Foreign Languages - University of Kansas

DICTIONARY INTRODUCTION
Dictionary Introduction
In a cramped Quito apartment in the late 1990s, the first draft of this
dictionary, in Kechwa and Spanish, was written by my brother, Nematni
Baltazar Masaquiza Ch. In the fall of 2004, with my beginning Kechwa
students at Kansas University, and then with my Kechwa II students in the
spring of 2005, we added many words and the English meanings to make it a
tri-lingual Kechwa-Spanish-English dictionary.
Kechwa is the most widely spoken indigenous language of the Americas. It
is spoken today in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. There are dialectical
differences between regions. Within Ecuador, where I grew up, one finds
minor letter changes between regions. In one dialect people might say
kanda instead of kanta; ufiana instead of uvyana; caca instead of q’aqa;
maskana, instead of maxkana.
Kechwa speakers and students will notice that I have not strictly followed
the pronunciation and spelling conventions of Ecuadorian Unified Kechwa,
but rather have applied vocabulary and conventions from Ecuador, Peru, and
Bolivia. Why did I do this?
In part, I have taken advantage of a language that is not yet standardized—
Ecuadorian Kechwa isn’t—to experiment in using other indigenous’
peoples’ letters. For example, Mayans and Aztec intellectuals have been
reclaiming their own languages and using their original codices as guides.
Borrowing words and letters from other language is happening all the time,
but there is often a forced quality the way European languages and letters
have come into indigenous languages. Why can’t Kechwa borrow letters
from other indigenous cultures? Or words from cousin languages like
Aymara? To reclaim ownership of our language, we need to re-assume
authority over it.
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