NIU graduate student Linda Schumacher has discovered fascinating peculiarities in the Spanish language spoken in the capital city of Quito, Ecuador.
The Spanish vocabulary there has clearly been influenced by the indigenous Quichua language, Schumacher says. The roots of the Quichua language pre-date the Incas, who adopted it as their official language. The Spanish then colonized Ecuador in the first half of the16th century.
Working on her master’s degree in Spanish at NIU, Schumacher received a grant from the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies that enabled her to spend six months of 2007 conducting research in Quito. She interviewed more than 500 people and spent time living with Quichua families.
“South Americans are very friendly,” says Schumacher, who also teaches Spanish at NIU, speaks fluent French and is studying Italian. “It’s through all the friendships and my outgoing personality that I was able to interview so many subjects. After you get to know people, they’re more than happy to help you.”
It’s unusual, she adds, that a secondary language (Quichua) would have such influence on a region’s primary language (Spanish).
“The Spanish spoken in Quito has been enriched with dozens and dozens of Quichua words. It’s definitely different from the Spanish spoken in other areas of Ecuador,” Schumacher says. “Words and expressions are integrated to the point that people don’t even realize they’re using indigenous Quichua words.”
The research will form the basis of Schumacher’s master’s thesis.
-- by Tom Parisi, NIU Public Affairs