Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Quechua language attitudes and maintenance in Cuzco, Peru

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Language Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article qualitatively and quantitatively investigates the Quechua language attitudes and maintenance practices of the members of two non-profit, non-governmental agencies in Cuzco, Peru. Within their respective agency/community contexts, the members of both groups claim to have significantly more positive attitudes toward Quechua and exhibit more successful Quechua maintenance practices than have been reported for other Quechua speakers in past research. To account for this sharp contrast between the findings of this work and those of other researchers, it is argued that membership in the two agencies plays a role. Furthermore, it is suggested that the two communities described here may serve as models for the creation of other planned home/community environments for Quechua speakers undergoing language shift as well as for the speakers of other endangered languages in general. As such, this work provides two examples of micro-prestige-planning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

AQL:

Academy of the Quechua Language

CAITH:

El Centro de Apoyo Integral a la Trabajadora del Hogar, ‹Center for Integral Support of the Home Worker’

CdC:

Asociación Civil ‹Gregorio Condori Mamani’ Proyecto Casa del Cargador, ‹Gregorio Condori Mamani Civil Association Carrier House Project’

GIDS:

Graded Intergenerational Dislocation Scale

L1:

Native language

L2:

Second language

LPP:

Language policy and planning

RLS:

Reversing language shift

References

  • Anonby, S. J. (1999). Reversing language shift: Can Kwak’wala be revived. In J. Reyhner, G. Cantoni, R. N. St. Clair, & E. Parsons Yazzie (Eds.), Revitalizing indigenous languages (pp. 33–52). Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C. (2003). Language planning: A grounded approach. In J.-M. Dewaele, A. Housen, & L. Wei (Eds.), Bilingualism: Beyond basic principles (pp. 88–111). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2008). Rearticulating the case for micro language planning in a language ecology context. In A. J. Liddicoat & R. B. Baldauf Jr. (Eds.), Language planning in local contexts (pp. 18–41). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batibo, H. M. (2005). Language decline and death in Africa: Causes, consequences and challenges. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerrón-Palomino, R. (1987). Lingüística quechua. Cusco, Perú: Centro de Estudios Rurales Andinos “Bartolomé de las Casas”.

  • Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language planning and social change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Degregori, L. N. (1994). Una aproximación al cusqueñismo. [An approximation to Cusqueñoism]. Allpanchis, 43/44, 441–476.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feke, M. S. (2004). Quechua to Spanish cross-linguistic influence among Cuzco Quechua-Spanish bilinguals: The case of epistemology. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Accessed 17 September 2008, from Dissertations & Theses: A&I database (Publication No. AAT 3144933).

  • Fishman, J. A. (1991). Reversing language shift. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haarmann, H. (1990). Language planning in the light of a general theory of language: A methodological framework. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 86, 103–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haboud, M. (2004). Quichua language vitality: An Ecuadorian perspective. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 167, 69–81. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2004.022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haugen, E. (1966). Language conflict and language planning: The case of modern Norwegian. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger, N. H. (1989). Haku yachaywasiman: La educación bilingüe y el futuro del quechua en Puno [Let’s go to school: Bilingual education and the future of Quechua in Puno]. Lima-Puno: Programa de Educación Bilingüe de Puno.

  • Hornberger, N. H., & Cassels Johnson, D. (2007). Slicing the onion ethnographically: Layers and spaces in multilingual language education policy and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 509–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger, N. H., & Coronel-Molina, S. M. (2004). Quechua language shift, maintenance, and revitalization in the Andes: The case for language planning. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 167, 9–67. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2004.025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger, N. H., & King, K. A. (2001). Reversing quechua language shift in South America. In J. A. Fishman (Ed.), Can threatened languages be saved? Reversing language shift, revisited: A 21st century perspective (pp. 166–194). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, R. (2004). Quechua in Tantamayo (Peru): Toward a ‹social archaeology’ of language. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 167, 95–118. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2004.024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, K. A., & Hornberger, N. H. (2004). Introduction: Why a special issue about Quechua? International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 167, 1–8. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2004.021.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloss, H. (1967). “Abstand languages” and “Ausbau languages”. Anthropological Linguistics, 9(7), 29–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. Y. (1997). Morfosintaxis amerindias en el español americano, desde la perspectiva del quechua [Amerindian morphosyntax in American Spanish, from the Quechua perspective]. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ediciones Clásicas.

  • Liddicoat, A. J., & Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2008). Language planning in local contexts: Agents, contexts and interactions. In A. J. Liddicoat & R. B. Baldauf Jr. (Eds.), Language planning in local contexts (pp. 3–17). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luykx, A. (2004). The future of Quechua and the Quechua of the future: Language ideologies and language planning in Bolivia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 167, 147–158. doi:10.1515/ijsl.2004.019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manatowa-Bailey, J. (2007). On the brink. Cultural Survival Quarterly: World Report on the Rights. Voices and Visions of Indigenous Peoples, 31(2), 12–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marr, T. (2002). Language ideology, ownership and maintenance: The discourse of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua. In L. Wei, J.-M. Dewaele, & A. Housen (Eds.), Opportunities and challenges of bilingualism (pp. 199–219). New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, T. L. (2002). A Place to be Navajo. Rough Rock and the struggle for self-determination in indigenous schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Méndez Gastelumendi, C. (1996). Incas sí, indios no: Notes on Peruvian creole nationalism and its contemporary crisis. Journal of Latin American Studies, 28, 197–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesthrie, R., Swann, J., Deumert, A., & Leap, W. L. (2000). Introducing sociolinguistics. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niño-Murcia, M. (1997). Linguistic purism in Cuzco, Peru: A historical perspective. Language Problems and Language Planning, 21, 134–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Public Registry of Cuzco. (1996). Asociación Civil ‹Gregorio Condori Mamani’ Proyecto Casa del Cargador, Manual de organización y funciones [Gregorio Condori Mamani Civil Association House of the Carrier Project, organizational and operational manual]. Cusco, Perú.

  • Reyhner, J. (1999). Introduction: Some basics of language revitalization. In J. Reyhner, G. Cantoni, R. N. St. Clair, & E. Parsons Yazzie (Eds.), Revitalizing indigenous languages (pp. v–xx). Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rofes Chávez, M. (2002). ¿Estás bien? CAITH: La cultura del afecto con trabajadoras del hogar [Are you okay? CAITH: The culture of affect with female home workers]. Cusco, Perú: CAITH.

  • Romaine, S. (1989). Bilingualism. New York: Basil Blackwell.

  • Vassberg, L. M. (1993). Alsatian acts of identity: Language use and language attitudes in Alsace. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Gleich, U., & Wölck, W. (1994). Changes in language use and attitudes of Quechua-Spanish bilinguals in Peru. In P. Cole, G. Hermon, & M. D. Martin (Eds.), Language in the Andes. Newark, DE: LAS.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA

    Marilyn S. Manley

Authors
  1. Marilyn S. Manley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marilyn S. Manley.

Appendix

Appendix

Quechua language attitudes and maintenance interview questions

Interview

Question in Spanish

Translation

Demographic

(1) ¿Con quiénes hablas en quechua?

(1) With whom do you speak in Quechua?

Language Attitudes (true/false)

(2) El español es más importante que el quechua.

(2) Spanish is more important than Quechua.

(3) Todos los estudiantes en el Perú deben aprender el quechua.

(3) All students in Peru should learn Quechua.

(4) Todos los niños en el Perú deben tener la oportunidad para recibir su educación por medio del quechua.

(4) All children in Peru should have the opportunity to receive their education through the means of Quechua.

(5) El conocimiento del quechua puede ser importante en el trabajo.

(5) Knowledge of Quechua can be important in the workplace.

Language Attitudes (yes/no)

(6) ¿Lees el periódico u otra cosa en quechua?

(6) Do you read the newspaper or anything else in Quechua?

(7) ¿Vas a usar el quechua en el futuro en tu trabajo?

(7) Are you going to use Quechua in the future in your work?

(8) ¿Alguna vez te has negado a hablar quechua?

(8) Have you ever denied speaking Quechua?

Social Network

(9) Ahora, ¿tienes amigos que hablan el quechua?

(9) Now, do you have friends who speak Quechua?

Case Study

(10) ¿Vivir aquí en esta casa te ha hecho valorar más tu quechua?

(10) Has living here in this house made you value your Quechua more?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Manley, M.S. Quechua language attitudes and maintenance in Cuzco, Peru. Lang Policy 7, 323–344 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-008-9113-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-008-9113-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation