Alfredo Torero
Encyclopedia
Alfredo Augusto Torero Fernández de Córdova (* September 10, 1930 in Huacho
, Lima Region
, Peru
, † June 19, 2004 in Valencia
) was a Peru
vian anthropologist and linguist
.
Alfredo Torero came to prominence thanks to his article "The Dialects of Quechua" in 1964 and ranks among the founders of Andean linguistics. Much of his work is characterised by bringing into his linguistic investigations also cultural aspects of the Andean peoples. Besides Quechua
and Aymara
, he researched extinct languages such as Mochica and Puquina.
The present classification of the Quechua language family is based fundamentally on his analysis and that of Gary Parker, who independently came to similar results. One particularly important finding of his research is that it is clear that Quechua did not originate, as is still popularly believed, in the region of the Inca capital Cuzco, but almost certainly somewhere considerably further north in Central Peru. Torero's proposed precise homeland for Quechua was the central coast of Peru in the Lima Region
, although this remains unproven and challenged by other linguists.
Huacho
Huacho is a city in Peru, capital of the Huaura Province and capital of the Lima Region. It is located 223 feet above sea level and 148 km north of the city of Lima...
, Lima Region
Lima Region
Lima Region, also known as Lima Provincias, is one of twenty-five regions of Peru. Located in the central coast of the country, its regional seat is Huacho....
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, † June 19, 2004 in Valencia
Valencia (city in Spain)
Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
) was a Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian anthropologist and linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
Alfredo Torero came to prominence thanks to his article "The Dialects of Quechua" in 1964 and ranks among the founders of Andean linguistics. Much of his work is characterised by bringing into his linguistic investigations also cultural aspects of the Andean peoples. Besides Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
and Aymara
Aymara language
Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...
, he researched extinct languages such as Mochica and Puquina.
The present classification of the Quechua language family is based fundamentally on his analysis and that of Gary Parker, who independently came to similar results. One particularly important finding of his research is that it is clear that Quechua did not originate, as is still popularly believed, in the region of the Inca capital Cuzco, but almost certainly somewhere considerably further north in Central Peru. Torero's proposed precise homeland for Quechua was the central coast of Peru in the Lima Region
Lima Region
Lima Region, also known as Lima Provincias, is one of twenty-five regions of Peru. Located in the central coast of the country, its regional seat is Huacho....
, although this remains unproven and challenged by other linguists.
Works (in Spanish)
- "Los dialectos quechuas". Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, 2, pp. 446–478. Lima, 1964.
- "Lingüística e historia de la Sociedad Andina", Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, VIII, 3-4. Lima, 1970.
- El quechua y la historia social andina. Lima, Universidad Ricardo Palma. 240 p., 1974.
- "La familia lingüística quechua". En: Pottier, Bernard (ed.) América Latina en sus lenguas indígenas. Caracas; Monte Avila Editores, C.A. pp. 61–92., 1983.
- "El comercio lejano y la difusión del quechua. El caso del Ecuador". Revista Andina, pp. 367–402, Cusco, 1984.
- "Áreas toponímicas e idiomas en la sierra norte peruana: un trabajo de recuperación lingüística". En: Revista Andina, pp. 217–257, Cusco, 1986.
- "Procesos lingüísticos e identificación de dioses en los Andes centrales". En: Revista Andina, pp. 237–263, Cusco, 1990.
- "Los sibilantes del quechua yunga y del castellano en el siglo XVI". En: Calvo Pérez, Julio (ed) Estudios de lengua y cultura amerindias I, Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, Departamento de teoría de los lenguajes, p. 241-254, 1994.
- "Entre Roma y Lima: El Lexicón quichua de fray Domingo de Santo Tomás [1560]". En: Zimmermann, Klaus (ed). La descripción de las lenguas amerindias en la época colonial (Bibliotheca Ibero-Americana, 63), pp. 271–290. 1997.
- "El marco histórico-geográfico en la interacción quechua-aru". En: Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz, Sabine; Arellano Hoffmann, Carmen; König, Eva; Prümers, Heiko (ed) 50 años de estudios americanistas en la Universidad de Bonn: nuevas contribuciones a la arqueología, etnohistoria, etnolingüística y etnografía de las Américas = 50 years americanist studies at the University of Bonn: new contributions to the archaeo (Bonner Amerikanistische Studien, 30 / Estudios americanistas de Bonn, 30), pp. 601–630. 1998.
- Idiomas de los Andes. Lingüística e historia. Lima, IFEA. 565 p. 2002. This compendious work gathers together much of Torero's thinking published in numerous articles over the course of his career.