Quechua Word
Structure
Analysis of
Three Sample Texts
with
full analysis of the structure of the Quechua words
Text One: Life in
the Peruvian Army
Text Two: The
First Aeroplane Over the Andes
Text Three: Why
Did the Gringos Go to the Moon?
Key to Abbreviations for Suffixes
Introduction
To view the parallel texts
here in line with each other properly, you’ll need to set the text size on your browser to a fairly small setting (on the View menu, under the Text Size option).
To jump to the explanation of any particular suffix (morpheme), just click on it (in green and underlined). Then click on
your back button to go back to the text.
Apologies for the boring
font, it’s needed to keep the parallel texts in line.
Three texts are presented here are taken and adapted from a native Quechua-speaking villager’s account of his life:
Valderrama
Fernández, Ricardo & Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez (1982) Gregorio Condori Mamani – Autobiografía
Centro
Bartolomé de las Casas: Cuzco, Peru
The English translations are a mixture of my own, and my adaptations to those by P. Gelles and G. Martínez in the English version, alias:
Valderrama Fernández, Ricardo &
Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez (1996) Andean Lives: Gregorio Condori Mamani & Asunta
Quispe Huamán
University
of Texas Press: Austin
For full details and a review of
these books, click
here.
The spelling of these texts has been amended to follow the official Quechua alphabet for southern Quechua (Ayacucho, Cuzco, Puno, Bolivia). Since the original book was published before the 1985 spelling reform, it was written with five vowels, appropriate for Spanish but not for Quechua! The reforms in the mid-1980s have now rectified this, and the official alphabets in all three main Quechua-speaking Andean countries (Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador) all now use only three vowels <i>, <a> and <u> in the spelling of native Quechua words. The letters <e> and <o> are therefore found in these texts only in Spanish loanwords which have not been fully assimilated to Quechua pronunciation.
In the Quechua texts, words in capitals are borrowings from Spanish. The first passage in particular, where Gregorio relates his time as a press-ganged conscript in the Peruvian Army (where Spanish was the only language it was permitted to speak), has an even greater number of loanwords from Spanish than is usual in Quechua. This is largely due to the context of the Peruvian Army, an institution entirely dominated by Spanish. To give you a bit of a perspective by comparison with English, words in bold in the English translation of the first text have also been put in bold if they are ones that English has borrowed from French.
Note too that the first Quechua passage has a total of just 69 words, while the English translation has 139: a clear indication of Quechua’s agglutinating language structure.
Text One: Life in the Peruvian Army
Valderrama Fernández, Ricardo
& Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez (1982:
43-44)
Khayna-m soldado
vida ka-rqa-n.
Such-dir:foc soldier life
be-past-3
Such was life as a soldier.
Cuartel-pi-qa todo recto-m “patria
serve-y
Barracks-lcv-top all strict-dir:foc fatherland serve-inf
In the barracks everything is strict: “serve fatherland
obedecer todo”,
chay-pi-qa mana-m
ati-ku-n-chu
obey everything that-lcv-top no-dir
can-rfxv-3-neg:foc
obey everything”, you can’t
mana-m ni-ku-y-ta. Si-chus “mana-m” ni-nki
no-dir
say-rfxv-inf-acv
If-dub:foc no-dir:foc
say-2
say no to anything there. If you do say no
u-taq mala voluntad-wan rura-nki,
or-ctv bad
will-itl do-2
or do something without showing
willing,
Si-chus “mana-m” ni-nki u-taq
mala voluntad-wan
rura-nki,
If-dub:foc no-dir:foc
say-2 or-ctv bad
will-itl do-2
If you do say no or do something
without showing willing,
castigo, calabozo
o patadas.
punishment lock-up or
kicking.
then punishment, lock-up or
a kicking.
Si-chus mama-yki
wañu-chi-na-yki-paq kama-chi-su-nki
If-dub:foc mother-2
die-csv-pdg-2-pps do-csv-3-2:oj
If they order you to kill
your mother
chay-ta-pas rura-na-yki; si no, mana
patria obedece-y-chu.
that-acv-adnl do-pdg-2
if not, not
fatherland obey-inf-neg:foc
then you had to do so; if not, that was not obeying the
fatherland.
Cuartel-pi-qa ka-lla-n-taq abecedario
mana lee-y yacha-q-paq
barracks-lcv-top be-ltv-3-ctv alphabet not
read-inf know-ag-dtv
In the barracks there’s also an
alphabet for those who don’t know how to read
letra-kuna alambre-pi
ensarta-sqa a-b-c-d-j-k-p.
letter-pl
wire-lcv
wind-pppl
a-b-c-d-j-k-p
the letters are wound in
wire: a-b-c-d-j-k-p.
Clase-kuna abecedario-ta-qa yacha-chi-q-ku,
NCO-pl
alphabet-acv-top know-csv-ag-vbpl
The non-commissioned officers
teach the alphabet
tuku-pti-yki-taq primer
año-ta qu-su-nki-ku.
finish-pplsb-2-ctv
first year-acv
give-3-oj:2-vbpl
and when you finish, they class
you as first year passed.
Hayku-pti-yki-taq tapu-su-nki-ku: “Yacha-nki-chu lee-y-ta?”
Enter-pplsb-2-ctv
ask-3-oj:2-vbpl
know-2-ynq:foc
read-inf-acv
When you join the army
they ask you: “Do you know how to read?”
“Mana-m yacha-ni-chu” ni-pti-yki-taq, apa-mu-q-ku
not-dir know-1-neg:foc say-pplsb-2-ctv carry-trans-ag-vbpl
And if you say that you don’t know
how to
kay letra-kuna-ta yacha-chi-na-su-yki-ku-paq
this letter-pl-acv know-csv-pdg-3-oj:2-vbpl-dtv
the sergeants and the sub-lieutenants
sargento-kuna, subteniente-kuna.
sergeant-pl
sub-lieutenant-pl
bring you these letters in order
to teach you.
Text Two: The First Aeroplane Over the Andes
Valderrama Fernández, Ricardo
& Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez (1982:
30-31)
Huk p’unchay-mi
era tiempo-pi,
one
day-foc:dir
threshing time-lcv
One
day during the threshing season,
rikhu-ri-rqa-mu-n huk
hatun-kankaray urpi
see-drv-past:dir-trans-3 one big-aug bird
a
huge bird
kuntur-man rikch’a-ku-q, condenado-hina qapa-rqa-cha-spa.
condor-ioj appear-rfxv-ag damned-simil shriek-drv-drv-pplgd
looking
like a condor suddenly appeared, shrieking like one of the damned.
Chay-qa llipi-y-ku era-pi ka-q-kuna mancha-ri-ku-y-ku.
that-top all-1-pl.excl threshing-lcv be-ag-pl scare-drv-rfxv-1-pl.excl
All of
us working there threshing got scared.
Chay rato-taq
ñuqa yuya-ri-rqu-ni huk
kuti-n tio-y
that moment-ctv I
remember-drv-drv-1 one
occasion-rel Uncle-1
And
right then, I remembered what my uncle Gumercindo once told of:
Gumercindo-p willa-ku-sqa-n-ta, pisi
p’unchay
Gumercindo-gen tell-rfxv-past:rpv-3-acv few
day
that a
few days before
kay pacha-p
tuku-ku-na-n
ka-sha-pti-n-si huk allqamari
this world-gen end-rfxv-pdg-3 be-pgv-pplsb-3-foc:rpv one
messenger.eagle
the end
of this world, a messenger eagle
kuntur uma-yuq
llama chaki-yuq runa
inka familia-man
condor head-psv llama
feet-psv runa
Inca family-ioj
with a
condor’s head and llama feet will come and forewarn
willa-q-ni-n-chik hamu-nqa Listo
kay pacha-p
advise-ag-ep-1-pl:incl come-fut:3 ready
this world-gen
us
runas, the Inca’s kinsfolk, to be waiting ready
tuku-ku-y-ni-n suya-na-paq. Hina-spa-m tio-y
ni-ra-n:
end-rfxv-nml-ep-3 wait-pdg-dtv Thus-pplgd-foc:dir uncle-1 say-past:dir:3
for the
end of this world And my uncle also said:
–
Inka-rrey-mi kunan
ukhu pacha-pi tiya-chka-n,
– Inka-king-foc:dir now
inside world-lcv live-pgv-3
– “Inkaríy has been living in the underworld
señor kura
Pizarro-p wañu-chi-sqa-n-manta pacha.
Señor priest Pizarro-gen die-csv-past:rpv-3-abl time
ever
since Pizarro the priest killed him.
Hina-spa-m chay pacha
tuku-ku-y
thus-pplgd-foc:dir this
world end-rfxv-nml
And the
day this world ends,
p’unchay lluqsi-mu-nqa lliw
runa-kuna-man aypa-q.
day go.out-trans-fut:3 all
runa-pl-ioj take.by.the.hand-ag
he’ll
emerge to join all the runas.”
Hina-spa-m aeroplano
ñuqa-y-ku sesgo-man
Thus-pplgd-foc:dir aeroplane
I-1-pl:excl direction-ioj pl
So when
the aeroplane came veering
hamu-chka-pti-n-taq-mi ni-rqa-n-ku:
come-pgv-pplsb-3-ctv-foc:dir say-past:dir-3-pl
in our
direction, people said:
–
Chay-qa Tayta-cha Milagro-m, ñuqa-n-chik-man-mi
‑ That-foc
God-dim
miracle-foc:dir
I-1-pl:incl-ioj-foc:dir
“It’s
a divine miracle
hamu-wa-chka-n-chik. Qhawa-ri-pti-y ñuqa-y-ku
come-1obj-pgv-3-pl:incl see-drv-pplsb-1 I-1-pl:excl
coming
towards us”. When I saw
sesgo-man-puni-taq hamu-chka-n chay-qa
yuya-yu-ni
direction-ioj-defin-ctv come-pgv-3 that-top think-drv-1
that it
was truly veering towards us, I was thinking,
Qhawa-ri-pti-y ñuqa-y-ku sesgo-man-puni-taq hamu-chka-n chay-qa
see-drv-pplsb-1 I-1-pl:excl direction-ioj-defin-ctv come-pgv-3 that-top
When I
saw that it was truly veering towards us,
yuya-yu-ni “Tayta-cha
Milagro-chá riki…”, ni-spa.
think-drv-1 God-dim miracle-foc:conj really
say-pplgd
I was
thinking, “This must be a divine miracle...
“Ay Taytá-y,
mana-m hucha-sapa-chu ka-ni,
Oh Father-1 not-foc:dir fault-paug-foc:neg be-1
Oh
Father, I’m no sinner.
chakra-ta-qa llank’a-rqa-ni-puni-m tayta-y-kuna-ta yana-pa-spa”.
field-acv-top work-past:dir-1-defin-foc:dir father-1-pl-acv help-drv-pplgd
I’ve
always helped my elders work their fields”.
Text Three: Why Did the Gringos Go to the Moon?
Chhay-na-m vida
ka-chka-n. Ignorancia-lla-y-pi-m
that-simil-foc:dir life
be-pgv-3 ignorance-ltv-1-lcv-foc:dir
Such is life. In my ignorance
ni‑ni: chay
Tayta-cha-p llaga-n‑kuna‑taq
chhay‑na
say-1 that
father-dim-gen wound-3-pl-ctv that-simil
I say:
if the wounds of this God
ni-ra-q nak’ari-y-paq causa, tawa
p’unchay vida-paq…
say-past-ag suffer-1-dtv cause,
four day
life-dtv…
are the cause of so much suffering, for
four days of life…
chay‑qa, imana‑pti-n-mi mana
maskha-spa‑chu hanpi‑rqu-n‑ku?
that-top, be so‑pplsb-3-foc:dir not
seek-pplgd-foc:neg cure-drv-3-pl
Why don’t we look for him and treat him?
Ña wata-kuna-ña chhay-na-ta warmi-y-ta ni-rqa-ni,
already year-pl-discont that-simil-acv woman-1-acv say-past-1
That’s what I said to my wife years ago,
pay-taq-mi ni-rqa-n:
he/she-ctv-foc:dir say-past-3
and she replied:
– Chay-paq-si extranjero mama
Killa-ta ri-n.
– that-dtv-foc:rpv foreigner
mother moon-acv go-3
–
That’s why the foreigners went to the Mother Moon, they say.
Chay-paq hina-taq-mi chay
p’unchaw-kuna lliw
calle-kuna-pi
that-dtv thus-ctv-foc:dir that
day-pl all
street-pl-lcv
In fact, just in those days, in all the
streets
rima-y ka-n, gringo-kuna-s avion-pi semana-nti-n
say-inf be-3, gringo-pl-foc:rpv aeroplane-lcv week-incv-rel
there was talk of how the gringos,
travelling for a week in a plane,
puri-spa mama Killa-man chaya-n-ku, ni-spa.
walk-ppl:ss mother
moon-ioj arrive-3-pl, say-pplgd.
had reached the Mother Moon.
Ñuqa-manta rima-y-lla-chu si no
kan-man.
I-abl say-inf-ltv-foc:neg yes
no be-condit.
All that sounds like just tall stories to
me though.
Key to Abbreviations for Suffixes
The suffixes given here are in the form and spellings used in the official Quechua alphabet for southern Quechua (Ayacucho, Cuzco, Puno, Bolivia). For more information on Quechua suffixes, click on these links to see Jean‑Luc Ancey’s webpages on Quechua suffixes, in Spanish or (more briefly) in French. Be aware, though, that he presents the Bolivian forms of these, uses a slightly different spelling system and some different names, but suffixes should still be recognisable as the same as the ones given here.
The abbreviations for these suffixes are my own for now. As soon as I can get the time, I will amend them to follow the proposed standard conventions for interlinear morpheme translation (the ‘Leipzig Glossing Rules’) drawn up by a number of linguists who are specialists in language typology: Bernard Comrie, Martin Haspelmath, Balthasar Bickel, William Croft, Christian Lehmann, Dietmar Zaefferer, and others. These conventions can be downloaded at:
www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/pdf/LeipzigGlossingRules.pdf