Root/affix asymmetries in contact and transfer: case studies from the Andes

Abstract

This article aims to explore the psycholinguistic processing issues, in terms of the type of transfer that they exemplify, needed to account for in the emergence of two mixed languages and a mixed register with a Quechua structure: Media Lengua (Ecuador) and Kallawaya (Bolivia), both relexified varieties within the Quechua language family, and bilingual mixed songs in Peru, waynos. The two issues that require most attention are (1) the mental status of roots vs affixes in the transfer process; (2) the possibility of manipulating lexical access in transfer. The languages and the register share a number of structural features, but are sociolinguistically totally different. In Media Lengua the lexicon comes from a ‘new’ language (Spanish), and in Kallawaya from an ‘old’ language (Puquina). Media Lengua is an informal community language, while Kallawaya is a ritual healing language only used by male adults. Waynos are a very popular musical genre in large parts of the southern Andes in Peru. The root/suffix asymmetries in the mixed languages are confronted with the mirror phenomenon of Spanish suffixes that occur in Quechua, to help us further understand the processing issues involved.