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• 1 2021-09-01T20:28:45+00:00 Chapter 9: The Sounds of Cusco Quechua, by Susan McDonald 270 plain 2021-12-15T22:39:14+00:00

  Introduction

      Quechua is a macro language referring to a number of languages and dialects in South America spoken generally in the Andean regions of Peru and Bolivia, but it reaches as far north as Colombia and as far south as northern parts of Argentina. According to Ethnologue, there are approximately 7.4 million Quechua speakers. Roughly half of Quechuan speakers are concentrated in Peru. 
     
       The following map highlights the distribution of Quechua languages throughout South America. The yellow portions represent the geographic region where Aymara, a separate major indigenous language predominant to this region, is spoken. The blue portions are areas where Quechua I varieties are spoken, concentrated in central Peru. Quechua II regions are broken down into red, green, and purple. The red and green areas designate northern varieties of Quechua spoken in Colombia, Ecuador, and northern parts of Peru; the purple represents Southern varieties which are spoken in Southern Peru, Bolivia, and parts of Argentina. 

  
  
  

       As the Quechua family tree illustrates below, the Quechuan Languages are split into two main branches: Quechua I and II.  Quechua II is further divided into other dialects using the letters A-C. These branches are not only separated in their linguistic differences, but also highlight the geographical distances between Quechua varieties (Torero). 

       For purposes of this chapter, I will focus on one particular variety of Quechua: Cusco Quechua (Glottocode:  cusc1236 and ISO 639-3:  quz) . It is also expressed orthographically as "Cuzco" or "Qheswa". Cusco Quechua falls under the Quechua IIC branch of the family tree. It is spoken in the Cusco department in south-eastern Peru, and it is the most widely spoken variety of Quechua with over 1.5 native speakers (Ethnologue). Speakers of Cusco Quechua refer to the language as Runasimi Qusqu, meaning “People’s Language”. According to the 2007 national census, more than half of the population of the department of Cusco speaks Quechua as a first langauge (Ministerio de Cultura 13). 

      Peru is divided into 24 "departments" or regions. The map below highlights the department of Cusco in red.  It's capital is the city of Cusco and it encompasses 13 different provinces ("Department of Cusco"). Cusco Quechua is spoken in the city of Cusco and it's surrounding communities, mainly situated within the department of Cusco. 

  
  

  The Consonants
  

   Cusco Quechua has 26 consonant segments, including both aspirated and ejective stops, voiceless postalveolar affricates, and the voiced labial-velar approximant (“Inventory Cuzco-Collao Quechua"). 

   There are seven places of articulation: bilabials, alveolars, postalvelors, palatals, velars, uvulars, and glottals.

   There are six manners of articulation in the Cusco Quechua language.  Speakers make use of three different types of plosives accounting for fifteen voiceless plosives in total; /p, t,  ͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃ, k, q/ which includes their contrastive aspirated and ejective counterparts; three nasals /m, n,  ɲ/; one flap /ɾ/; three fricatives /s, ʃ, h/; two approximants /j, w/; and two lateral approximants  /l, ʎ/.
  
  All  sound files throughout this chapter were taken from “Recordings of Cusco Quechua for Acoustic Analysis” by Steve Parker. Below are several sets of minimal pairs which establish that certain sounds are phonemes in the language. 
  

  pata ['pata] [p] ‘chair, seat; on top, above, over, high point’ 
  pʰata ['pʰ ata] [pʰ ] ‘the action of bursting or splitting open’ 
  p’ata ['p’ata] [p’] ‘the action of biting; a congregation or group of persons observing the same lifestyle’
  wata ['wata] [w] ‘year, age;  old’
  mata ['mata] [m] ‘ulcer, wound, or sore on the back of a beast of burden’
  
  llapan ['ʎapan] [ʎ] ‘all, every, everyone, altogether’
  sapan ['sapan] [s] ‘only one, unique, isolated, lone’
  
  hatu ['hatu] [h] ‘a decorated donkey’
  chatu ['tʃatu] [tʃ] ‘a small pitcher or jug used for holding water’

  The Vowels

  There are five vowels total including two high vowels: /i/ high front unrounded vowel and /u/ high back rounded vowel; two high mid vowels: /e/ high mid front unrounded vowel and /o/ high mid back rounded vowel; and one low back unrounded vowel /a/ (“Inventory Cuzco-Collao Quechua").
  
  When analyzing vowel qualities, the F1 (Formant one) values correspond to the height and openness of a vowel. The F2 (Formant 2) value correspond to the backness of a vowel. 

  tata ['tata] [a] ‘father, mister’ This word is shown in Praat below. By analyzing the first vowel quality, this particular speaker has an F1 quality of 706 Hz and an F2 quality of 1330 Hz. 

  tete ['tete] [e] ‘lead, heavy blue-gray colored metal; heavy’ This word is shown in Praat below. By analyzing the first vowel quality, this particular speaker has an F1 quality of 393 Hz and an F2 quality of 1980 Hz. 
  
  titi ['titi] [i] ‘fixed glance, stare’ This word is shown in Praat below. By analyzing the first vowel quality, this particular speaker has an F1 quality of 245 Hz and an F2 quality of 2209 Hz. 
  
  toroq ['toɾoq] [o] ‘species of large plant or tree with strong, resilient wood’ This word is shown in Praat below. By analyzing the first vowel quality, this particular speaker has an F1 quality of 426 Hz and an F2 quality of 870 Hz. 

  
  turan ['tuɾan] [u] ‘her brother, cousin, friend, companion’  This word is shown in Praat below. By analyzing the first vowel quality, this particular speaker has an F1 quality of 310 Hz and an F2 quality of 991 Hz. 
  
  
  

  Allophonic Alternations

  Antionio Cusihuaman’s Gramatica Quechua Cusco-Callao describes the following allophones:  

  The phonemic transcription of the example is shown between two slanted lines. Each allophone and the transcription that illustrates their occurrence are enclosed in brackets. Their Quechua orthographic representation and English translation follow. 

  /p/ undergoes fricatization when it’s in the coda position of a syllable, becoming the voiceless bilabial fricative [ɸ]. 
  E.g.: [ráɸra] /rapra/ = rapra ‘wing’ 

  [p] is a plain voiceless bilabial plosive when it occurs in other environments. 
  E.g.: [pákay] /pakay/ =pakay ‘to hide’

  /k/ becomes the voiceless velar fricative [x] when it occurs in the coda position of a syllable. Click on the orthographic representation to hear the fricatization. 
  E.g.: [pát͜ʃax] /pat͜ʃak/ = pachak ‘one hundred’ 
          ['waxta] /wakta/ = wakta ‘by accident, jokingly, in jest, unintentionally, pretending’

  [k] is a plain voiceless velar plosive when it occurs in other environments. Click on the orthographic representation to hear the phoneme /k/. 
  E.g.: [táki] /taki/ = taki ‘song’ 
           ['kata] /kata/ = kata  ‘a species of medicinal plant whose root fights fevers’

  /q/ becomes a voiceless uvular fricative [χ] when it occupies the coda position of a syllable. Click on the orthographic representation to hear the fricatization. 
  E.g.: [sóχ.ta] /soqta/ = soqta ‘six’
           ['paχ.ta] /paqta/ =  paqta ‘with care or caution; in a threatening, angry, or vexed manner’

  [q] is a plain voiceless uvular stop when it occurs in other environments. Click on the orthographic representation to hear the phoneme /q/.
  [álqo] /alqo/ = alqo ‘dog’ 
  ['qata] /qata/ = qata ‘cloak, overcoat, blanket’

  It should be noted that this is not an all-inclusive list of the allophones of Cusco Quechua, but only a sampling of some of the allophonic alternations for illustrative purposes. 

  Syllables and Syllable Structure

  Syllable Structure: 

  In this dialect of Quechua there are five types of syllables.
  A capital 'V' represents a 'Vowel' and a capital 'C' represents a 'Consonant' below. 
  
  Type 1: V
  In this type of syllable, only a vowel or nucleus is present. This syllable type can only occur in the first syllable of a word.
   E.g.: a.toq ‘fox’
  
  Type 2: CV
  In this type of syllable, there is one onset consonant followed by the nucleus. This syllable type can occur in any position of a word. 
  E.g.:go.wi 'rabbit
  
  Type 3: VC
  In this type of syllable, the nucleus is followed by a coda consonant. This syllable type can occur in any position of a word. 
  E.g.:al.qo 'dog'

  Type 4: CVC
  In this type of syllable, the nucleus is bordered by both an onset and a coda consonant. This syllable type can occur in any position of a word. 
  E.g.:ch'us.pi 'fly'

  Type 5: CVCC 
  In this type of syllable, there is one onset consonant, the nucleus, and two coda consonants. This last type only occurs in certain onomatopeias, and it can only be in the initial syllable of a word. 
  E.g.: qewq.qe 'putrefaction that happens to potatoes '

  CVC is the most commonly occurring syllable type. One or two consonants always come between vowels. Only one vowel can occupy the nucleus position, so there are no diphthongs or triphthongs in Cusco Quechua.  There can only be one consonant in the onset position, aside from words borrowed from Spanish such as tri.yu 'wheat', etc. which can have two onset consonants. There can be one or two consonants in the coda position (Cusihuaman 51-52).

  Stress: 

  Cusco Quechua is a bounded system where the primary stress predictably falls on the penultimate syllable of the word. There are two exceptions to the rule. Words ending in long vowels or certain interjections have the primary stress on the final syllable such as  [alalá:w] ‘How cold!’ (Guajardo Castro 9).

  Focus on Aspiration and Ejectives in the Language
  

  As previously mentioned, Cusco Quechua has three variants of voiceless stops: plain /p, t,  ͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃ, k, q/, aspirated /pʰ, tʰ,  ͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃʰ, kʰ, qʰ /, and ejective /pʼ, tʼ,  ͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃʼ, kʼ, qʼ/. 

  According to Gussenhoven and Jacobs, plosives happen when the vocal tract closes and causes the air pressure to build until air “explodes” out (28). Plain plosives can occupy either the onset or coda of a syllable (Cusihuaman 34-36). In the image below, the initial /p/ is much lighter in spectogram than the following dark vowel area. 

  
  

  Click on the orthographic representation below to hear each consonant phoneme.

  plain

  /p/ pata ['pata] ‘chair, seat; on top, above, over, high point’

  /t/ tata ['tata] ‘father, mister’

  /ʈʃ/ chatu ['tʃatu] ‘a small pitcher or jug used for holding water’

  /k/ kata ['kata] ‘a species of medicinal plant whose root fights fevers’

  /q/ qata ['qata] ‘cloak, overcoat, blanket’

  Aspiration happens when the vocal folds remain open after a plosive consonant resulting in a puff of air (Guenhoven and Jacobs 18). The aspirated plosives only occur in the onset position of a syllable or between vowels. (Cusihuaman 36-37) In the spectrogram below, you can see the aspiration period is much longer before the vowel in comparison to the plain stop consonant. 

  
  

  aspirated

  /pʰ/ phata  ['pʰ ata] ‘the action of bursting open’

  /tʰ/ thata  [z'tʰata]   ‘a violent, unexpected shaking’

  /͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃʰ/chhapa ['tʃʰapa]    ‘bran’

  /kʰ/ khata ['kʰata]   ‘weak, lazy, feeble; plain, flat, ’

  /qʰ/ qhata  ['qʰata] slope, dip, hill, mount’

  Ejectives occur when the larynx is pushed up which causes increased air pressure inside the pharynx and mouth. This results in substantial egressive (outward) air flow when the articulators open (Gussenhoven and Jacobs 32). Much like the aspirated plosives, the ejective plosives  also can only occur in the onset position or between vowels (Cusihuaman 37-38) . In the image below, the ejective release can be seen followed by a long voice onset time. 

  ejective

  /pʼ/ p’ata ['p’ata] ‘the action of biting; a congregation or group of persons observing the same lifestyle’

  /tʼ/ t’ata  ['t’ata] ‘having six fingers or six toes on the same hand or foot’

  /͜͜͜͜͜͜ʈʃʼ/ ch’ata ['tʃ’ata] ‘union, connection between two parts of something that has broken or split apart’

  /kʼ/ k’ata ['k’ata]  ‘very small piece or fragment; nothing at all, not one mite’

  /qʼ/ q’ata ['q’ata]  ‘muddy, turbid, unclear liquid’

  
  
  References Cited/Bibliography

  Beresford-Jones , David G., and Paul Heggarty . Introduction: Archaeology, Linguistics, and the Andean Past: A Much-Needed Conversation. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230612868_Introduction_Archaeology_Linguistics_and_the_Andean_Past_A_Much-Needed_Conversation.

  “Cusco Quechua.” Edited by Hammarström et al., Glottolog 4.4, https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/cusc1236.

  “Cuzco Quechua Language.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuzco_Quechua_language.

  “Department of Cuzco.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Feb. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Cuzco.

  Ethnologue , https://www.ethnologue.com/language/quz.

  Guajardo Castro, Alejandra. “Terminos De Parentesco En Quechua.” Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2007.

  Gussenhoven, Carlos, and Haike Jacobs. Understanding Phonology. Third ed., Routledge, 2013.

  Gutiérrez Antonio Cusihuamán. Gramática Quechua: Cuzco-Collao: Antonio Cusihuaman Gutiérrez. 2nd ed., Centro Bartolomé De Las Casas, 2001.

  “Inventory Cuzco-Collao Quechua (SAPHON 2024).” Phoible 2.0, https://phoible.org/inventories/view/2024#tipa.

  “Map of Quechuan Dialects/ Andean Languages (Mid-20th Century) (Rios 2010), Adapted from Adelaar and Muysken (2004:169). .” Https://Www.researchgate.net/Figure/Map-of-Quechuan-Dialects-Andean-Languages-Mid-20th-Century-Rios-2010-Adapted-from_fig1_261707106.

  Parker, Steve. “Recordings of Cusco Quechua for Acoustic Analysis.” SIL International, SIL International, 16 June 2021, https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/57556.
  
  Peru, Ministerio de Cultura, Mirva, et al. Manual Para El Empleo Del Quechua Cusco Collao En La Administración De Justicia, 1st ed., 2015.

  Torero, Alfredo. “Los Dialectos Quechuas.” Fabla, año 2, no. No 2, 1964, pp. 9–61.