Obituary NoticeAlfredo Torero Fernández de Córdova

We regret to report the death of the distinguished Peruvian linguist Alfredo Torero, in Valencia on 19 June 2004. Alfredo Torero was born in Huacho, Peru, in 1930. He was a leading member of the Peruvian academic community until his exile to Europe in 1990, where he held refugee status in the Netherlands for the latter part of his life. Although born in a typical Peruvian coastal community and educated at the prestigious Colegio Guadalupe in Lima, Alfredo soon became fascinated by the diversi..

Quichua tales from Cañar, Ecuador

The thesis comprises a classification and analysis of 64 tales told by Indian inhabitants of the rural communities around the highland town of Canar, Southern Central Ecuador, The informants all had Quichua as their mother tongue and, with the exception of 4 texts, used it in the telling of the tales. These were tape-recorded, transcribed with the help of a Quichua assistant, and are presented in full together with English translations. The classification of texts is based largely upon criteria of contents, although both genre and tale structure are also taken into account, all three considerations being closely interrelated. Classification according to content owes something of theory and method to the Finnish-American school led by Aarne and Thompson (Thompson 1955-58, Aarne and Thompson 1951). The discussion of genre definition takes Bascom's article (1965) as a starting point, and also takes into account more recent statements on the subject. The consideration of structure as a criterion at the classification stage is in accordance with the arguments of Propp (1968) and Dundes (1962b, 1964). The classification scheme resulted in a breakdown of the tales into four sections (A-D), The largest of these is Section A, whose 32 tales will be shown to adhere to a common structural framework, whilst the sub-sections into which they are divided reflect their differences in surface content. Sections B and C are both examples of tale cycles, bound by this definition to be grouped together. Section D comprises humorous tales, largely borrowings from mestizo culture, with little in common on grounds of structure. The analysis seeks to examine the relationship between tales within the sections, at the levels of both structure and content if this is appropriate; where it is not, remarks are confined to content alone. The analysis of both structure and content calls for some comparisons to be drawn with material from elsewhere. Such comparisons are confined to the Ecuadorean highlands, to a lesser extent Peru, and incidental reference is made to other geographical areas, especially where borrowings are concerned, Structural analysis was most applicable to Section A, an apparently heterogeneous group of legends and folktales which, it is argued, are bound together by common underlying features of structure. These features appear to derive from the local legends of the area, and have then encouraged the adoption and development of certain folktales whose structure was compatible with such already existing forms. The theoretical basis for this approach is to be found in Dundes (cit.), Maranda and Kongas Maranda (1971), and Hymes (1971). The breakdown of texts to reveal their structure takes both the 'syntagmatic' and the 'paradigmatic' aspects of the latter into account (see Dundee's intro, to Propp 1968:xi-xii). In order to reveal more clearly the paradigmatic characteristics of the texts, and the structural affinities that exist between tales at this level, use is made of Levi-Straussian terminology and the methods he uses for the schematic cross-comparison of tales have been adapted (Levi-Strauss 1970, 1972), Analysis of content follows two main lines: in the case of the legendary material it is particularly appropriate to examine the relationship that apparently exists between the local belief system and oral narrative. In the case of folktales, it is relevant to consider content on comparative lines, examining the nature and/or distribution of episodes as they occur in Canar and as they are found elsewhere in Andean narrative tradition. The works of Morote Best were particularly useful for this purpose (1950b, 1953b, 1954, 1957, 1958a, 1958b). The main aim of the thesis is therefore to analyse the structure and content of the tales in order to show the underlying relationships that bind them within a coherent system of narrative tradition. Some connections at both these levels are also to be seen between sections as well as within them, and these are pointed out. Material introduced from outside was adopted, it is suggested, for its compatibility with that which was already there. In addition to this, possible social and cultural reasons for the appeal of particular kinds of tale in the area are discussed as relevant

The role of indigenous interpreters in the Peruvian intercultural, bilingual justice system

Since 2012, the Peruvian State, through its Ministry of Culture, has been training indigenous translators and interpreters. Their remit is to facilitate communication between the indigenous population of the country and its institutions, against a socio-political background of historical marginalization of, and discrimination against, indigenous peoples, their languages and cultures. This paper is based on research and fieldwork conducted by the authors in Peru between October 2014 and June 2016. It will focus specifically on the role that the indigenous interpreters play in guaranteeing access to justice for speakers of minoritized languages. Relevant contextual information about Peru will be provided, including the legal framework for the provision of interpreting services between Spanish and indigenous languages. The paper will further describe the training program put in place by the State, before critically addressing the challenges that practitioners and institutions face. We will also report on ad hoc interpreting initiatives that are beginning to emerge in the country, beyond the remit of the State training programs, and will conclude with some general observations derived from our research

Walking the tightrope: The role of Peruvian indigenous interpreters in Prior Consultation processes

The passing into law of the Prior Consultation Act in Peru in 2011 was a turning point in the country’s contemporary history: it enshrined the right of Peruvian indigenous peoples to be consulted prior to the State’s adopting an administrative or legislative measure that affects their collective rights and to use their own languages during the consultation. This requires, more often than not, the services of interpreters. This article focuses on the complexities of the interpreter’ role in the Peruvian context and how the beneficiaries of the interpreters’ work perceive it. Our analysis reveals that the interpreters’ performance is determined by two special circumstances: first, interpreting in prior consultation processes straddles public-service interpreting and business interpreting; and second, the fact that the interpreters are trained and employed by the State creates a tension in the communication between the latter and the indigenous peoples. We will introduce the socio-political context and the State-led initiatives designed to ensure compliance with the law, including the training programme managed by the Indigenous Languages Division of the Ministry of Culture, to provide a background to the findings that our research yielded. These derive from observation and from interviews and meetings with relevant institutional actors and interpreters and will be illustrated by a case study

Translation policy and indigenous languages in Hispanic Latin America

This article will critically examine the nature and role of translation policy in relation to language policy in the Andean-Amazonian region of South America, with examples from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The historical legacy of Spanish colonization in this region resulted in widespread loss of the native Amerindian languages over the centuries, and still today the hegemony of Spanish ensures an ongoing process of language shift. Deep-rooted inequalities and discriminatory practices associated with linguistic and cultural difference characterize the societies of the countries we will discuss (Mannheim 1991; Howard 2007). Whereas translation and interpreting between Spanish and global foreign languages tend to be highly regulated practices, interpretation and translation between Spanish and the indigenous languages have been an ad hoc set of practices since colonial times, due to these societal asymmetries. We will start from the premises laid out by Meylaerts (2011), who reminds us that ´a translation policy is to be defined as a set of legal rules that regulate translation in the public domain´ and that, moreover, ´[a]ny language policy presupposes a translation policy´ (Meylaerts 2011: 165). In the postcolonial context of the Andean-Amazonian countries, and in light of the indigenous activism arising here in response to language policy and translation policy, the concept of ´policy as practice´ (Sutton & Levinson 2011: 1) is also salient. We will incorporate theory from critical social policy studies that allows us to think of policy not only as ´the conduct of political and public affairs by a government or an administration´ (Meylaerts 2011: 165) from the top down, but also as socially constructed practice from the bottom-up and among a diverse range of actors (Sutton & Levinson 2011). Across the three countries that form the focus of this study, an estimated xx languages belonging to an estimated xx language families are spoken. A State driven concern to legislate for language rights, and ultimately to formulate a national language policy, has been on the political agenda to varying degrees and with varying outcomes in the region over the past two decades. Different country-specific political and social contexts have given rise to variations in the ways the issue has been approached. Likewise, there are variations in the extent to which an attention to translation policy, as a part of language policy, has been explicitly formulated and acted upon. Peru provides the most advanced scenario in this respect, while strong interest in and awareness of the need for translation policy is expressed in the cases of Bolivia and Ecuador. This paper will examine these different scenarios in a comparative perspective, and will hope to have an impact in all three countries, bringing the notion of translation policy to the fore for the attention of policy makers. Within this wider context, the article will present a case study of Peru based on the authors´ recent in-country research. Language policy in Peru is being constructed on the basis of the Languages Act passed in 2011. It is of interest that the State is not yet articulating the notion of translation policy as such and yet de facto, through its actions, it is implementing an incipient translation policy as integral to language policy and as expressed in the law. Implementation includes state-sponsored training of indigenous people as accredited translators and interpreters to work between Spanish and their native languages in public service settings. We will give examples of how policy has benefited speakers of Quechua, Aymara, and some of the Amazonian languages

Translators' perspectives: The construction of the Peruvian Indigenous Languages Act in indigenous languages

An urgent need is emerging in contemporary Latin America for the translation of legal texts from the languages of former European colonial powers into the many indigenous languages spoken across the region. This article addresses the issue in relation to the rise of legislation that requires States to uphold the principle of linguistic human rights. It takes as a case study the translation of the Peruvian Indigenous Languages Act (2011) from Spanish into five Amerindian languages, viewed as a postcolonial practice situated at the communicative interface between the State and the country’s indigenous populations. Our specific interest is the strategic behavior of the indigenous translators, as described by themselves, when communicating to their peoples the State norms contained in the Indigenous Languages Act. In order to analyze this behavior, we depart from text-analytical models and favor an approach based on the translators' perceptions of their role and their rationales for the translation solutions adopted. The analysis combines theoretical strands from translation studies, legal studies and postcolonial studies so as to throw light on the translation of legal discourse from Spanish into the indigenous languages of Peru, as conducted, crucially, by bilingual translators situated on the cultural "inside.

Translating rights: The Peruvian Languages Act in Quechua and Aymara

New language rights legislation in Peru has triggered State training of indigenous translator-interpreters to work in public service and prior consultation settings. A spin-off of the training has been the translation of the text of the 2011 Languages Act from Spanish into a range of indigenous languages. This article focuses on the challenges of the translating process to Quechua and Aymara. These challenges were presented by the structural differences between source and target languages, the divergent conceptual systems that embed the original text and its translations, and the different trade-offs between orality and literacy of the cultural systems involved. Finally, issues concerning the relationship between the translators' cultural identities and the translation process arose; these are also addressed

Desafios en la diversidad 2. Desplazamiento lingüístico y revitalización: Reflexiones y metodologías emergentes

Desde distintas miradas, este libro escudriña las muchas facetas que tiene la diversidad y los retos que enfrentamos al tratar de entenderlas y aceptarlas. Incentivados por la lingüística, los procesos educativos, el contacto lingüístico, el translingüismo, y la creciente vulnerabilidad lingüística, analizamos múltiples situaciones de lenguas en desplazamiento, reflexionamos sobre algunas de las respuestas que se han ido generando y que apuntan a la revitalización lingüistico-cultural a largo plazo, y ponemos en la mesa de discusión teorías, conceptos y metodologías que consideramos aportarán a la investigación y a la acción, desde nuestras propias realidades. Esperamos que este libro nos lleve a reflexionar y a posicionarnos frente a las innumerables inequidades sociales, lingüísticas y culturales que nos rodean y, sobre todo, que nos incentive a vivir en la diversidad con todos y cada uno de nuestros sentidos