Southern Quechua
Southern Quechua (Quechua: Urin qichwa, Spanish: quechua sureño), or simply Quechua (Qichwa or Qhichwa), is the most widely spoken of the major regional groupings of mutually intelligible dialects within the Quechua language family, with about 6.9 million speakers. It is also the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Americas. The term Southern Quechua refers to the Quechuan varieties spoken in regions of the Andes south of a line roughly east–west between the cities of Huancayo and Huancavelica in central Peru. It includes the Quechua varieties spoken in the regions of Ayacucho, Cusco and Puno in Peru, in much of Bolivia and parts of north-west Argentina. The most widely spoken varieties are Cusco, Ayacucho, Puno (Collao), and South Bolivian.
| Southern Quechua | |
|---|---|
| Quechua II-C | |
| Qhichwa | |
| Pronunciation | Quechua pronunciation: [qʰɛtʃwa] |
| Native to | Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile |
| Region | Countries of the Andean highlands of South America, minorities in neighboring countries and some parts of Asia and Europe |
| Ethnicity | Quechua, Qulla, Inka (historically) |
Native speakers | (5 million cited 1987–2014) |
Quechuan
| |
Early form | |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin script (Quechua alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |
List of countries where Southern Quechua is a regional language List of countries where Southern Quechua is a minority native language |
| Regulated by | none |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:qwc – Classical Quechuaquy – Ayacucho Quechuaqxu – Arequipa-La Unión Quechuaquz – Cusco Quechuaqve – Eastern Apurímac Quechuaqxp – Puno Quechua (Collao)qul – North Bolivian Quechua (Apolo)quh – South Bolivian Quechuaqus – Santiagueño Quechua |
| Glottolog | quec1389 |
| ELP | Catamarca and La Rioja Quechua (extinct variety in Argentina) |
| Linguasphere | 84-FAA-h |
| People | Qulla |
|---|---|
| Language | Qichwa |
| Country | Qullaw |
In the traditional classification of the Quechua language family by Alfredo Torero, Southern Quechua is equivalent to Torero's 'Quechua IIc' (or just 'QIIc'). It thus stands in contrast to its many sister varieties within the wider Quechuan family that are spoken in areas north of the Huancayo–Huancavelica line: Central Quechua (Torero's QI) spoken from Huancayo northwards to the Ancash Region; North Peruvian Quechua around Cajamarca and Incahuasi (Torero's IIa); and Kichwa (part of Torero's Quechua IIb).