The Kallawaya Language Project

The Kallawaya Language Project is the first in a series of different projects that have been begun in Bolivia in 2007 by Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. Bolivia is one of the most endangered and diverse language areas in the world. Two different Language Hotspots are found in this area. Kallawaya is a secret mixed language spoken by a group of traditional itinerant healers that date back as such at least to the private retinue of the Inka in the early fifteenth century and is one of the southernmost remaining languages of this Hotspot. 

How is Kallawaya a mixed language?
Kallawaya [caw] is an unusual language in many respects. It is a mixed language with a Quechua grammatical base and a varied lexical base, a large portion of which derives from an otherwise unrecorded language that appears to have been a sister language to the now extinct Puquina language. It is also a 'secret' language, being the exclusive domain of a group of itinerant male ritual healers. The language is an initiate language, and is always learned as a second language, being no speaker's first language. However, its users will use it in daily conversation when possible, so it has further functions than a memorized ritual, as has sometimes been claimed. Its speakers also use Quechua and Bolivian Spanish. In 2007, during the filming of The Linguists, Living Tongues made recordings of basic vocabulary and expressions. It is not known how many speakers of Kallawaya there are, but it is not likely to exceed 100, certainly no more than 200. Don Max Chura, Don Antonio and Illarion Ramos and Don Francisco and Ariel Ninacondis are our primary consultants.

How is Kallawaya a secret language?
Kallawaya is a secret language in the sense that it is passed only from father to son or grandfather to grandson (perhaps rarely to daughters if a practitioner is without sons), but not transmitted in normal family situations. It is therefore a language only for the initiated (men) and thus secret. Although used in a ritual context primarily, Kallawaya also serves the purpose of everyday conversation between users.

Sound Files From The Kallawaya Project

Don Antonio and Illarion Ramos, Kallawaya language consultants

Don Francisco and Ariel Ninacondis, Kallawaya language consultants

Don Max Chura, Kallawaya language consultant

Road to Chary

Greg Anderson  

David Harrison  

Will Faulkner

Jose Lara Yapita

Photo credits: David Harrison, Greg Anderson, William Faulkner, Jose Lara Yapita