Sources for the study of the Kichwa language and its evangelizing role in Ecuador. An overview

Abstract

The article considers the testimonies left by ecclesiastical agents of the Colony and the first century of the Republic regarding the study of the Ecuadorian Kichwa language. This body of documents makes it possible to trace back certain aspects of this language’s history, internal linguistic shifts, and the linguistic ideology behind its dissemination. To this end, the article shows how Andean linguistic policy was linked to the evangelical missionary project of the early colonial period. On the basis of this project, not only were catechisms written, but also grammar books and glossaries, in the principal languages of the Andes.