IYARINA
Napo-Pastaza, Ecuador
CENTER FOR LEARNING ALLIANCE: Fundación Cotococha | Andes and Amazon Field School | Shayarina Amazonian Resilience
Amazonian Kichwa Language and Culture
140 contact hours
Dates: June 9-July 17, 2025 (6 weeks)
Instructors:
Dr. Tod D Swanson, Arizona State University
About the Course
This course introduces graduate students to the Kichwa language and moves them toward fluency as quickly as possible. Exercises are geared to teach the performative language skills needed to carry out research or other kinds of work with Kichwa communities. Throughout the course, Kichwa language is used as a window into Kichwa culture and worldview. Because the graduate students taking the course tend to be highly motivated but at varying levels of competence an effort is made to individualize instruction often tailoring language instruction to the research topic or needs of the student. The study of Kichwa songs and videotaped oral literature will help to keep things lively.
In compliance with FLAS eligible Kichwa requirements this course offers
•140 hours of in-class instruction over a period of 6 weeks
•Pre and post-course testing assess progress toward the performance goals set forth in USDE IRIS testing instruments.
Goals:
Become competent in Runa social, aesthetic and emotional interaction.
Become competent in Runa language for engaging the natural world.
Become competent in language for Runa philosophy of the human body, health and illness.
Become competent at asking questions, interviewing, and keeping a conversation going.
Become competent at translating Runa testimonies and oral history.
Required Text
Amazonian Kichwa Songs (with learning aids for study and memorization)
Grading Policy
Students are given a letter grade
Attendance and participation 40%
6 weekly tests: 10% each= 60%
Carry out, transcribe, and translate an interview in Kichwa.
Translate a short Kichwa text.
Be able to tell a joke in Kichwa that gets people to laugh.
Goals:
Objectives: On completing this class the student should be able to
1. Make social introductions, use greeting and leave-taking expressions.
2. Talk about spatial movement so as to be able to ask or give directions on how to get from one place to another.
3. Ask and answer simple questions about date and place of birth, nationality, marital status, occupation,
4. Make basic living arrangements such as renting a room or calling a taxi.
5. Be able to make social introductions and use greeting and leave-taking expressions.
6. Buy needed items in a store.
7. Be able to understand simple sentences on these topics performed at normal speed by native speakers.
8. Be able to construct basic sentences in the present and past tenses with the correct use of the direct object marker and word order.
9. Be able to ask and answer questions of how something is done
10. Be able to ask and answer questions of why something occurs.
11. Be able to carry out a simple interview on the demographics of a community
Course Schedule Monday- Thursday (No class on Fridays)
Morning:
9:00-9:45 Beginning Kichwa Grammar. Swanson
10:00-11:45. Advanced Kichwa reading and analysis of Kichwa texts and oral literature 1. Swanson
Private review and study time
12:00-1:00 Beginning Kichwa Reading and analysis of Kichwa texts and oral literature. Swanson
Private review and study time
1:00-2:00 Lunch
Afternoon
2:00-2:45 Conversational Kichwa- Nelly Shiguango, Norma Ruiz
3:00-3:45 Kichwa lyrics and music
4:00-5:00. Conversational Kichwa
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Overview: In this unit you will learn to use basic greetings; to construct sentences in the present tense using pronouns and the accusative marker -ta. You will also learn to ask basic questions using who? (pita) and What? (ima) and appropriate question markers -ta/ra and -chu,
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Learning Materials:
Nuckolls and Swanson, Introduction and Chapters 1-4.
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Use of the Present Tense with Object Markers (PowerPoint)
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Pita ñambira riksin. Dialogue with direct object.
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Simple information questions with -ta/-ra and answers (Quizlet)
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Questions and answers in third person singular (present or present perfect).
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Questions in 2nd person plural with answers in 1st person plural (present or present perfect).
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Performative skill for IRIS testing: Ordering a meal in Kichwa
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Talking about family Direct object marker -ta; -yuk, charina, consanguineal kinship terms
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Family and kinship terms for consanguineal (blood) relations.
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Asking questions about family. Telling about one’s family with charina ‘to have’ and direct object marker –ta, and possessive marker -yuk
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Advanced
Simple information questions with -ta/-ra and answers (Quizlet)
Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Kichwa Literature & Anthropological Linguistics
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On the far west of the continent, just east of the mountains
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Keith Basso
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Possessives
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Module 1: Test
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Overview. In this unit you will learn to use the past tense, to locate events in time and time and temporal movement,how to use the language of place and directionality (mai-, -ma, -manda, game), the direct imperative, -was (also, too), and -wa/n (with). You will also learn how to ask “Why?” ; and to construct answers that express purpose.
Grammar and Vocabulary Learning Materials
Language of Place
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-ma and -manda with personal pronouns and names (example "Juanbakma")
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Compound verbs with shayana, tiyarina, llutarina, sirina etc.
Time, Seasonal Movement and Weather
Kichwa Literature & Anthropological Linguistics
Clara Santi, Waranga Sisa Warmi
Vocabulary for Clara Santi, Waranga Sisa Warmi
Feeling the solitude of the Kukuli bird
Vocabulary for Elodia Dagua, Kukuli
Peter Gow, "Helpless - the affective preconditions of Piro social life."
Swanson and Reddekopp
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Test
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Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Overview. In this unit you will learn to recognize grammatical forms that are key to understanding oral literature including same subject marker -sha and switch reference -kpi, attributive suffix -k as well as the and distant past tense marker -shka .
Learning Materials
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Attributive -k
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Use one attributive and one immediate singular imperative . Add direct object markers as necessary.
Co and switch reference suffixes -sha/kpi (Quizlet)
Literature and Linguistic Anthropology
Week 4 Field trip to the Río Curaray Monday-Thursday
In this unit you will learn to use language to talk about the forest and its species, the weather, the flow and rising of rivers, as well as the language of humor.
Looking Like the Land
Ceramic Art and Beauty
Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Week 5 Nuckolls and Swanson, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 10
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Module 5: Overview In this unit you will learn language for interviewing and working collaboratively with Kichwa colleagues. You will also learn how to ask “Why?” to ask about goals and to construct answers that express purpose, and to use the future tense.
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11 Practice 1. Imamandata aswangi? Answer questions with purposive -ngaw forms.
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11 Practice 3. Asking "why" questions with ima raygura and answering purposive -ngak. The durative suffix –u
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Purposive suffix -ngak (Quizlet)
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-ngak PowerPoint exercise with pictures
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11.3 Questions with "Ima raygura llaktama ringichi? Answers with gak
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11.7 Questions with ima raygura yurara kuchunawn? Answers with purposive -gak
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Diplomatic language for arguing or negociating in public meetings
Wednesday
Arranging the length of a stay
Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Weather and the Human Emotions of Love and Sadness
Role play - Kichwa Townhall. Debate with -kpi -sha
Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
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Module 5: Learning Materials
Ceramic Art and Beauty
The economic logic of envy and shamanic harm
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Module 5: Test
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Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Week 6 Nuckols and Swanson, Introduction and Chapters 17-20
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Module 6: Overview
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Module 6: Learning Materials
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Module 6: Test
Advanced
Conditional past with-sha -akpi
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Lack of abstraction in indigenous languages
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Shared Body: The Amazonian Kichwa Relational Self and its Implications for Language.
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In class practice active listening to Kichwa with short videos related to shared body: Eulodia Dagua, "Our Babies Cry Like the Animals We Eat," "Newborn Child Dies Like the Snake His Father Killed.”
Thursday Afternoon: Round table discussion of the week's progress and planning on how to acheive the next week's goals.
Materials for Beginning Kichwa Grammar
Chapter 2: The present tense. The verb ana “to be”. Personal pronouns.
Exercises:
Pronouns (Quizlet)
Present tense (Quizlet)
Chapter 2. Practice 2. Questions and answers in third person singular (present or present perfect).
Chapter 2. Practice 3. Questions in third person plural.
Lack of abstraction in indigenous languages
Shared Body: The Amazonian Kichwa Relational Self and its Implications for Language.
In class practice active listening to Kichwa with short videos related to shared body: Eulodia Dagua, "Our Babies Cry Like the Animals We Eat," "Newborn Child Dies Like the Snake His Father Killed.”
Chapter 3: Talking about family Direct object marker -ta; -yuk, charina, consanguineal kinship terms
Kinship terms (Quizlet exercise)
Family and kinship terms for consanguineal (blood) relations.
Asking questions about family. Telling about one’s family with charina ‘to have’ and direct object marker –ta, and possessive marker -yuk
Use of the Present Tense with Object Markers (PowerPoint)
Chapter 3, Practice 1 (Pastaza dialect): Questions about relatives using -yuk, -cha, ana+2nd pers; Answers with mana+ pers.
4:00-5:00 Kichwa Lyrics and Music- Nazario Alvarado
Lesson 4: Types of questions: Ima, pi, Information questions with question marker -ta/-ra; Open-ended questions with -ga, The causative suffix –chi; polite/non-immediate imperative.
Powerpoint: Machakuy sapura mikun: practice with "pi", present tense, and the direct object
PowerPoint: The Imperative
4.1 Practice information questions with "ima" + question marker -ta;
4.2 Practice answering the following information questions which ask pi ‘who?’
4.3 Practice asking and answering the following information questions for third person plural subjects, which you will insert in your answers.
4.4 Practice turning the following commands into polite, non-immediate imperatives.
4.5 Practice the open-ended question by having someone read each of the following statements and then ask you about what you are doing.
4 Exercise 1 with -chi. Translate or match the following sentences.
Lesson 5: Affirming, negating and evading More on yes/no questions. Replying to a yes/no question with a negative statement; Evasion and echo questions. Plural suffixes
Exercises on questions with -chu and -ra
Sharing Food in Kichwa Language and Culture
Performative skill for IRIS testing: Ordering a meal in Kichwa
Work on verbs: munana, gustana, ministina, charina, ushana, mikuna and upina.
Lesson 6: Articulating the perspectives of self and other, Articulating the perspectives of self and other
The speaking self –mi; -mi + ana = mana; the voice of the ‘other’ –shi; affinal kinship terms.
Perspectival Speech and the Kichwa Perception of Honesty or "Why Anthropologists are Liars.”
Reading: Janis B. Nuckolls and Swanson, Tod D. (2014). "Earthy Concreteness and Anti- Hypotheticalism in Amazonian Quichua Discourse. Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 4, 48-60.
Lesson 7: Human and nonhuman bodies
Overlap of human, plant and animal body parts
Impersonal verbs
First person object suffix -wa
Possessive markers
Possessives (Quizlet)
Possessives with nouns (Quizlet)
Possessives with nouns (Quizlet)
Possessive + object marker in the sense of "for x."
Ideophones for bodily movements and configurations
Lesson 8: Expressing thoughts, feelings, processes, and enumeration
Reflexive suffix –ri
The cognitive suffix –ri
The bodily configurational suffix –ri
The low animacy suffix –ri
8. 1 -chi and reflexive -ri. Translate or match using one of the verbs in parenthesis.
8. Exercise 2 with -chi, -ri. Choose the best verb with or without -ri or -chi to complete each sentence, and add the correct ending for the present tense.
Exercises with numbers:
8. 4 Answer the following questions using Kichwa numbers.
8 exercise 5. Translate the following numbers into Kichwa
Materials for Beginning Kichwa Grammar. Direct Imperative, -was (also, too, and), -wa/n (with)
Lesson 9: Suffixes of instrumentality, accompaniment and the imperatives directness
The instrumental and comitative –wan (PP)
The despitative –was
The immediate imperative forms
PowerPoint: The Imperative
Negating the immediate imperative forms
The first person plural imperative –shun
9 exercise 1. Inclusive/despitative -was Fill in the blanks below by suffixing the word indicated with the most appropriate suffix, using either -wan or was.
9. 1 Practice making sentences with the instrumental -wa by suffixing it to the appropriate noun in each of the following sets of words. Vary your person/number usage and be sure to add the direct object marker -ta wherever necessary.
Exercise with negative imperative in 2nd person singular
Create a power point in Kichwa describing your childhood. Describe the places using the participle + locative construction. Present your power points.
Work with translation of Kichwa poem, "Only and Owl Will Call.”
Lesson 10: Suffixes of Togetherness, Separateness, and Exclusivity
Nuckolls and Swanson, Chapter 10 Suffixes of togetherness and separateness.
10 Practice 1 Make simple sentences with each of the following -naku verbs, using the given pronoun.
10 Writing Exercise 1 Choose the best suffix, -ndi or -pura foreach of the following sentences
10 . Practice 2 Add suffix -lla to change the meaning to 'just', 'only', or 'very'.
Kichwa language for talking about the weather. Performance goal: Be able to make small talk about the weather.
Vocabulary for Only and Owl will Call
Only an Owl Will Call
3:00-4:00 Kichwa Songs and Music. Nazario Alvarado
Part 2: Space and Time
Lesson 11: Purpose, directionality, duration, color durative -u
11 Practice 1. Imamandata aswangi? Answer questions with purposive -ngaw forms.
11 Practice 3. Asking "why" questions with ima raygura and answering purposive -ngak. The durative suffix –u
Purposive suffix -ngak (Quizlet)
-ngak PowerPoint exercise with pictures
11.3 Questions with "Ima raygura llaktama ringichi? Answers with gak
11.7 Questions with ima raygura yurara kuchunawn? Answers with purposive -gak
Kichwa descriptions of color
Mindy Weisberger, "Why is the color blue so rare in nature? Livescience.com
Task: Write the 10 best "why" questions you can in your chosen "islands of language competence" using imamandara or imaraygura. Write the answers to these questions. Perfect the questions and answers with a native speaker. Put them into Quizlet. Memorize them then work in groups practicing the why questions of your classmates.
Place in Kichwa Language and Culture
Reading: Joseph Bastien, Mountain of the Condor
Work with Quichua oral literature text, “Santu Urku.”
Lesson 12: Attribution, location, past tense (continued).
Directional suffixes –ma and –manda
-ma and -manda with personal pronouns and names (example "Juanbakma")
Exercise: Supply the appropriate question with ima or may for answers with -ma and -manda (Quizlet)
The immediate imperative forms –i and –ichi
Reading: Swanson, “Relatives of the Living Forest.”
Further work on the language of place.
Asking and Giving Directions (PowerPoint)
Asking Directions in Kichwa
Place Vocabulary
Lesson 12: Attribution, location, past tense
12.1 Attributive constructions. Practice making attributive constructions using verb roots along with mana 'to be' (-mi + ana):
12.2 Attributive + immediate imperative (Pastaza). Practice constructions which use one attributive and one immediate singular imperative verb, using the following sets. Be sure to add any case suffixes necessary for words other than verbs.
Immediate imperative (Quizlet)
12.3 In the next exercise, use either -y/-bi, -ma, or -manda, depending on which makes best sense.
Work with Quichua oral literature text, “Trees Call Rain.”
Lesson 12: Attribution, location, past tense -pi; -ta; past tense marker -ra/-ka
Lesson 12.b PowerPoint
PowerPoint: The Truck Fell into the Canyon: Dialogue with Past Tense
Change adjectives to adverbs by adding adverbial suffix -ta (Quizlet)
Ideophonic adverbs
locative suffix -pi
12.3 Exercise: Complete the sentence using either -y/-bi, -ma, or -manda, depending on which makes best sense.
Lesson 13: Habituality, complex movement suffixes, delimitation habitual -k; -mu; -gri; -gama -kta
Habitual aspect with attributive –k
The translocative suffix –gri
Verb stem +-y + -rina; Example: apay rikani (Quizlet)
The –gama, -kta, and –ta adverbial suffixes
Exercise with past tense (Pastaza)
Past tense with -ma, -manda, -pi
More practice with past tense using questions + -chu or -ra (Quizlet)
Attributive -k (Quizlet)
Attributive -k as adjective with nouns (Quizlet)
Attributive k with m-ana (Quizlet)
Attributive -k with past tense as habitual action (Quizlet)
Attributive with n + v-durative-k-object marker (Quizlet)
Work with Kichwa oral literature text, “Trees Call Rain.”
Lesson 14: The Co-reference suffix -sha
Co-reference suffix –sha
-sha verb’s action simultaneous with or independent of main verb’s action
-sha verb facilitating action of main verb
negating a –sha verb
questioning a –sha verb
nina + -sha
Lesson 15: The Switch-Reference suffix -kpi
Switch reference suffix–kpi
If/then –kpi constructions
When/while/after x happens/y happens –kpi constructions
Sequencing of –sha and -kpi
Exercises with -sha/-kpi in if.... then constructions
-sha/-kpi as if/then
-sha/-kpi as if/then with nina (If you say/want...)
-sha/-kpi as if/then with past tense conditional (If you had I would have).
-sha/-kpi in temporally sequenced actions
-sha simultaneous actions- (adverbial)
-sha/-kpi because (when one verb is the cause of the other)
-sha/-kpi combined with future tense verbs
-sha/-kpi combined with past tense verbs
-sha in polite imperative construction (dame haciendo)
Practice using -sha/kpi to construct 2 word sentences
-sha as exaggeration -nsha (pastaza -shá)
Reading and translation of Kichwa text: Rayo amarunda apin "Thunder Catches Boas"
Lesson 16: The Present Perfect -shka
Present perfect -shka
Narrative past –shka
Grammatical characteristics of -shka
Promises, threats, and other expressions with –shka
Complex subjects with -shka
Complex predicates with -ska-ra
Translation and analysis and discussion of poem Uksha Urku
Vocabulary for lyrics to Uksha Urku
Lesson 17: Talking about the future
Practice with verbs in future tense (Quizlet)
Talking about the future
The compound future –nga + rana ‘going to do something’ construction
Questioning the compound future
Exhortative future constructions
Useful expressions for talking about temporality
Attributive future
Exercise with the future tense -nga rana
“On the future and time in Kichwa thinking and language.”
Reading and translation of Kichwa oral literature text, Luisa Cadena, "On the return of the animals and the dead."
Lesson 18: Varieties of compound verbs
Nominalizing verbs with –y suffix
Passive -y verb +tukuna for passives
Completive –y verb + pasana for perfective aspect
Inceptive –y verb + kallarina for inceptive action
General principles of sentence construction: subject deletion; subject transposition
18.1 Nominalized -y verb +tukuna for passives
Nominalized –y verb + pasana for perfective aspect
18.2 Answer the following questions by making use of the words in parentheses.
Example: Imata tukushun? (mikuna, puma) ‘What will become of us?’
Mikuy tukushun pumamanda. ‘We’ll end up being eaten by a jaguar.’
18.3 Practice expressing the completive construction by responding to direct imperatives.
Example: Mikwi! 'eat!' Ña mikwi pasanimi! 'Well I've (already) eaten!'
18.4 Nominalized –y verb + kallarina for inceptive action
18.5
18.6
Exercise with -y pasana and -y tukuna
Work with -sha; -kpi
Task: Write the 10 best "how" questions you can in your chosen "islands of language competence." Write the answers to these questions using verbs with -sha for the dependent steps toward the main goal. Use verbs with -kpi for the outside or contingent circumstances affecting how you carry out the task. Perfect the questions and answers with a native speaker. Put them into Quizlet. Memorize them then work in groups practicing the why questions of your classmates.
Kichwa Perspectivalism
Readings: Viveiros de Castro, "Amerindian Perspectivalism."
Reading and translation of Quichua oral literature text, Pedro Andi, “The Musician Wren”.
Reading: Rayo amarunda apin "Thunder Catches Boas"
Lesson 19: Conditionality, ordering and connecting ideas
The conditional mood
The relative order of meaningful elements
When order is not strictly regulated
19.1;19.2;19.3; 19.1 Translate the following conditional sentences
19.2 Form sentences using instrumental, locative, or direct object markers. Assume subjects are deleted. Inflect verb for present using 123 word order. Example: Alberto/upichina/aswa > Aswawan masha Albertota upichinma (123 present conditional)
19. Practice 3 Now construct sentences, again following the 123 or 321 order, using the following word sets, and also, including -gama or -manda suffixes wherever possible. Assume that subjects have been deleted, and use the 'going-to-do' compound future
Conditional present tense sentences
Conditional past tense sentences
Conversational practice with telling about your family in Kichwa.
Translation of Quichua story, “Baltzar Gualinga Wangana Kuraga.”
Lesson 20: Evidentiality, speech reports, Inchoative -ya, and Purposive -chun
Evidential -cha
Inchoative –ya
The subjunctive
Tools for sequencing actions
Translate the following quoted speech sentence.
20. Writing Exercise 1. Dubative questions with -chuy?
20. Writing Exercise 2. Expressing perspective with nisha nin Translating quoted speech.
20. Practice 1 Practice turning subjunctive clauses into negated subjunctive clauses.
20. Practice 2 with the subjunctive -chun
Further practice on the subjunctive.
Review and practice for IRIS assessment.
Conversational practice with interviewing in Kichwa about family
Translation of Kichwa story, “Ishki Kandu Rumimanda”
More work on the subjunctive.
Practice simple reporting about a news event in Kichwa.
Further practice on the subjunctive.
Review and practice for IRIS assessment.
Practice telling about your life and job in Kichwa
Translation of Kichwa story, “Balatzar Gualingaina Wangana Kuraga.”
Resources
Present Tense
Direct object marker -ta/ra
Use of the Present Tense with Object Markers (PowerPoint)
Infinitive + object marker with munana
Machakuy sapura mikun: practice with the direct object
Pita ñambira riksin. Dialogue with direct object.
Simple information questions with -ta/-ra and answers (Quizlet)
Past Tense
Exercise with past tense (Pastaza)
More practice with past tense using questions + -chu or -ra (Quizlet)
PowerPoint: The Truck Fell into the Canyon: Dialogue with Past Tense
Future Tense
Exercise with the future tense -nga rauna
Attributive -k
Attributive with object marker -kta
Attributive -k with past tense (habitual action "used to" ___)
Co and switch reference suffixes -sha/kpi (Quizlet)
-sha/-kpi as if/then with nina (If you say/want...)
-sha/-kpi as if/then with past tense conditional (If you had I would have).
-sha/-kpi in temporally sequenced actions
-sha simultaneous actions- (adverbial)
-sha/-kpi because (when one verb is the cause of the other)
-sha/-kpi combined with future tense verbs
-sha/-kpi combined with past tense verbs
-sha in polite imperative construction (dame haciendo)
-sha as exaggeration -nsha (pastaza -shá)
Weather phrases with -sha and pagarina
Conjunctions
More on although, but, change of intention
Conditional
Conditional present tense sentences
Conditional past tense sentences
Complex predicates with -ska-ra
Imperatives
Achuar Immediate imperative (plural)
Polite imperative with -sha kuway
Exercise with negative imperative in 2nd person singular
Nominalized -y verb + pasana for perfective aspect
nominalized verb -y + tukuna for passive
nominalized verb -y + apina and kachan
-naypi if/the with imperative
Place
Exercise: Supply the appropriate question with ima or may for answers with -ma and -manda (Quizlet)
Possessives
Possessives with nouns (Quizlet)
Possessive + object marker in the sense of for_______
Purposive -ngak/ngawa
Purposive suffix -ngak (Quizlet)
-ngak PowerPoint exercize with pictures
Questions
Beginning information questions
Supply appropriate question ima/may for answers with -ma/ -manda (Quizlet)
Wondering or rhetorical questions with -y and -cha
-s even hough/ no matter how much
Time and Temporal Movement
Vocabulary of time and temporal movement
Arranging the length of a stay/ practice for talking about duration
Vobabulary and Semantics
Quichua plant names matched to scientific names
Age sets
Overlapping vocabulary for human, plant, and animal body parts
Humor (Swanson, Asichina, the Language of Kichwa Humor)
Ayllumanda Rimana: Speaking of Relatives
Phrases for recording and interviewing
Compound verbs with shayana, sirina, llutarina, etc.
Comparison
Janis B. Nuckolls and Swanson, Tod D. (2014). "Earthy Concreteness and Anti- Hypotheticalism in Amazonian Quichua Discourse," Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 4, 48-60