Kichwa
Language · official in 1 country
Kichwa shimi, or Runashimi, covers every Quechua variety of Ecuador and Colombia, where it is called Inga. It does not tell k from q, so kiru means both tooth and wood. Ecuador's constitution names it an official language for intercultural ties, which puts it on record as official in 1 country.
The language on record
- Own name
- Kichwa shimi
- Script
- Not recorded
- Family
- Northern Quechua
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Kichwa is official
Ecuador is the one record, and its status there is shared: Spanish is the official language, with Kichwa and Shuar official for intercultural ties.
Official beside Kichwa
About Kichwa
Which Quechua does Kichwa belong to
In the classification of the linguist Alfredo Torero, Kichwa forms the Northern Quechua group of Quechua II, together with Lamas and Chachapoyas. Its grammar is simpler than that of Southern Quechua. It has lost the possessive suffixes, the verb endings that mark subject and object together, and the split between an inclusive and an exclusive first person plural. The Lord's Prayer opens with ñukanchik yaya where Southern Quechua says yayayku.
Schools and an academy shaped the standard
According to the linguist Arturo Conejo Muyulema, Kichwa teaching in public schools began in the 1940s, when Dolores Cacuango founded indigenous schools in Cayambe. Indigenous organisations ran their own Kichwa schools in the 1970s and 1980s. The national board for intercultural bilingual education, DINEIB, started the standardisation.
Kichwa Unificado resembles the Chimborazo dialect without some of its sound changes. The alphabet of the Kichwa language academy, ALKI, has 21 letters: three vowels, a, i and u, two semivowels and 16 consonants. The dictionary Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu followed in 2009, by Fabián Potosí and others, sponsored by Ecuador's Ministry of Education.
Which word names a brother or sister
The word depends on who is speaking. A woman calls her sister ñaña and her brother turi; a man calls his sister pani and his brother wawki.
The 2022 census of Ecuador counted 527,333 Kichwa speakers, 40.5% of those who speak an indigenous language.
Common questions
Questions about Kichwa
Why is it spelled Kichwa and not Quechua?
Kichwa is the name the language uses for itself in Ecuador. Spanish calls it Quichua, and the standard spelling has no q, since Kichwa does not separate that sound from k.
Which dialects of Kichwa have the most speakers?
Chimborazo, Imbabura and Cañar Highland Quechua. The missionary group FEDEPI counted eight dialects in Ecuador in 2006, and Ethnologue 16 counted nine in 2009, separating Cañar from Loja.
Who wrote the first Kichwa grammar?
The Jesuit priest Hernando de Alcocer, in the 17th century.