How far the language itself was banned is debated.

    Sources (1)
    • Mannheim, Bruce. 1991. The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  5. Revitalization1975 – 2009

    Official status

    Peru's government under Juan Velasco makes Quechua an official language in 1975, and Bolivia's 2009 constitution lists it among its official languages. In both countries use in schools and government remains limited.

    Sources (2)
    • Decreto Ley N.º 21156. 1975. Lima: Gobierno del Perú.
    • Constitución Política del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia. 2009. Artículo 5.