GSE Faculty Research

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

4-2004

Publication Source

International Journal of the Sociology of Language

Volume

2004

Issue

167

Start Page

9

Last Page

67

DOI

10.1515/ijsl.2004.025

Abstract

Although Quechua is spoken by eight to twelve million people across six South American countries, by most measures, Quechua is an endangered language. This article provides an overview of the current situation of Quechua language shift, maintenance, and revitalization, and makes a case for the importance of language planning for the survival and development of the language. We use Fishman’s notion of physical/demographic, social, and cultural dislocations as an organizing rubric for discussing Quechua’s current situation (Fishman 1991: 55–65), and the typology of status, corpus, and acquisition planning to discuss the role of language planning in Quechua’s position, both current and future. We take into account the role of linguistic ideologies and language attitudes in language shift, maintenance, and revitalization and in the language-planning process, working from the assumption that language is a critical element of ethnic identity for many Quechua speakers in the Andes.

Keywords

Quechua, language shift, language planning, indigenous languages, language revitalization

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Date Posted: 25 May 2016

This document has been peer reviewed.