Endangered Voices Initiative

Raising awareness for & documenting endangered languages

Quechua Linguistic Information

Writing System: Quechua traditionally did not have a widely standardized writing system, but it has been written in various Latin-based orthographies since the colonial period. Modern standardizations exist, such as the Quechua Unified Alphabet (Qhapaq Ñan).

Grammar: Quechua grammar is agglutinative, with complex systems of suffixes and infixes used to mark grammatical relationships such as tense, aspect, mood, and possession. It typically follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order.

Phonology: Quechua phonology varies by dialect but generally includes consonants such as /p, t, k, ch, q, b, d, ɡ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, s, ʃ, h, ɾ, l, ʎ/ and vowels /i, e, a, o, u/. Tones play a significant role in distinguishing meaning, with dialects typically having three to five tones.

Lexicon: The Quechua lexicon includes words of native Andean origin as well as borrowings from Spanish and other languages due to historical contact and cultural exchange. It reflects the cultural and environmental contexts of Andean societies.