Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift

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In recent years, the spelling of place names in Peru and Bolivia has been revised among Quechua and Aymara speakers.

The major changes are to replace the digraph hu with the single letter w, and to replace the consonants c/q[u] with either k or q, as appropriate in the word in question. It is crucial to realise that k and q represent completely different sounds in most Andean languages (even if Spanish and English speakers have difficulty in hearing and pronouncing the difference). These letters are therefore not in any way 'interchangeable', and care must be taken to confirm whether the c or q[u] in a Spanish spelling corresponds to k or to q in the Andean language. Take the name of the "Temple of the Sun" in Cuzco, which in Quechua is Qurikancha (quri = gold, kancha = courtyard, enclosure), which includes both different sounds.

Additionally, the inventories of the Quechuan and Aymaran alphabets do not employ the vowel letters o or e; it is only the orthography of Spanish (and English spellings taken from Spanish) that represents Quechuan and Aymaran loan words with these vowels. In Andean languages they should be spelled with u and i respectively. They are pronounced as such in all cases except where the u or i occurs next to the letter q in the Andean spelling, in which case the pronunciation automatically 'opens' to what to Spanish and English ears sounds rather more like o and e respectively. In the Andean languages they should still always be spelled with u or i, however. (For a parallel, think of Arabic: we hear and write Coran, but the native Arabic transliteration respecting the sound system of that language is Qur'an.) This explains, for example, why the word for 'lake' is spelled qucha in Quechua, even though to Spanish ears it sounds more like cocha, as in the example word Huiracocha below.

In Bolivia and Southern Peru, including Cuzco, there are in fact three versions of all the stop consonants: the basic unaspirated sounds spelled p, t, ch, k, q, their 'aspirated' equivalents spelled followed by an h, i.e. as ph, th, chh, kh, qh; and finally their 'ejective' equivalents spelled followed by an apostrophe, i.e. as p', t', ch', k', q'. For speakers of Aymara and Southern Quechua, all of these are entirely different sounds to each other, making for a total of 15 stop consonants, and these differences too must be shown in the spelling: in the example words below, then, the kh in khipu is not the same as the k in Inka or in Tiwanaku; nor is the qh sound at the start of "qhapaq" the same as the q sound at the start of "Qusqu". In almost regions north of Cuzco, these variants do not exist.

These changes are considered to be part of a general process of spelling standardisation and reassertion of the right of these native languages to their own spelling system appropriate for their sound systems, which are very different from that of Spanish. This accompanies a growth of pride in the Andean heritage of these countries, and moves to recover the prestige of their indigenous languages. These spelling changes are part of the official alphabets for Quechua and Aymara in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, though debated continues on the extent to which they are to be used when writing in Spanish. Today Bolivia is a multicultural country, and in La Paz radio is broadcast in 12 languages.

Hispanic spelling	Current Spelling	Spanish	English
cuy	quwi	cuy	guinea pig
Cusco	Qusqu	Cusco	Cuzco
Tiahuanaco	Tiwanaku	Tiahuanaco/Tihuanaco	Tiwanaku
Sacsayhuaman	Saksaywaman	Sacsayhuaman	Sacsayhuaman
Inca	Inka	Inca	Inca
Huayna Capac	Wayna Qhapaq	Huayna Capac	Huayna Capac
Huiracocha	Wiraqucha	Huiracocha	Viracocha
quipu	khipu	quipu	quipu (knotting system)

[edit] External links

• Ima hinataq runasimita sumaqta qillqay How to write Quechua well.
• Quechua and Aymara Spelling With many more details and integrated sound files to listen to the pronunciations.