ABSTRACT
Quechua (Kechua) was the official language of the Inca (Inka) empire, which stretched from northern Ecuador to central Chile. Most of the indigenous peoples of highland Ecuador speak it, as do the peoples of most of the Peruvian sierra and highland migrants in coastal cities. Aymara, the second most prominent native Andean language, is spoken in Peru, mostly in these areas within Puno Department: Huancané Province, on the northwest side of Lake Titicaca; Chucuito Province, on the south side of Lake Titicaca; and between Huancané and Chucuito, where Quechua- and Aymara-speaking peoples live. In Bolivia, Aymara-speaking communities cluster south and east of Lake Titicaca in the province of La Paz. The Bolivian linguistic situation is complex: Quechua and Aymara are spoken in areas juxtaposed throughout its highlands. To a much lesser extent, Aymara-speaking communities occur in northern Argentina and Chile (Tarapacá Province).
