Aymara languages

The Aymara languages - also Jaqaru , Jaqi or Aru languages ( Jaqi "human", Aru "language") - are a language family in the South American Andean region that today only consists of two or three languages ​​(Campbell 1997, Adelaar 2004 ). The Aymara , with more than two million speakers to the most widely spoken indigenous languages of the Americas .

structure

• Aymara (Jaqi, Aymara)
  • Aymara  : 2.2 million speakers, in Bolivia and Peru on Lake Titicaca , Puno department , also in northern Chile
  • Jaqaru, in Peru in the Lima department , Yauyos province, Tupe and Catahuasi districts
    • Jaqaru (Haqaru, Aru): 700 speakers, in Aisa and Colca
    • Kawki (Cauqui): almost † (6 speakers, no more everyday use, Heggarty 2005), in Cachuy, Canchán, Caipán and Chavín

Kawki is hardly documented so far; its position as a language or dialect is still controversial today. A comparative study by Jaqaru and Kawki is in preparation.

Due to the large common vocabulary with Quechua (or the Quechua language family ), the Aru and Quechua languages have been placed in a common language family Quechumaran by some researchers . However, recent studies indicate that the common vocabulary is due to mutual borrowings due to long-term local contact.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alain Faibre (2005): Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica: Aymara (Jaqui / Aru)
2. ↑ Paul Heggarty: A Lexical Comparison Between Jaqaru language and Kawki - the Two Varieties of Central Aymara. Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

literature

• Lyle Campbell : American Indian Languages. The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press, New York NY u. a. 1997, ISBN 0-19-509427-1 ( Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics 4).
• Willem FH Adelaar : The Languages ​​of the Andes. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge et al. a. 2004, ISBN 0-521-36275-X ( Cambridge Language Surveys ).

Web links

• Alain Fabre: Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: Aymara. (pdf, 227 kB) March 6, 2010, archived from the original on August 12, 2011 (Spanish, detailed information on the Aru language family, number of speakers and extensive bibliography). 
• Paul Heggarty: Jaqaru and Kawki. In: quechua.org.uk. Archived from the original on August 22, 2010 .