draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

empeño para (sic) entroducir en las reducciones que se han ido entablando, el uso de la
lengua del Inga, que es la general del Perú, la cual, según se habla en las provincias del
Cuzco, es la más copiosa y expresiva de cuantas se usan en esta América meridional.
Como hallaron ya principios desta lengua en la ciudad de Borja y provincia de los
Maynas, donde iban introduciéndola los españoles que asistian en aquella conquista, no
fué muy dificultoso el extenderla á otras reducciones que comunicaban con la de los
Maynas. 334
An important avenue for the promotion of Quechua was evidently the education of indigenous
children in the reducciones and Spanish-controlled town, where the teaching of Christian doctrine
and that of Quechua went hand-in-hand. Consider, for example, the following passage, which
describes the founding, by Father Cujía, of boarding schools for young indigenous in the town of
Borja:
Y queriendo concurrir también á la reducción de los gentiles de un modo muy provechosos,
y no menos eficaz que sus compañeros, ideó, promovió y estableció en la misma
ciudad [i.e. Borja], dos casas en que se juntasen los niños y niñas de las naciones amigas
que quisiesen enviar su hijos á Borja. Una casa era como seminario de jóvenes que
aprendían la lengua general del Inga, la doctrina cristiana... La otra casa era como un
hospicio de niñas recientemente bautizadas que, fuera de enterarse bien de la doctrina y
de la lengua inga, aprendían de algunas señoras piadosas de la ciudad, que se ofrecieron
á enseñarlas gustosas, los ejercicios propios del sexo...
(Chantre y Herrera 1901:139) 335
This practice was by no means restricted to Borja and nearby indigenous peoples (probably
mainly Cahuapanan, Jivaroan, and Candoshian). Similar efforts were reported among the Tukanoan
peoples of the Napo (ibid.: 391, 420), the Iquitos of the Nanay (ibid.: 489), and among the Peba-
Yaguan peoples of the Ampiyacu area. With respect to the latter, Chantre y Herrera reports that
Father José Casado was so successful in promoting Quechua in San Ignacio de los Pevas that the
residents of the reducción began to use Quechua not only with outsiders, but among themselves:
334 Translation (ours):
Because of this, our missionaries, from the moment these missions were founded, have undertaken to
introduce into the reducciones that have been established the use of the Inca language [read Quechua],
which is widespread in Peru, and which, according to what is spoken in the Province of Cuzco, is
the most copious and expressive of so many [languages] used in South America. Given that they
encountered the beginnings of this language in the city of Borja and the Province of Maynas, where
those Spaniards involved in the conquest had been introducing it, it was not very difficult to extend
it to other reducciones that communicated with the Maynas one.
335 Translation (ours):
And wanting to participate also in the conversion of the heathens in a very useful manner, and no
less effective than his companions, conceived, sponsored, and founded in the same city [i.e. Borja], two
houses in which they gathered together the boys and girls of the friendly peoples who wanted to send
their children to Borja. One house was like a seminary for youngsters who learned the lengua general
of the Inga and the Christian doctrine... The other house was like a lodging for recently baptized girls,
who, apart from becoming well acquainted with the Christian doctrine and the Inga language, learned
from a number of pious ladies of the city, who enthusiastically offered to teach them, the particular
skills of their sex...
124