Quechuan

Quechuan refers to the language family that comprises Quechuan languages spoken in the central and southern Andes of South America. The most widely spoken member is Quechua (often called Runasimi by its speakers), which has numerous regional varieties. Collectively, Quechuan languages are spoken in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and parts of Paraguay and Brazil. While some varieties are mutually intelligible, others are distinct enough to be treated as separate languages by linguists.

Classification and varieties commonly place Quechuan into two main branches: Northern Quechuan and Southern Quechuan, with multiple languages and dialects within each branch. The family exhibits substantial regional diversity in phonology, vocabulary, and grammar, reflecting long periods of geographic and social separation among speaker communities.

Linguistic features are characterized by heavy affixation and suffixing morphology. Quechuan languages are largely agglutinative, with verb forms encoding persons, numbers, tenses, aspects, mood, and evidentiality. They typically follow a subject–object–verb order and have systems of grammatical alignment that can be described as ergative in some forms and tensed structures.

Writing systems use the Latin alphabet, with various orthographic conventions and standardized forms in country-level education programs. Quechuan languages have a long tradition of oral literature and continue to be used in education, media, and daily communication, especially in rural Andean communities.

Status and preservation efforts vary by country and region. Quechuan languages enjoy official recognition and bilingual education programs in some areas, and these languages remain central to Andean cultural identity. Ongoing revitalization efforts include publishing, language documentation, and media in Quechuan varieties.