Quechua

Where it’s spoken

Quechua (Runa Simi, “people’s speech”) is a family of related languages spoken across the Andean highlands. Major varieties include Southern Quechua (in Peru and Bolivia, the most spoken), Cuzco Quechua, Ayacucho Quechua, North Bolivian Quechua, and Northern Quechua (Ecuador’s Kichwa). It is an official language of Peru and Bolivia.

What it sounds like

Quechua has three vowels (a, i, u) and a rich consonant inventory varying by dialect. In Cuzco and Bolivian Southern Quechua, stops contrast plain, aspirated, and glottalized (ejective) series — kʰ, qʰ vs k’, q’ vs k, q. Stress falls predictably on the penultimate syllable.

How it’s written

Quechua uses the Latin alphabet. Several orthographic norms exist — including the Peruvian official five-vowel system (a, e, i, o, u) and the three-vowel Bolivian system (a, i, u) — which differ politically and pedagogically.

History

Quechua spread as the administrative language of the Inca Empire, which spread it well beyond its original Cuzco homeland. Spanish colonialism preserved Quechua for missionary work, and modern Andean countries have given it gradual official recognition.