Authenticity and Unification in Quechua Language Planning

Abstract

With more than ten million speakers and numerous local and regional varieties, the unification and standardization of Quechua/Quichua has been a complicated, politically charged, and lengthy process. In most Andean nations, great strides have been made towards unification of the language in recent decades. However, the process is far from complete, and multiple unresolved issues remain, at both national and local levels. A frequent sticking point in the process is the concern that the authenticity of the language will be lost in the move towards unification. This paper examines the potentially problematic tension between the goals of authenticity and unification. One case examines an orthographic debate which arose in the process of establishing an official orthography for Quechua at the national level in Peru. The second case study moves to the local level and concerns two indigenous communities in Saraguro in the southern Ecuadorian highlands where Spanish predominates but two Quichua varieties co-exist. The final section considers the implications of these debates and tensions for language planning and policy. With more than ten million speakers and numerous local and regional varieties, the unification and standardisation of Quechua/Quichua has been a complicated, politically charged, and lengthy process. In most Andean nations, great strides have been made towards unification of the language in recent decades. However, the process is far from complete, and multiple unresolved issues remain, at both national and local levels. A frequent sticking point in the process is the concern that the authenticity of the language will be lost in the move towards unification. This paper examines the potentially problematic tension between the goals of authenticity and unification. One case examines an orthographic debate which arose in the process of establishing an official orthography for Quechua at the national level in Peru. The second case study moves to the local level and concerns two indigenous communities in Saraguro in the southern Ecuadorian highlands where Spanish predominates but two Quichua varieties co-exist. The final section considers the implications of these debates and tensions for language planning and policy.

Indigenous immersion education

“…In the 1970s, Peru, with over six million indigenous language speakers, predominantly of Quechua, was the first Andean nation-state to institute a national bilingual policy in 1972-73 (Hornberger & King, 1999). Ecuador followed Peru's lead in the 1980s, and Bolivia in the 1990s, with the development of what has since come to be termed a formal policy of intercultural bilingual education (IBE).…”

The Problem of Defining 'Indigenous Literacy:' Lessons from the Andes

“…Underlining the three/five-vowel debate is the notion of authenticity (Hornberger & King, 1998), more specifically where the authenticity of the 'correct language' is located in each of the discourses presented. The Academia's cultural framework is elaborated from the tradition of indigenismo, and as such they use Cusco, the Inka, and an imagined indigenousness to underline their authority.…”

Bilingualism and bilingual education in a complex context

“…Research on education in bi-or multilingual settings is quite impressive today and has been carried out by among others , Heller & Martin-Jones (2001), Hornberger & Chick (2001), and Hornberger & King 1998). A study by Tomas andCollier (1997, 2002) showed very impressively that the most important factor for children's success in education, is that their mother tongue is strongly supported throughout their schooling (see also Cummins, 1996, Baker 2006, Skutnabb-Kangas 2000.…”

“…The results of the transmission programs are usually that pupils develop limited competence in the minority language. Although goals may be to promote bilingualism, as status is still connected to the majority language, the motivation among parents, pupils and teachers is usually manly directed towards developing that language (see for example King 1999, Hornberger & King 1998. As long as final exams are in the majority language only and opportunities for jobs and further education depends on the outcome, that language will receive most attention.…”