Lowland Peruvian Quechua, or Chachapoyas–Lamas Quechua, are
Quechuan languages
Quechua (, ), also called (, 'people's language') in Southern Quechua, is an indigenous language family that originated in central Peru and thereafter spread to other countries of the Andes. Derived from a common ancestral " Proto-Quechua" ...
spoken in the lowlands of northern
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The two principal varieties are:
*
Lamas Quechua
Lamas or San Martín Quechua (''Lamista, Llakwash Runashimi'') is a variety of Quechua spoken in the provinces of Lamas in the Peruvian region of San Martin and in some villages on the river Huallaga in the region of Ucayali. Its speakers are ...
, or San Martín Quechua (''Lamista, Llakwash Runashimi''), spoken in
Lamas Province of
San Martín Region, as well as in some villages on the
Huallaga River
The Huallaga River is a tributary of the Marañón River, part of the Amazon Basin. Old names for this river include ''Guallaga'' and ''Rio de los Motilones''. The Huallaga is born on the slopes of the Andes in central Peru and joins the Marañó ...
in the
Ucayali Region
Ucayali () is an inland department and region of Peru. Located in the Amazon rainforest, its name is derived from the Ucayali River. Its capital is the city of Pucallpa. It is the second largest department in Peru, after Loreto, and it is s ...
by some 15,000 people
*
Chachapoyas Quechua or Amazonas Quechua, spoken in
Chachapoyas Province and
Luya Province in the
Amazonas Region
Amazonas may refer to:
Places
* Amazon River, known as ''Amazonas'' in Spanish and Portuguese
*Amazonas (Brazilian state), Brazil
*Amazonas (Colombian department), Colombia
*Amazonas (Peruvian department), Peru
*Amazonas (Venezuelan state), Venez ...
by some 7000 people
Few children are learning Chachapoyas Quechua.
Conila is said to be the last village where children are able to speak it.
Lowland Peruvian Quechua is similar in pronunciation to some of the Ecuadorian
Kichwa language
Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers.
Classification
Kichwa belongs to the Nor ...
varieties. It is much more conservative, however, in its morphology. For example, it has retained the
inclusive/exclusive distinction for "we", which has been lost in all of the Ecuadorian Quechuan languages.
References
Bibliography
* Gerald Taylor, 2006. ''Diccionario Quechua Chachapoyas-Lamas (– Castellano)''
* Marinerell Park, Nancy Weber, Víctor Cenepo S. 1975. ''Diccionario Quechua de San Martín – Castellano y vice versa''. Ministerio de educación del Perú
Languages of Peru
Quechuan languages
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