Gender of language contact

Abstract

This article considers how language contact is gendered through an analysis of how inter-Indigenous Quechua–Aymara boundary maintenance practices and ideologies are feminised in the Peruvian altiplano. The analysis focuses on the semiotic regimentation of Indigenous ethnolinguistic boundaries, concentrating on the role of four Indigenous female figures: the Indigenous wife; the Indigenous female market vendor; the reimagined mythic Indigenous founding mother; and the Indigenous beauty pageant contestant. An ethnographically grounded, scalar analysis of Quechua–Aymara contact in the region shows how each of the female figures is ideologically linked to a specific aspect of inter-Indigenous language contact and boundary maintenance. Furthermore, the discussion shows the interconnectedness of these female figures and their associated ideologised practices and discourses, which lead to the feminisation of inter-Indigenous language contact in the region.