Chincha Quechua [qxc] Location and Speaker Population
PrintChincha Quechua [qxc] Location and Speaker Population
The Location lines for Chincha Quechua [qxc] and Yauyos Quechua [qux] read practically the same, with the only difference being that the Yauyos Quechua Location line erroneously says 'northEAST Castrovirreyna province' when the Chincha Quechua Location line correctly says 'northWEST Castrovirreyna province.' Now, your Dialects line for Yauyos Quechua lists districts in Lima and Ica departments but none in Huancavelica department. Your map for Peru clearly shows that Chincha Quechua stays apart from Yauyos Quechua and to the east of the latter. Alfredo Torero's, Willem Adelaar's, and Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino's descriptions of the locations of Quechua dialects suggest that Chincha Quechua must be only present in northwest Castrovirreyna province, Huancavelica department, namely in its districts of Aurahuá (639 Quechua speakers according to the 2017 census), Arma (331 speakers), Chupamarca (231 speakers), Huamatambo (147 speakers), and Tantará (105 speakers). The census data give us a total of 1,453 Quechua speakers, which may be rounded to roughly 1,500. I am not sure if the neighboring San Juan district also belongs to the Chincha Quechua speaking area (I am inclined to think that it does not), but even if it does, it does not affect much the Speakers figure, as it only had 65 Quechua speakers according to the 2017 census, which, added to 1,453, gives us 1,518, rounded to the same 1,500. The name Chincha, however, must be pointing at Chincha Province in the north of Ica Department, and we do see there a Quechua peasant community named Chavín in Chavín District, which is not mentioned among the Yauyos Quechua one-village varieties. It is a 434-strong community, according to the 2017 census, and the same census says that Chavín District had 433 Quechua speakers in 2017. There are also two peasant communities in San Juan de Yanac District, bordering on both Chavín District and Castrovirreyna Province; both communities speak mostly Spanish but do have 108 Quechua speakers, according to the same census. We may thus safely estimate some 2,000 speakers of Chincha Quechua. On the map then, it would be appropriate to draw the Chincha Quechua area immediately to the southeast and south of Yauyos Quechua, with no other language in between the two.
We will update the L1 speaker population for Chincha Quechua [qxc] in Peru, for inclusion in the next edition of the Ethnologue.


Comments
I must add that the distinction between Yauyos Quechua and Chincha Quechua cannot possibly go along the line of one being a central Quechua variety and the other a peripheral one (what Dr. Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino in his 1987 work 'Lingüística quechua' lists under (a) Central Yúngay (QIIA) -- Laraos, Lincha, Apurí, Chocos, Madean -- and (b) QI Huáncay -- Huangáscar-Topará) as Ethnologue's Yauyos Quechua includes names from both, as it lists all of the former ones and Huangáscar from the latter one.
This comment must be looked at in conjunction with the one I have just made on the Yauyos Quechua [qux] article. As we reduced the Yauyos Quechua location to northern Yauyos Province alone, the Location given for Chincha Quechua [qxc] is perfectly correct. As a result, most of the one-village varieties currently named in Yauyos Quechua must be moved to Chincha Quechua to include all of southern Yauyos Province varieties, all of Ica department varieties, and all of northwestern Castrovirreyna Province, Huancavelica department, varieties, as shown on the 2006 map by Richard Aschmann that I mention in my comment on Yauyos Quechua. Thus, we will have roughly 1,500 speakers in Castrovirreyna, Huancavelica; roughly 1,000 speakers in Chincha Province, Ica, between San Pedro de Huacarpana, Chavín, and San Juan de Yanac; and under 500 speakers in southern Yauyos Province, Lima, between Madean (106), Viñac (278), Hongos (22), and Cacra (63), according to the 2017 census in Peru. This is a total of about 3,000 speakers of Chincha Quechua varieties.
Dear Aleksandr,
Thank you for this information and analysis of the situation of Chincha Quechua [qxc] in Peru.
Best regards,
Charles Fennig
Managing Editor, Ethnologue
Add new comment