A treaty on Waywaš Nuna-šimi and its new writing system: Part 1: General Panorama

General Panorama

Geographical Area:

The Waywaš Runa-šimi language area currently consists of the following provinces and departments:

• Áncash

• all of its provinces except Pallasca.

• Huánuco
• all of its provinces except Leoncio Prado and possibly the eastern districts of Puerto Inca.
• Pasco
• all of its provinces, including Oxapampa
• Junín
• all of its provinces, including Chanchamayo
• La Libertad
• Pataz Province, the southernmost one
• Tauria
• Urpay
• Huancavelica
• Castrovirreyna province, the westernmost one
• Aurahuá
• Chupamarca
• Tantará
• Ica
• Chincha, the northernmost one
• San Pedro de Huacarpana
• Chavín
• Lima
• Yauyos
• Alis
• Tomas
• Huancaya
• Vitis
• Azángaro
• Huangáscar
• Cacra
• Hongos
• Cajatambo
• Oyón
• Huaura
• Huarochirí
• Santa Eulalia
• San Lorenzo de Quiti
• Barranca
• Supe
• Barranca
• San Martín
• Tocache
• Tocache
• Uchiza

Location of Waywaš Nuna Šimi within the Runa-simi (Quechuan) language family

Within the Runa-šimi (Quechuan) language family, Waywaš Runa-šimi (mostly referred to as Central Quechua) constitutes the group labeled as "Quechua I dialect group" (Torero, 1964, 2002) or "Quechua B" (Parker, 1963). This dialect group is concentrated in a continuous area of ​​the central and northern highlands of Peru, in the departments of Áncash, Huánuco, Junín, Lima, Pasco, and the northeastern sierra of both the Ica and Huancavelica departments (Torero, 2002). Unlike the "Quechua II", Wampuy Runa-simi or southern-northern dialect group, Waywaš Runa Šimi exhibits high dialectal variation, evidence of its long evolution and more ancient origin (Julca, 2009). Thus, the morphological and phonological characteristics of Waywaš Runa Šimi consist of a mixture of innovative elements and conservative features that can be found in a less specialized form in the other varieties of the language family in Peru. (Adelaar, 2013).

The oldest characteristic, with respect to Waywaš Runa Šimi, has been supported by the various diachronic studies of the RunaSimi (Quechuan) language family, developed since the 1960s (Cf. Torero, 1964, 1978, 2002; Parker, 1963; Cerrón-Palomino, 1987; Adelaar and Muysken, 2004; Landerman, 1991). Likewise, these investigations demonstrated that the initial focus of Runa Simi was not the Inca capital, but the north-central coast and adjacent central sierra. The latest research reinforces this hypothesis; however, it is specified that Quechua would be eminently of serrano origin, given that ancient Quechua would have had as its original seat the central-northern Peruvian sierra, occupying a space that coincides with the space currently covered by central Quechua, which is located in the departments of Áncash, Huánuco, Pasco, Junín and the northern sierra of Lima (Cerrón-Palomino, 2013).

Distinctive characteristics of Waywaš Nuna Šimi

Waywaš Runa-šimi exhibits considerable diversity in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, with a gradual transition between neighboring varieties. Although the classification of all RunaSimi varieties according to the genealogical tree theory presents problems in several aspects, the initial separation into two large groups, Waywaš and Wampuy, was generally accepted for several decades. In particular, the integrity of Waywaš as a more or less homogeneous group was rarely questioned (Adelaar, 2013).

The criteria used to differentiate the two RunaSimi groups are mainly related to the existence of distinctive long vowels and the manner of expressing the first-person possessor and actor (Cerrón-Palomino, 1987; Torero, 2002; Adelaar, 2013). Regarding the expression of the first-person possessor and actor, Waywaš Šimi and Wampuy Simi indicates them differently in the following table:

Waywaš Šimi has the suffix -:, aka it lengthens the vowel of the syllable as the first person singular verb suffix and the first person singular. possessive. Wampuy Simi, on the other hand, uses the suffixes -ni, the first person singular verb suffix and -y as the first person singular possessive. (Note that in both, -y is the infinitive verb suffix.)

According to Adelaar (2013), although a series of criteria can be established from Quechua-related literature to distinguish between Waywaš Šimi and Wampuy Simi, the decisive criteria that allow the inclusion of each particular variety of Quechua in one or the other of the two main dialect groups are the presence of phonemic vowel length distinction and the way each group expresses the first-person possessor and actor, as exemplified in the table above.

The following subsections will describe and explain the features that define Waywaš Šimi at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels:

Phonological characteristics

According to Adelaar (2013), the phonological features that characterize Waywaš Šimi are the following:

• Phonemic vowel length distinction, which has expanded the original system of three vowel phonemes (/a/, /i/, /u/) into three PAIRS of vowels, 6 phonemes in total (/a/, /i/, /u/, /α:/, /i:/, /u:/).
• Preservation of the contrast of the affricates /č/ (palatal) and /ĉ/ (retroflex).

Regarding the second characteristic, although it has been used as a criterion that would make it possible to distinguish between Waywaš Šimi and Southern-Northern Quechua, this criterion lacks validity, since some northern varieties of Wampuy Simi (Ċinċa Wampuy Simi), like Cajamarca, Ferreñafe, Yauyos and Chachapoyas, maintain the distinction between the affricate consonants /č/ (palatal) and /ĉ/ (retroflex), for example, čaki 'dry' and ĉaki 'foot'. Likewise, even within Central Quechua, this distinction has not remained intact, since it has merged in some varieties (čaki 'dry' and čaki 'foot', for example, in Upper Huallaga Quechua), while in others it has been modified (tsaki 'dry' contrasts with čaki 'foot', for example, in Huaylas Quechua of Ancash):

Morphological characteristics

Some of the most important morphological features that distinguish Waywaš Šimi as a whole are the following (Torero 1964, 2002; Cerrón-Palomino 1987 and Adelaar 2013):

The first person as subject (with verbs) and possessor (with nouns) is indicated by vowel lengthening. In Wampuy Simi, the suffix -ni is used for the first person subject in the present indicative and the suffix -y in the rest of the verbal paradigm and as a nominal marker of the first person possessor:

The first person as object is indicated by the verbal suffix -ma(a)-, for example, muna-ma-ki 'you love me'. In Wampuy Simi, the equivalent suffix that prototypically marks the first person object is -wa-

The locative, ablative, and comparative case suffixes do not coincide in Waywaš Šimi and Wampuy Simi. The locative case suffix is ​​-ċaw (Llataċaw 'in Llata'); the ablative is expressed with -piq, -piqta, or -pita (qanyan-piq, qanyan-piqta, qanyan-pita 'since yesterday'); the comparative is -naw (qam-naw 'like you'). In Wampuy Simi, the locative case is marked with -pi, the ablative (with the exception of Laraos) is marked with -manta, and the comparative case suffix is ​​generally marked with -hina.

However, both Waywaš Šimi and Wampuy Simi agree on following case suffixes:

• -(k)ta (Accusative case)
• -man (Directional case)
• -p(a) (Genitive case)
• -paq (Benefactive case)

The only Wampuy Simi variety that uses -naw as the comparative case suffix is the Ferreñafe variety.

Lexical characteristics

Regarding vocabulary, Waywaš Šimi has a significant amount of its own vocabulary, which, “shows a limited geographical spread that does not exceed the limits of this group, except occasionally in border areas of colonization initiated by the Incas and the Spanish, in which speakers of Waywaš Šimi would also have participated” (Adelaar, 2013: 51). However, conservative varieties of Wampuy Simi (Cajamarca Quechua, Ferreñafe Quechua, and some varieties of Yauyos) show lexical features that usually characterize Waywaš Šimi. This would suggest “that lexical boundaries are fluid and that these varieties may have preserved archaic elements or assimilated loanwords at the local level” (Ibid).

Some characteristic words that relate only to the vocabulary of Waywaš Šimi are the following: 

• nuna 'people' (runa in Wampuy Simi), 
• akšu 'potato' (papa in Wampuy Simi), 
• haka 'guinea pig' (quwi in Wampuy Simi), 
• hunaq 'day' (punċaw in Wampuy Simi), 
• aywa- 'to go' (ri- in Wampuy Simi), 
• qišya- 'to get sick' (unqu- in Wampuy Simi), 
• yarqu- 'to leave' (ľuqsi- in Wampuy Simi), 
• uša- 'to finish' (tuku- in Wampuy Simi), etc. 
  
  
  

(Taylor, 1994; Adelaar, 2013). 

However, Adelaar (2013) argues that these words do not cover the entire territory of Central Quechua, while others extend beyond it.

Furthermore, according to Adelaar, Waywaš Šimi “has not proven impervious to the lexical influence of Wampuy Simi, due to the occupation of the Waywaš Šimi language area by the Incas, the conquistadors, and the Spanish colonial administration”. In these different periods of occupation of the Waywaš Šimi language area, a Wampuy type of Nuna Šimi would always have been the main vehicle of communication, imposed by force or by practical necessity, which was reflected in the vocabulary of the different varieties of Waywaš Šimi.

Dialect variation and its areas

According to Torero, Central Quechua is strongly internally dialectalized, "...in a complex dialectal network with largely non-coinciding isoglosses, hence it is not possible to make clear demarcations or, conversely, dialectal groupings with sharp outlines" (Torero 2002: 76).

Within Waywaš Šimi, Torero (2002) distinguishes a Waylay Šimi or Northern Waywaš Šimi, spoken in Áncash and Huánuco; and Wankay Šimi or Southern Waywaš Šimi, spoken in Junín and Pasco; which differ mainly in their verbal pluralization markers. In the first subset, the verbal pluralizer is exclusively -ya(:)-, while in the second, the morphemes are -pa:ku, -:riy/rka(:)-, although the latter does not cover the Wankay Šimi area and is also used in some varieties of Waylay Šimi

A border zone would extend between Waylay Šimi and Wankay Šimi. In this intermediate zone, features of both the first and second subsets would interpenetrate. Likewise, certain regional characteristics would be generated. In addition to the separation into two subsets, five dialectal zones can be distinguished within Central Quechua based on the intercommunication of its speakers. According to Torero: "These are not linguistically homogeneous zones, but they are geographically neighboring, and include varieties with common features due to the relationship their speakers have maintained through trade or other forms of economic and social interaction" (Torero, 2002: 76).

Nevertheless, the distinction of the Waywaš Šimi macrovariant as a linguistic unit from the other macrovariants, primarily Waylay Šimi and Wankay Šimi, is manifested at different levels of the language: in the lexicon, phonology, and morphology. However, morphology, both on its own and in relation to the phonological changes that occurred during the initial phase of Waywaš Šimi's development, is what gives this group its own character. The morphological characteristics of Waywaš Šimi consist of a mixture of innovative elements and conservative features that can be found in a less specialized form in the other varieties of the various qičwa-šimikuna, that is, Quechuan languages. (Adelaar, 2013; Ministry of Education, 2017).