Developing a Textbook for an Indigenous Language

Alana DeLoge

What do the words “llama” and “jerky” have in common? These words come from Quechua, a family of languages originating in the Andes region of South America, says Alana DeLoge, an instructor in the Department of Linguistics in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and the Quechua program coordinator in the Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center. DeLoge investigates the linguistic vitality of Quechua while engaging in practices of language revitalization through an overlap of research and teaching.

Spanning time zones and international borders, the Quechua Innovation and Teaching Initiative (QINTI) project team is developing an open-source textbook on Quechua to support the global community of approximately 8 million Quechua speakers. “Ayni,” or reciprocity, is the title of the textbook because it is a guiding principle of Andean life and astutely acknowledges that communication requires a balance of give and take. 

The textbook will cover three varieties of the language in narrative format with characters that speak in each language while still understanding the other. DeLoge, who has done research for nearly 20 years in Bolivia, collaborates on the QINTI project through funding from Pitt’s Center for Latin American Studies and other institutions with colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Rowan University, as well as community members across the Americas in hosting events to engage and connect Quechua speakers in meaningful ways.