ENTRODUCTION: THE AMAZONIAN KICHWA PEOPLES - WHO THEY ARE

丁he Sacha Runa, also known as Amazonian Kichwa, Kichwa del Oriente

or lowland Kichwa, are Original peoples ofthc Amazonian rainforest

of Ecuador and northeastem Peru.

一一Sacha Runa’一means ’’people ofthe forest.’一Collectively, the

Kichwa-SPecking people of the Amazon fom the largest Amazon an group,

but, like the Kichwas ofthe Andean highlands’the Amazonian Kichwa

are not a single e血nic group. There are various group§ OfSacha Runa

in Ecuador, eaCh with a distinct culture: the Napo Runa, also known as

Qu恥s or Yumbos, Ofthe upper Napo River region in N犠ro ProVince; the

Pastaza Runa, also knoⅥ皿aS Cancto§ Kichwa and as Alamas, in Pastaza

province from Puyo east to the Peruvian border; the Prellana R皿a,

along the lower Napo RIver in Orellana province; ’and the Sucunbios

R皿a, in the area of the Aguarico River near血e CoIombian border.

Each group in tum has various s血groups wi血their own cultures.

There are also groups ofSacha Runa in Peru, and even some groups ln

Brazil.

Since the Sacha Runa speak the same language as the Indians ofthe

Ecuadorean high ands; many people dssume that they must be migrants

from the high!ands. But the Sacha Runa are original and authentic

peoples of血e Amazonian rainforest’and have always been Amazonian

peoples’although their ancestors’like those of the highland peoples’

SPOke other languagcs many centuries ago・

Kichwa, also called Quechua or Ingi巾, and al§o sP劃ed Quichua in‾‾ ‾

Ecuador, is most famous as the ’“language ofthe Incas●一because it was ’

the o鯖cial language of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. It served as

the shared second language of communication among many di熊邪nt

peoples who spoke many d砥汀ent native l狐guageS.　　　　　　,

However, despite the fact that the Incas spread the use of Kichwa

throughout the Andes, there is strong linguistic evidence that Kichwa

was not FIRST introduced to Ec脚dor by the Incas, but that it巾as

already being used in Ecuador and in various parts ofPeru as alrade

language long before the Inca Empire arose.

Furthemore, despite the fact that Kichwa is today identified with

the Andean highlands, eVidence is strong that in pre-Inca time§, in

Ecuador, Kichwa was used as a trade langunge among AMAZONRAN peoples

Iong before it came into wide use among Ande狐PeOPles. In other

words, in Ec胎dor, the usc ofKichwa may be more ancient in the

Amazon than it is in the Andean highlands, and, in fact, that it may

have first introduced to the highlands from the Amazon. Some 1inguists

es‡imate that Kichwa wa§ firsしused in the Amazon regionDfEcuador

-aS Iong as six to eight centurie§ before the arrival ofthe Incas in

鞄ouador -- that is to say, Kichwa may have been spoken in the Amazon

鼠S tong aS tWelve to fourteen hundred years ago.

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The consensus among most Quechuanists is that the origins of.Quechua or Kichwa can be traced to the valleys southwest of Cuzco・ The

Incas themselves (that is, the nlling class of丁awantinsuyu) spoke

their own language, PrObably related to Aymara, reflecting their

legendary origins in Lalke Titicaca; SOme PeOPle believe that that

血eir language was Pukina, a langunge which still survives in Bolivia,

while others believe that their language has been lost. But for血e

common people, the Incas took advantage of the lingua franca that was

already widely used in many areas, and made it the o綿cial common

language of Tawantinsu)u.

By the time the Incas anived in Ecundor, Ecuador had had many

centuries to develop many local dialects of Kichwa. These dialects

di能汀ed significantly from one another, but they di餓汀ed even more

from the ’’o鮒cial” dialect ofQuechua, the Cuzco dialect, that was

brought by the Incas. The influence of Cuzco dialect on the existing

Kichwa dialects of Ecuador varied greatly from one region to another.

(mいch as Spanish influence does today). Thus, tOday there is far more

variation among the various Kichwa dialects of Ecuador than there is

between Cuzco Quechua and the dialects spcken in Bolivia, a far larger

la噂uage area. This is because Quechua arrived in Bolivia much more

recent]y, Only with the hcas, and so in that region it has had fewer

centuries to develop regional variations.

Perhaps not su「prisingly, the Kichwa dialects of the Ecuadorean

Amazon region di鯖er most from Cuzco Quechua, both because they seem

to be the oldest dialects in Ecuador(SeParated the longest from書he　-　一一-・一’:area oforigin, thus w皿the longes=ime to develop di鯖erence$ and　:

because the Incas never conquered the Amazon region, and thus never

imposed the Cuzco dialect瓜ere. But the Inca conquest ofthe nearby

hjgh]ands undoubtedIy increased the use of Kichwa in the Ecuadore狐

IAmazon, eSPeCially the uppe「 Napo River region. This is because the

PeOPle ofthe upper Napo -- then as now the most accessible area ofthe Amazon from the Andes -- historicaIly acted as go-betweens between

the highIand Andean peop!es and the Amazonian peop】es further east and

SOuth, and the universal use of Kichwa in the high】ands following the

Inca conquest wou!d surely have made knowledge of Kichwa even more

useful to them in this role.

一‘ However, It高as not the Incas but the Spanish missionaries who

extinguished the local native languages ofthe Andes. The Spanish

missionaries took advantage ofthe fact that a very leamable lingun

franca was shared by the peoples ofthe Andes, and they leamed it

themselves to use as an instrument of evangelization and domination,

forcib]y suppressing the loca=anguages. They renamed the langunge

(Which had been known as ”Runa Simi/Shimi,Y ”Inga Shimi,” ’一Tukny　.

Shimi;一and by other names)一’Quechua," hispanicized from the word

"qheshwa,●一an Inca tem for zones ofmedium altitude and temperate

climate. Because ofthe phonetic simplification in areas such as

干旬へ・ 3　　　　　　　　言

PreSenトday Ecuador and Angentina, in those places the word became’’Kichwa’一(SPeIIed ’’Quichua’’in Spanish o叫ography).

In the late 1 8th century, f班twing mqjor Indian reb拙。nS in P。ru

and Bolivia, the Spani§h Croun reversed its tolerance ofQuechua and

adopted an anti-Quech唆poIicy, but by血a=ime it w。S t。。 Iate. Th。

fomer speakers of Andean languages §uCh as Quitu, Canari,

Hunncave】ica, Puruha’Chachapoya’Cedanarca, Lampa声nd dozens of

Others’which today survive only in pface names and sunanes, nOW

SPOke Quechun as their first量angunge, and the langunge had become far

too deeply rooted to exteminate. Kiehwa or Quechua i§ tOday spoken

by between six and fourteen m踊on people in westem south America,

from southem CoIombia to northem Argentina. The estimate of the

number of speckers varies due to血e fact血at censuses often reeord

bilingual speckers of an Indian langunge and Spanish as

Spanish-SPeakers; but there is no question that Quechun or Kichwa is

today the third leading language of "Latin" America, after Spanish and

P〇五uguese.

In the upper Amazon, Starting w軸the arrival ofthe Spaniards, , -

Virtual ens】avement on encomiendas or land gr紬ts, and, in more

recent decade§, COIonization and deforestation and invasions by

PetrOleum companies, Shattered many tribes and communities. The

Various dcstructive forces’from epidemics to missionary disruption●　　　　　　○　　　　　　○

expIoitation of Indian peoples during the Rubber Boom of血e early

twentieth centu重γ devastated once powerful and numerous tribes like

the Zaparas of eastem pastaza. survivors of decimated groups married-- eaCh other and regrouped into誓w families-and v潤ge§・珊ey-spoke-- -

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With each othe誼e language th諒hey had in common, Kichwa, 。nd

thei「 children・ in tum’greW uP SPeakjng Kichwa as their first

language. There is also evidence言ncluding o「aI history, that Indians

from the highlands (or from the region whe「e the highIand§ meet the

jungle) fled eastward throngh the Baez描)apallacta pass into the upper

Napo in order to escape spanish opp「ession, and intemarried w皿the

Indians ofthe upper Napo; they brough高th them to Napo some of

their oun cult町a] influences, SuCh as musical styles. Through the

generations, Kichwa’OnCe the lingua franca of trade and

CCmmunication’became the first language of inc「easing nunbers of.

uPPer Amazonian people. The traditions of the d髄rent original

CuItures fused into dynanic new foms as myths, t「adjtions and

knowledges were retold in Kjchwa and were given new life and meanlng

through the visions ofthe shamans. Gradually亘ch and vital new

C血res and new ethnic ident王ties were bom in the upper Amazon:

those of the Ama乙onian Kichwa peoples.

Since they have their roots in d胆erent origina] peoples (SOme Of

whom s刷survive and some ofwhom are have been completely into

Kichve cultures) the various Amazonian Kichwa peoples, like the

Various hjgh】and Kichwa peop‘es’are dis血ct ethnic groups with

distinct c両ures. However’Cenutes of intemarriage and contact

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have blurred the cu血ral bound種ries among the Amazon an・ Kichwa

PeOPles and ha‘-e Created many shared traditions among them.

THE DIALECT OF TH]S BOOK

This book is based on the Archidona subdialect ofthe Napo dialect.

The upper Napo River reglOn, Where the Napo dialect is spoken, is ‡he

most accessible area ofthe Amazon Basin; Tena, Misahunl]i, and Coca

are the most popular junping-Off places for visitors to the Ec腿dorean

Amazon. But the Amazonian dialects ofKichwa are relatively similar

to each other, SO this book can also serve for communicating wi血

Kichwa speckers ofother areas of the Oriente.

Ecundorean dialects of Kichwa are far easier for English or Spanish

SPeaker to pronouncc than the Quechua dialects of southem Peru and

Bolivia. The Pc「uvian and Bolivian dialects contain consonant sounds

that do not exist in any European language, but these sounds have been

lost in Ecuador (and as a result, many WOrds that are d砥鵬nt in

Peru and Bolivia have become homonyms in Ecuador). Because ofits

easy pronunciation, Ecuado「ean Kichwa is a good entrancc to the

language for the foreigner, and the Amazonian dialect§ may be the

easiest ofall because oftheir compa「atively flexib]e word order and

the fac=hat many gr弧matical elements which are mandatory in the

highland dialects a∫e merely opliona=n the Amaronian dia】ects. The

di臓「enees amo紐g弛e di種lects li雀in pron咽読めn, l鎖ic○n,狐d some

SPeCific su鍾xes, but all Quechua d王al℃CtS Share a common

agglutinative granmatical structure, aS Well as a common core

VOCabulary’SO leaming one早ect is a good foundation for‾leaning ‾

others.

PRONUNCIA丁ION

Pronunciation of Ec胎dorean Kichwa is easy, and pron山ciation of

the Napo dialect ((he dialect ofthis book) is eas王er yet. The

SPe=ing u§ed in this book is based on the orthography ofUnified

Kichwa (Kichwa Shukllachishka) with the exception that lj当s used

ins(ead of -1h.-●

VoweIs are as in Spanish (’一a’一as in father, ”i’一as in一’king;’

’甲as in宜uth.” Kichwa has just three YOWel phonemes") Reminder:

this means tha口中is pronounced as当gh’一and一●aw当s pronounced as

’’ow-I in cow (Spanish ’’au’’), SO the word ’’kawsay;一for example, is

P「OnOunCed COW-Sigh.

Consonants are as in English, With the following exceptions:朝一’

represents the ’一Ili一’(ly一) sound in ’’million; fi (as in Spanish)

represents the “nyr sound in ”canyon’’;一’gui’一has a hard g and silent u

as in ’●guide’’and ”guess’一(it sounds like the “gee’’of ”geek”); ”r当s

PrOnOunCed with a tongue flap, aS in S亡a.nish; and ’j’’represents the

Erlglish “h’一sound (SOfter than Spanish ’j” somd). Note that other

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COnSOnantS SuCh as一一b一章紬d一一d一● aJe pronounced as in Eng~ish and not as

in Sp紬ish.

All words are accented on the SECOND TO LAST syllable, SO the stress

Can Shift as su楕xes are added or changed: RAru’kaRUman, karuMANda,

e(C.

GRAMMAR AND WORD ORDER

While word order in highland Ecuadorean dialects is rather rigid, it

is freer in the Amazonian dialects (as it is also in Peruvian and

Bolivian dialects). The preferred word order in Kichwa is

SubecトOqjecトVerb (SOV), but in the Amazon SVO is acceptable. Direet

哩肩s signalle諜三豊認諾嵩亀嵩霊芝き予か)from context. Ac匝ctives precede nouns, aS in English (ifthe

a匂ective follows the noun, it creates a statemen主- eg, '一dog big'一

means ’一the dog is big”) and adverbs nomally precede verbs (but in the

Amazonian dialects adverbs can also fol]ow ve血s)∴‘Prepositions" are

Su飾xed to their obiect nouns: eg, ,一from Ecuador一一is一一Ecuadomanda:・

Nouns are pluralized by adding the su餓x '一-guna" (Or '一-kuna一一or

’’-una,” depending on the preceding sound) but this may be omitted when

Plurality is clear from context. Kichwa does not require subiect/verbagreement in nunber; a SentenCe Can be pluralized by pluralizing

EI丁HER the s噂ect OR the verb, O「 eVen neither one ifpl町al is clear三　- - -雷omcontexし

Verbs in Kichwa are completely regular’eXCePt for a some

COntraCtions in the Amazonian dialects. As in §panish, Subject

PrOnOunS Can be omitted. Co可ugation in Napo dialect is as fかlows:

(infin王tive) asi・na = tO laugh

(nuka)　asi-ni==augh

(kan)　asi-ngui =yOu (Singular) laugh

(Pay)　asi-n = he/she/it laughs

(nukanchi) asi-nChi = We laugh

(kanguna) asi-nguichi = yOuのlural) laugh

(payguna) asinun = they laugh

Various su妬xes can be placed between the verb root and the person

ending to indicate differences in tense, mOOd and aspect, anOng Other

things. For example’the past tense sufnx '一-ga-・・ p】aced between the

Verb root‘"asi-●一and the person ending '一-ni・崎ms ・・asigani,…I

laughed.一’The progressive su鯖x ’一〇u一一一placed between '一asi-・一and '・-ni"

forms "asiuni・…I am laughing." The two combined fom "asigauni,…I

WaS laughing." The causative "一Chi一一一placed betw,een ・癌i一・' and ・・一njI'

foms ”asichini,…重cause (SOmeOne else) to laugh,'1 and '一asichigauni・'

高時〔