Quechua alphabet

The Quechua alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet. It is used to write Quechua languages.

Current orthography

For native words

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 loan words

Quechua employs additional letters to write loan words, 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

E

F

G

Kw

O

Rr

Tr

lowercase

b

d

e

f

g

kw

o

rr

tr

IPA

/b/

/w/

/d/

/r/

/Ø/

/e/

/i/

/f/

/ph/

/g/

/y/

/kw/

/o/

/u/

/rr/

/tr/

For phonetic transcription

For phonetic transcription, four additional letter are used:

Uppercase	Č	Ĉ	Š	Ž
lowercase	č	ĉ	š	ž
IPA	tʃ	[tʂ]	ʃ	ʒ

See also

• Alphabets derived from the Latin
• Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua

External links

• http://www.runasimi.de/qillqana.htm