4: Official Spelling and Regional Variation
Before this page we recommend that you first read the earlier pages,
starting from: 1. Sounds and Spelling.
Contents
Unifying Spelling, Not Pronunciation!
Which Region’s Spelling is the Unified Spelling?
What is ‘Southern Quechua’ Spelling?
Quechua Origins and Quechua Spelling
A Spirit of Compromise and Solidarity…
So How Can You Help Quechua Unity?
Unifying Quechua Spelling: Progress So Far
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: Which Region’s Spelling is the Unified Spelling?
Unifying Spelling, Not Pronunciation!
Even if the official spellings for Quechua or Aymara may look a bit unusual to you for a few words, here is one thing certainly not to worry about. You need never change your own natural pronunciation of your home region. Spelling is only about written symbols. Nobody is proposing that any Quechua speaker from any region should change his or her pronunciation. Of course not.
All of this is only about having some standardisation in spelling only, not in pronunciation. This is just like in any other language: Spanish, English, French, German, and so on. In each of these languages there are plenty of regional differences in pronunciation. The Americans certainly don’t pronounce English like people from England itself, nor do people from Australia, India, Ireland, Scotland, and so on, who all have their different accents. But speakers from all countries and regions do all accept to follow a standardised spelling, even if it doesn’t always seem to match their own regional pronunciations ‘perfectly’ for some words.
People from all regions accept that they should use these spellings in a spirit of compromise with people from other regions, to help everyone communicate more easily with everyone else. Everyone accepts this for any established written language: you do yourself for Spanish or English, otherwise you would not be able to read these pages, because my accent in both these languages is very probably quite different to yours.
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: What is ‘Southern Quechua’ Spelling?
Which Region’s Spelling is the Unified Spelling?
Another question often asked is “which region’s pronunciation is the unified spelling based on”? The answer to this is very simple: none. The unified spelling is not the pronunciation of any one region. It is not ‘Cuzco spelling’, it is not ‘Ayacucho spelling’, it is not ‘Bolivian spelling’, it is only unified spelling! To use it, every region has to learn a few small spelling and reading rules that might at first seem a little unusual.
Favouring any one region’s Quechua above any other’s is the very last thing that anyone who uses the official alphabet wants to do. If you listen to the regional pronunciations on our word comparison pages, you will soon see that the official spelling is not based on any particular region. Yes, some odd words in the official spelling are closer to the pronunciation in Ayacucho, for example; but there are plenty of other official spellings that are closer to the pronunciation in Cuzco instead.
Indeed other words are a mix of both. People in Cuzco and Bolivia often assume that a spelling is like ‘Ayacucho spelling’: the word <qam> you, for instance, may look to them like ‘Ayacucho spelling’ because it ends in <m>. But they’re wrong! To people in Ayacucho, <qam> looks like ‘Cuzco spelling’, because it starts in <q>, when they pronounce it more like [χam]! But as you can see, it is neither Cuzco nor Ayacucho spelling. The official spelling is just the best compromise spelling for everyone to use!
It is completely wrong to think that the official alphabet represents one particular region. It does not.
For linguists it is their job and their training to understand about the wealth of regional variation, and the very last thing that they would want to do is propose a particular spelling for any regionalist or nationalist reasons. Absolutely on the contrary, the official alphabet has been designed specifically in order to provide the spelling system that is most useful for enabling Quechua-speakers from all regions to write and read in a similar way, as far as it is possible and useful to do so. In other words, the official spelling is designed as the best compromise between all the regions.
It has to be like this, just like the spelling of any language, such as Spanish or English. Obviously, because speakers from all regions speak slightly differently, this inevitably means that everyone, in all regions, has to make some compromises, so that we can find the best way for Quechua-speakers from all regions to write and read in a similar way.
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: Quechua Origins and Quechua Spelling
What is ‘Southern Quechua’ Spelling?
Now in some cases the differences between the Quechua in some regions are so big that it is not always possible to write exactly the same. The differences between the Quechua in Ancash and in Cuzco, for example, are so big that some different letters are needed in each area. Likewise for the difference between Central Aymara in Tupe, and Southern Aymara in the Altiplano. Nonetheless, it is still possible for people from different regions to write in as similar a way as possible to each other, so that it is as easy as possible for them to read and understand what people write in other regions.
This is the first thing that the unification in Quechua spelling is trying to achieve. It ensures that people even from these very different regions can understand at least as much as possible of each others’ Quechua. This, for example, is why people in Ancash are asked to write <kay>, because this is just how everyone everywhere else writes and pronounces it, even if in your Ancash region itself you may pronounce it more like [ke:].
The best news is that in any case there are some very big regions where it is possible for people to spell almost identically. One example is Ecuador, and this is why the new official spelling there may seem a little strange in your region, but it’s great that everyone in the whole country can use it, and in fact it is also much easier to read for Quechua-speaking people outside Ecuador too.
Another even bigger area where it is possible to unify spelling is for ‘Southern Quechua’, i.e. the Cuzco and Puno regions, and all of Bolivia, and in most things, the Ayacucho region too. (This is why we include the Southern Quechua spellings in our word comparison tables.) For a good dictionary of Southern Quechua, with the official spellings and with indications of the main regional differences in pronunciation, we recommend:
Cerrón-Palomino, Rodolfo (1994) Quechua
sureño: diccionario unificado
Biblioteca
Nacional del Perú:
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: A Spirit of Compromise and Solidarity…
Quechua Origins and Quechua Spelling
Here’s another common question: What has unified spelling got to do with Original Quechua? Well, as in the case of <kay>, and with <qam> too, it often turns out that it is the spelling that in practice works best in the largest number of regions is also the one that is closest to the Original pronunciation. This is not because anyone wants to return to speaking Original Quechua, or to make people spell like that. That would be crazy and unnecessary.
It is only logical, though, that a common spelling will often work best if it bears in mind the common origin of all the different modern regional varieties. And since they all came from the same source, Original Quechua, it’s not surprising that the best common spellings often look a bit like Original Quechua, that’s all. This, by the way, is another reason why it is interesting and helpful to know at least a little about Original Quechua and Original Aymara, which is we have included them in Sounds of the Andean Languages.
This is also why we recommend that you read our sections on Origins and Diversity of Quechua and More About Quechua. Because once you know more about the diversity of Quechua, and about Original Quechua, you will be in a much better position to understand why the official pan-Andean alphabet and spelling system for Quechua in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador has been devised in the way that it has. You can also start seeing how and why the official spelling may indeed be best for everyone overall, even if it is different in some cases from the pronunciation you use in your home region.
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: So How Can You Help Quechua Unity?
A Spirit of Compromise and Solidarity…
Again, none of this is anything special, most of what we have said here is not unique to Quechua, it is about the universal principles of spelling. All other languages are just the same, including Spanish. Spanish spelling only works because it too calls on everyone everywhere to make some compromises.
• People in Latin America have to learn that some words are spelt with <c>, like <cocer> (cook), and others with <s>, like <coser> (sew). Why? Because even if many people in Latin America now pronounce these the same, people in other areas, especially Spain, still pronounce them differently. The same goes for <z> in <cazar> (hunt) but <s> in <casar> (marry).
• On the other hand, people in Spain have to be careful and make a compromise too: they still have to spell <halla> and <haya> differently, even though most of them pronounce these words the same. Why? For the sake of people in the Andes, where – thanks to Quechua and Aymara <ll>! – they still pronounce these words very differently.
People in each region, then, have to make compromises sometimes, for the sake of unity with the other regions. In Spanish, and yes, in Quechua too.
So, the official spelling for Quechua is not about imposing one region’s Quechua on anybody. It’s not anybody’s Quechua, it’s everybody’s! And it asks everyone alike, from all regions, to make some small compromises for the good of everyone. You already accept this for spelling Spanish; please join us and show solidarity and do the same for Quechua and Aymara. You’ll soon see how easy it is!
Back to Contents – Skip to Next: Unifying Quechua Spelling: Progress So Far
So How Can You Help Quechua Unity?
All that you are being asked to do for Quechua and Aymara, then, is nothing more than you have already done for Spanish. Just learn a few spelling and pronunciation rules so that you can learn to write Quechua in a standard way like everyone else, even if you all come from different regions. You’ve already done it for Spanish, now it’s time do it also for the sake of your real native tongue, the language of your Andean ancestors!
Learning a few easy rules is a very small effort that is asked of you for the sake of unity and identity. And everyone will benefit: you will be able to read the Quechua written by people from all over so many different regions of the Andes, and they will be able to read yours.
Above all, what this means is that when you read and write Quechua, please don’t demand and expect to ‘see’ exactly what you ‘hear’ in your region. Just like <cocer> is not exactly what you say in Spanish in your region. Some people in one region ‘read’ and pronounce it one way, others in other regions in a different way. Only the spelling is standardised.
The official spelling may not be exactly the easiest for your particular region, but overall it is the easiest for all regions. Please be generous and show solidarity with everyone, and make a little effort to get used to the simple rules.
Above all, everyone has to agree to write the same symbol, even if it represents different sounds in different regions. And sometimes for some regions the same letter can even represent slightly different sounds in different places in a word. Take the sounds at the start and end of the word <qatiq> follower, which were both the same sounds in Original Quechua, and remain the same in most regions; but for people in Bolivia, Cuzco and Puno, they are actually pronounced slightly differently in these different places in the word. Again, though, for solidarity and for other very good reasons (which unfortunately we haven’t got space to go into in detail here), in practice it’s best to standardise spelling as <qatiq>, with <q> both at the start and at the end.
Let’s repeat then: everyone has to agree to write the same symbol, even if it represents different sounds in different regions. Again, this is exactly like in any other language: you already do this yourself when you read and write Spanish. Everyone everywhere writes <me llamo> with the same symbol <ll>, for example (and not <me yamo> with <y>, nor <me shamo> with <sh>), even though people in Spain and Argentina do not pronounce this the same as in the Andes. People write the same, but only ‘read’ it differently and pronounce different sounds according to their home region. No big problem!
You do this for Spanish, so please do it for your Quechua or Aymara too. This is all that the official spelling asks you to do. Take a word like Quechua <qam> you. Of course, pronounce it how you want in your region; but if you at least write it <qam>, the same as everyone else, then we will all be able to understand each other better.
All you need to learn, then, are some simple spelling rules for Quechua, for your region. We’ve already seen the most important one, about the letter <q>. Always write just with <i> and <u>. But always pronounce how you like, how you always did. The other rules you will learn as you go along: all you need is an open mind and a spirit of solidarity with the rest of us, and you will find it easy!
Back to Contents – Last section on this page.
Unifying Quechua Spelling: Progress So Far
To finish, some very good news. In recent years some very big steps have at last been taken towards solidarity and unity in Quechua spelling, as far as is possible.
• Most new books printed in Quechua are following more and more of the recommendations of the official alphabet, especially to spell Quechua with only its three distinctive vowels <a>, <i> and <u>, and to stop using the Spanish-influenced five-vowel alphabet.
• Ecuador has recently adopted the same spelling system that has already been used for decades in Peru and Bolivia. Ecuador used to use the very old and complicated way of spelling <c> in <ca> and <cu>, but <qu> in <qui>. This is only a complication of Spanish, and Quechua is a different language which does not need this complication! For decades, most people in Peru and Bolivia have spelt Quechua using the same letter <k> for all the sequences <ka>, <ki> and <ku>, and now in Ecuador people do too. Ecuador has also changed from using the old Spanish-style spelling <hu> and now use the simpler, single letter <w>, just like most people in Peru and Bolivia have used for a long time now. These are big, important steps forward to make Quechua spelling in Ecuador more logical and simpler, more independent from Spanish, and to unify it more with Quechua spelling in Peru and Bolivia. Congratulations Ecuador, and thank you!
• Of all countries, it is probably Bolivia that has made the most considerable progress and the greatest sense of solidarity in expanding the official alphabet through education. Congratulations Bolivia!
• Peru too is making some progress: most people there, for example, have for decades now used the best <k> and <w> spellings that Ecuador has only introduced more recently. That said, to be honest, nowadays Peru seems to be falling a little behind the rapid progress recently in Ecuador and Bolivia. Let’s all hope that more people in Peru too – the Quechua heartland, after all! – will now join in the movement towards greater solidarity and unity in writing Quechua. Come on Peru!
This brings us to the end
of our four main pages on pronunciation and spelling. There is, however, one other page that we
very much recommend, because as many readers may have noticed, there is one
more significant issue in unifying spelling that we have not yet covered
here. So far we have discussed only the proposed
unified spellings of individual sounds like [q] or [m],
wherever they occur in a word. There is
a quite separate issue where a unified spelling is proposed for certain specific
suffixes in Southern Quechua, such as the one pronounced variously from
region to region as [čka],
[ska], [sha], [sa], and
so on; or another suffix pronounced [pti], [qti] or [χti]. To
find out more about this, we recommend that you now move on to by clicking on
this link to our separate page on five important suffixes: ‑mi/‑m, ‑pa/‑p, ‑pti‑, ‑chka‑ and ‑chik.
You
may now also want to see our other page on phonetic symbols: a table of all the symbols used here where
you can hear exactly the sounds they represent.
Finally,
there is also our page on where to find out more about unified
spelling.