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11. Cross-linguistic influence of the Cuzco Quechua epistemic system on Andean Spanish

  • Marilyn S. Manley
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Spanish in Contact
This chapter is in the book Spanish in Contact

Abstract

Speakers of Quechua, the native language spoken today in South America by an estimated over 10 million descendants of the Incan Empire, convey their attitudes toward the knowledge they pass on through the use of five epistemic markers. In Cuzco Quechua, these include three epistemic suffixes,-mi/-n,-si/-s, and-chá (-miand -siare placed after consonants and -n and -s follow vowels), and two past tense verb forms,-rqa- and-sqa-. There has been much debate and inconsistency in the literature concerning the semantics and pragmatics of these epistemic markers as well as the ways in which these markers exert cross-linguistic influence on Andean Spanish. This work attempts to clarify and inform these current debates. Evidence will be provided that has been obtained through fieldwork carried out in Cuzco, Peru among seventy members of two non-profit governmental agencies, theAsociación Civil ‘Gregorio Condori Mamani’ Proyecto Casa del Cargador andEl Centro de Apoyo Integral a la Trabajadora del Hogar. Specifically, this evidence (1) supports meanings and uses for the Cuzco Quechua epistemic system beyond the distinction of firsthand vs. secondhand information source, (2) addresses the claim that the Andean Spanish present perfect and past perfect verb tenses serve to communicate the epistemic meanings conveyed in Quechua through use of the Quechua epistemic system, and (3) presents ways in which speakers exhibit cross-linguistic influence of the Cuzco Quechua epistemic markers on Andean Spanish, such as through the use ofdice to calque the Quechua-si/-sepistemic marker and seven strategies, some of which have not been documented previously, for calquing the Quechua-mi/-nepistemic marker: (1)pues, (2)así, (3)sí, (4) elongated [s], (5) nonstandard pluralization, (6)siempre, and (7) word-final voiceless fricative [r].

Abstract

Speakers of Quechua, the native language spoken today in South America by an estimated over 10 million descendants of the Incan Empire, convey their attitudes toward the knowledge they pass on through the use of five epistemic markers. In Cuzco Quechua, these include three epistemic suffixes,-mi/-n,-si/-s, and-chá (-miand -siare placed after consonants and -n and -s follow vowels), and two past tense verb forms,-rqa- and-sqa-. There has been much debate and inconsistency in the literature concerning the semantics and pragmatics of these epistemic markers as well as the ways in which these markers exert cross-linguistic influence on Andean Spanish. This work attempts to clarify and inform these current debates. Evidence will be provided that has been obtained through fieldwork carried out in Cuzco, Peru among seventy members of two non-profit governmental agencies, theAsociación Civil ‘Gregorio Condori Mamani’ Proyecto Casa del Cargador andEl Centro de Apoyo Integral a la Trabajadora del Hogar. Specifically, this evidence (1) supports meanings and uses for the Cuzco Quechua epistemic system beyond the distinction of firsthand vs. secondhand information source, (2) addresses the claim that the Andean Spanish present perfect and past perfect verb tenses serve to communicate the epistemic meanings conveyed in Quechua through use of the Quechua epistemic system, and (3) presents ways in which speakers exhibit cross-linguistic influence of the Cuzco Quechua epistemic markers on Andean Spanish, such as through the use ofdice to calque the Quechua-si/-sepistemic marker and seven strategies, some of which have not been documented previously, for calquing the Quechua-mi/-nepistemic marker: (1)pues, (2)así, (3)sí, (4) elongated [s], (5) nonstandard pluralization, (6)siempre, and (7) word-final voiceless fricative [r].

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Heritage Spanish in the United States
  5. 1. Subjects in early dual language development 3
  6. 2. Interpreting mood distinctions in Spanish as a heritage language 23
  7. 3. Anglicismos en el léxico disponible de los adolescentes hispanos de Chicago 41
  8. Part II. Education and policy issues
  9. 4. Teaching Spanish in the U.S. 61
  10. 5. The politics of English and Spanish aquí y allá 81
  11. 6. Language attitudes and the lexical de-Castilianization of Valencian 101
  12. 7. Are Galicians bound to diglossia? 119
  13. Part III. Pragmatics and contact
  14. 8. Addressing peers in a Spanish-English bilingual classroom 135
  15. 9. Style variation in Spanish as a heritage language 153
  16. 10. “Baby I'm Sorry, te juro, I'm Sorry” 173
  17. 11. Cross-linguistic influence of the Cuzco Quechua epistemic system on Andean Spanish 191
  18. 12. La negación en la frontera domínico-haitiana 211
  19. Part IV. Variation and contact
  20. 13. On the development of contact varieties 237
  21. 14. Linguistic and social predictors of copula use in Galician Spanish 253
  22. 15. Apuntes preliminares sobre el contacto lingüístico y dialectal en el uso pronominal del español en Nueva York 275
  23. 16. Is the past really the past in narrative discourse? 297
  24. 17. The impact of linguistic constraints on the expression of futurity in the Spanish of New York Colombians 311
  25. 18. Quantitative evidence for contact-induced accommodation 329
  26. 19. Está muy diferente a como era antes 345
  27. Part V. Bozal Spanish
  28. 20. Where and how does bozal Spanish survive? 359
  29. 21. The appearance and use of bozal language in Cuban and Brazilian neo-African literature 377
  30. Index 395
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.22.15man

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction ix
  4. Part I. Heritage Spanish in the United States
  5. 1. Subjects in early dual language development 3
  6. 2. Interpreting mood distinctions in Spanish as a heritage language 23
  7. 3. Anglicismos en el léxico disponible de los adolescentes hispanos de Chicago 41
  8. Part II. Education and policy issues
  9. 4. Teaching Spanish in the U.S. 61
  10. 5. The politics of English and Spanish aquí y allá 81
  11. 6. Language attitudes and the lexical de-Castilianization of Valencian 101
  12. 7. Are Galicians bound to diglossia? 119
  13. Part III. Pragmatics and contact
  14. 8. Addressing peers in a Spanish-English bilingual classroom 135
  15. 9. Style variation in Spanish as a heritage language 153
  16. 10. “Baby I'm Sorry, te juro, I'm Sorry” 173
  17. 11. Cross-linguistic influence of the Cuzco Quechua epistemic system on Andean Spanish 191
  18. 12. La negación en la frontera domínico-haitiana 211
  19. Part IV. Variation and contact
  20. 13. On the development of contact varieties 237
  21. 14. Linguistic and social predictors of copula use in Galician Spanish 253
  22. 15. Apuntes preliminares sobre el contacto lingüístico y dialectal en el uso pronominal del español en Nueva York 275
  23. 16. Is the past really the past in narrative discourse? 297
  24. 17. The impact of linguistic constraints on the expression of futurity in the Spanish of New York Colombians 311
  25. 18. Quantitative evidence for contact-induced accommodation 329
  26. 19. Está muy diferente a como era antes 345
  27. Part V. Bozal Spanish
  28. 20. Where and how does bozal Spanish survive? 359
  29. 21. The appearance and use of bozal language in Cuban and Brazilian neo-African literature 377
  30. Index 395
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