draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
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the missionary or on the use <strong>of</strong> resources that allowed missionaries to carry out work in lenguas<br />
particulares without having developed significant competence in the languages in question. These<br />
strategies included practical language learning, the preparation <strong>of</strong> descriptive linguistic materials,<br />
including grammars and dictionaries, the use <strong>of</strong> multilingual members <strong>of</strong> indigenous communities<br />
as translators, and the preparation <strong>of</strong> ecclesiastical texts in indigenous languages.<br />
The development <strong>of</strong> relative fluency in local languages was an ideal, and there are numerous<br />
mentions in the Jesuit chronicles <strong>of</strong> missionaries known for their mastery <strong>of</strong> lenguas particulares. In<br />
the first phases <strong>of</strong> Jesuit involvement with a given ethnolinguistic group, such learning relied either<br />
on monolingual language learning (as was probably the case with Fritz when he first arrived in the<br />
Omagua communities) or on learning from individuals bilingual in the lengua general Quechua and<br />
the lengua particular <strong>of</strong> the community. This first wave <strong>of</strong> missionaries, however, put considerable<br />
effort into the development <strong>of</strong> descriptive resources concerning the languages with which they were<br />
becoming familiar, which were then employed by subsequent missionaries to speed their own learning<br />
<strong>of</strong> the relevant lenguas particulares. It is likely that most Jesuits made some use <strong>of</strong> translators,<br />
however, since even the most skilled language learner would have required time to develop fluency,<br />
and in many cases, the duration <strong>of</strong> assignments at particular mission sites was sufficiently brief<br />
that fluency was not a practical goal. The fact that many mission settlements were inhabited by<br />
more than one ethnolinguistic group compounded the challenge to practical learning, <strong>of</strong> course. In<br />
this context, ecclesiastical texts written in lenguas particulares served as crucial resources which<br />
accumulated hard-won linguistic knowledge and allowed relative continuity in evangelical activity<br />
despite the rather frequent rotation <strong>of</strong> individual missionaries in and out <strong>of</strong> particular missions.<br />
In particular, these texts allowed missionaries with modest ability in the lenguas particular <strong>of</strong> a<br />
given settlement to catechize its inhabitants and to perform prayers and masses without the need<br />
to constantly rely on translators. The production <strong>of</strong> ecclesiastical texts in local languages was, as<br />
we shall see, the fruit <strong>of</strong> extensive linguistic research, and a process <strong>of</strong> continuous tinkering.<br />
9.2.1 Lenguas generales and lenguas particulares in Maynas<br />
In this section we describe the Jesuit promotion <strong>of</strong> lenguas generales and the limits to the success<br />
<strong>of</strong> this linguistic policy, which left a considerable need for the development <strong>of</strong> linguistic and<br />
ecclesiastical resources in lenguas particulares.<br />
The Jesuit promotion <strong>of</strong> lenguas generales focused on Quechua, 332 in which most, if not all,<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Jesuits in Maynas appear to have been conversant (Chantre y Herrera 1901:94). 333 The<br />
following passage, which follows Maroni’s ([1738]1988:168-169) discussion <strong>of</strong> the challenges posed<br />
by the linguistic diversity in Maynas, clearly articulates the role <strong>of</strong> Quechua as a lengua general in<br />
the Jesuit project there:<br />
Por esto, nuestros misioneros, desde que se fundaron estas misiones, han tenido particular<br />
332 It is not entirely clear what Quechuan variety (or varieties) were promoted by the Maynas Jesuits. Typically<br />
referred to as ‘Inga’, some sources indicate that the language is the same as that used in Cuzco. This is unlikely,<br />
however, both for geographical reasons (Cuzco Quechua was spoken quite distantly from Maynas) and because the<br />
surviving ecclesiastical texts prepared in ‘Inga’ by the Maynas Jesuits do not exhibit orthographic reflexes <strong>of</strong> the<br />
phonological features that distinguish Cuzco Quechua from more northerly varieties. The fact that many <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Jesuits learned ‘Inga’ in Quito suggests that one <strong>of</strong> the languages involved was a variety <strong>of</strong> Ecuadorean Quichua,<br />
while the fact that the center <strong>of</strong> gravity <strong>of</strong> the Maynas missions lay towards Huallaga and upper Marañon River<br />
basins suggests that San Martín Quechua would have played an important role.<br />
333 Other than Quechua, the other language which appears to have been promoted as a lengua general was Omagua<br />
itself. There is only a single mention <strong>of</strong> Omagua serving this role, however, and its use appears to have been<br />
limited to the Peba-Yaguan groups living close to San Joaquin de Omaguas during the latter decades <strong>of</strong> the Jesuit<br />
presence in Maynas (Maroni [1738]1988:168-169).<br />
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