Three axes of variability in Quechua

While Quechua is often represented as unitary, partly because of academic folklore, it is comprised of many Quechuas, differentiated in a two-millennium history, differentiated through contact with other indigenous languages, and differentiated socially. This chapter focuses on three axes of linguistic differentiation in the Quechua family: (1) the pre-Columbian differentiation of the Quechua family; (2) contact between Quechua languages and other indigenous South American languages; and (3) the emergence of elite, hispanized social registers of Quechua after the European invasion (1532), and their effect on what are, effectively, “interethnic” interactions. There are broad political, policy, and sociolinguistic issues that emerge from these considerations.