Quechuan languages

Quechuan languages
Family of closely related South American Indian languages still spoken by some 12 million people in southern Colombia and Ecuador, Bolivia, and northern Argentina.

Southern Peruvian Quechua, one language of the family, was a koine and administrative language within the Inca empire and was spread by Inca colonization.

* * *

      the languages of the former Inca Empire in South America and the principal native languages of the central Andes today. According to archaeological and historical evidence, the original languages were probably spoken in a small area in the southern Peruvian highlands until about 1450; after that their geographical range was rapidly enlarged by the Inca conquests. When the Spanish conquered the empire in 1532, Quechuan languages were spoken in western South America from what is now southern Colombia to central Chile and from the Pacific coast to the borders of the Amazon Basin.

      Although the languages are still spoken by a large population of Indians, many of whom are monolingual, they are slowly losing ground to the Spanish language, which is the language of government and education. Some scholars place the Quechuan languages and the Aymaran languages together in a Quechumaran grouping.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Quechuan languages — Infobox Language family name = Quechua region = Western South America, mostly Andes mountains familycolor = American fam1 = Quechumaran? child1 = Quechua I child2 = Quechua II iso2 = que The Quechuan languages are a family of related languages in …   Wikipedia

  • American Indian languages — Languages spoken by the original inhabitants of the Americas and the West Indies and by their modern descendants. They display an extraordinary structural range, and no attempt to unite them into a small number of genetic groupings has won… …   Universalium

  • Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift — In recent years, the spelling of place names in Peru and Bolivia has been revised among Quechua and Aymara speakers. A standardized alphabet for Quechua was adopted by the Peruvian government in 1975; a revision in 1985 moved to a three vowel… …   Wikipedia

  • South American Indian languages — Introduction       group of languages that once covered and today still partially cover all of South America, the Antilles, and Central America to the south of a line from the Gulf of Honduras to the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Estimates of… …   Universalium

  • Quechua languages — Quechua Qhichwa Simi, Runa Simi Spoken in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina Region Central Andes Ethnicity …   Wikipedia

  • Gender-neutrality in genderless languages — is typically achieved by using gender inclusive words ( human being , person , businessperson , and so on) instead of gender specific ones ( man , he , businessman , etc.) when one speaks of people whose gender is unknown, ambiguous, or… …   Wikipedia

  • Aymaran languages — Infobox Language family name=Aymaran altname=Jaqi, Aru region=Central South America, Andes Mountains familycolor=American fam1=Quechumaran ? child1=Aymara child2=Jaqaru Kawki iso2=queAymaran (also Jaqi, Aru, Jaqui, Aimara, Haki) is one of the two …   Wikipedia

  • List of numbers in various languages — The following tables list the names and symbols for the numbers 0 through 10 in various languages and scripts of the world. Where possible, each language s native writing system is used, along with transliterations in Latin script and other… …   Wikipedia

  • Aymaran languages —       a group of South American Indian languages spoken over a fairly large region in the southern Peruvian highlands and adjacent areas of Bolivia. Some scholars classify the Aymaran group and the Quechuan group together in the Quechumaran stock …   Universalium

  • Mesoamerican Indian languages — Introduction also called  Middle American Indian languages        group of languages spoken in an area of the aboriginal New World that includes central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, parts of Honduras and Nicaragua, and… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”