Quechua alphabet
The Quechua alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. It is used to write Quechua languages.
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Current orthography [edit]
For native words [edit]
The number of letters employed in the Quechua alphabet highly depends on the Quechua dialect. However, in general, the following are the core letters used:
| Uppercase | A | Ch | H | I | K | L | Ll | M | N | Ñ | P | Q | S | T | U | W | Y | |||
| lowercase | a | ch | h | i | k | l | ll | m | n | ñ | p | q | s | t | u | w | y | |||
| IPA | æ | ɑ | tʃ | h | ɪ | ɛ | k | l | ʎ | m | n | ɲ | p | q | s | t | ʊ | ɔ | w | j |
In Ecuador and Bolivia, though, J(j) is used instead of H(h), as /h/ and /ʼ/ are used to express affricate and ejective sounds:
| Uppercase | Chh | Ch' | Kh | K' | Ph | P' | Qh | Q' | Sh | Sh' | Th | T' |
| lowercase | chh | ch' | kh | k' | ph | p' | qh | q' | sh | sh' | th | t' |
| IPA | tʃʰ | tʃʼ | kʰ | kʼ | pʰ | pʼ | qʰ | qʼ | ʃ | ʂ | tʰ | tʼ |
In some dialects, the [ɪ ɛ] and [ʊ ɔ] variations are distinguished with the use of /e/ and /o/, respectively, resulting in the use of five vowel letters instead of three. In some dialects, the vowel lengths are distinguished by doubling the vowel letter to indicate it as a long vowel:
| Uppercase | Aa | Ii | Uu | Ee | Oo | |||
| lowercase | aa | ii | uu | ee | oo | |||
| IPA | æː | ɑː | ɪː | ɛː | ʊː | ɔː | ɛː | ɔː |
In yet other dialects, with additional sounds, additional letters are employed:
| Uppercase | Tr' | Ts | Z |
| lowercase | tr' | ts | z |
| IPA | tʂ | ts | z |
For loanwords [edit]
Quechua employs additional letters to write loanwords, mainly originating from Spanish. In careful speech, the letters may represent a Spanish sound, but generally are substituted with a native sound.
| Uppercase | B | D | Ø | E | F | Ph | G | I | Kw | O | R | Rr | Tr | U | V | W | Y | ||||||
| lowercase | b | d | Ø | e | f | ph | g | i | kw | o | r | rr | tr | u | v | w | y | ||||||
| IPA | /b/ | /d/ | /d/ | /e̞/ | [ɛ] | [ɪ] | /f/ | /f/ | /ɡ/ | /i/ | /ɪ/ | /kw/ | /o̞/ | [ɔ] | [ʊ] | /d/~/ɾ/ | /r/ | /tɾ/ | /u/ | /ʊ/ | /b/~/w/ | /b/ | /ɡ/ |
For phonetic transcription [edit]
For phonetic transcription, four additional letter are used:
| Uppercase | Č | Ĉ | Š | Ž |
| lowercase | č | ĉ | š | ž |
| IPA | tʃ | tʂ | ʃ | ʒ |
