Jaqaru, endangered language

[Andre Cramblit]

I am attaching a document that I wrote on the occasion of the  
graduation of
the first official course for Jaqaru, spoken in Tupe, Yauyos, Lima,  
Perú, a
member of the Jaqi family of languages which also includes Kawki and  
Aymara.
I've also copied the text below, JIC.

Dr. MJ Hardman
website:  http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/
--
First Jaqaru Language Course

December 18, 2006 is now an historical date for Tupe.  On that day the
graduation for the first Jaqaru Language Course was held. This course  
is the
beginning of sustainable work that opens the door of hope for the  
survival
of Jaqaru.

Eleven people from Tupe, mostly teachers, and twelve others, also mostly
teachers, received their certificates.  Yolanda Nieves Payano  
Iturrizaga,
linguist and native speaker of Jaqaru, taught the class, as a teacher  
in the
ISP Pedagógica de Catahuasi (Normal School).  The Director of the Normal
School Mag. Manuel Gil Hernández was present for the ceremony; Prof.
Abelardo Ventocilla called by telephone in representation of the  
support of
the Gobierno Regional de Lima Provincias.  And Dr. MJ Hardman and Dr.  
Dimas
Bautista Iturrizaga called at the end of the ceremony and  
congratulated all
of the participants by telephone through a loudspeaker connected to the
telephone and installed in a tree, so that all could hear.

It's hard to overestimate the importance of this event.  Jaqaru is in  
very
serious danger of extinction.  For the first time in a very long time  
there
is some hope of its continued existence.  For decades Dr. Hardman and  
Dr.
Bautista have sought the necessary means for the recognition of the
language; just now, on December 18, their hopes became reality.  With  
this
act Dr. Hardman passes the torch to a linguist from Tupe as a  
realization of
one of her dreams; in this way the work already done can serve the  
future
together with works yet to be done by the young people now preparing
themselves.

A little history:  Beginning in the forties Dr. Bautista began  
searching for
help to read and write his language, but without success.  In the  
fifties he
met Dr. Hardman and achieved his goal:  once the phonological  
analysis was
complete with the phonemes clearly identified, Dr. Bautista himself
formulated the alphabetic representation of his language, and from  
that date
it has been written and read.  The basic description of the grammar was
completed and in the sixties published in Holland.  Fifteen years  
later it
was finally published in Peru by IEP (Instituto de Estudios  
Peruanos).  In
the sixties we began the odyssey seeking bilingual education for  
Tupe. There
were promises and pronouncements, but no official backing was ever
forthcoming.  Dr. Hardman taught informal courses  for many years for  
the
people in Tupe.  And one Tupe professor, Lisandro Sanabria Casas, did
successfully obtain backing one year for Dr. Hardman to teach the  
students
of the 3rd and 4th grades to read and write Jaqaru.  Meanwhile, We  
sponsored
a scholarship for Prof. Nieves Payano Iturrizaga to study linguistics in
Bolivia to become a linguist with specialization in Jaqaru.  At that  
time
linguistics was well developed because of the INEL (National  
Institute of
Linguistic Studies), founded by Dr. Hardman and Dr. Elena Fortún.  On
finishing her studies, for more than a decade Prof. Nieves sought a  
position
in Peru where she could work for the benefit of Jaqaru, but without  
success,
even thought we tried through every possible governmental office and  
level.
Now, because Prof. Elena Huaytalla Rosales, teacher at the Instituto
Pedagógica de Catahuasi, took an interest in the formation of  
teachers for
Tupe, and understood the necessary role of Jaqaru for that purpose,  
things
have changed.  She took the initiative to take the problem to the  
Gobierno
Regional, and thus, with the sponsorship of the then Director  
Regional of
Education Wilfredo Cornejo Ybargüen, brought about the course I  
taught in
July of 2006.  The current course has come about with the continuing  
support
of the Regional Government under the leadership of the current Regional
Director de Education, Yulimo Fulgencio Milla Salas.  The position  
for Prof.
Nieves became a reality in October of 2006.

It did actually happen!  We are old and at times it has seemed  
impossible
that we would live to see it, and meanwhile, with the terrorism that
devastated Tupe and the influences of the recently completed road, we  
saw
each year fewer of the young with fluency in their native Jaqaru.   
And often
they knew little or nothing of the language and at times refused to  
use even
the little they knew.

And now is a time of celebration.  The teachers have again taken hold of
their language.  There was a message from Prof. Nieves just before the
graduation saying that the teachers wanted to use Marka, the name  
they use
for where they live when they talk in Jaqaru, instead of Tupe – a name
obviously Spanishized from Txupi, and considered to be the Spanish
translation of Marka.

It is hard to exaggerate the happiness we feel.  The class is already  
a step
toward sustainability.  We couldn't be there in person, but the teachers
managed to connect a loud speaker to the telephone and they hung it on a
tree so that we could congratulate everyone at the end of the  
ceremony.  And
it was appropriate that we be there thus, as support, because the  
work now
passes from us to the young people, who now have what is needed to  
continue
with the work, building on our work of the last half century, so that  
Jaqaru
may live. ¡Jaqars jakp"a!

Dr. MJ Hardman
http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/ <http://grove.ufl.edu/~hardman/>
Dr. Dimas Bautista Iturrizaga


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