Peruvian Quechua Research Articles

Evaluation of cognitive profile through Q‐RUDAS: first approach in Quechua Participants

AbstractBackgroundThe Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has proven to be one ofthe best instruments of cognitive function evaluation in illiterate and low‐educated participants; it is easyto adapt in different countries, languages, and cultures, showing good validation properties. In Peru, weare working to bring this instrument to Quechua speakers. The present study aimed to obtain the firstapproach to cognitive prevalence in elderly individuals in their native language.MethodsAfter an initial pilot study (Malaga in preparation), we use the culturally and language‐adapted Q‐RUDAS in the Peruvian Quechua population of the Puno region (n = 511), with a mean age of65.04 ± 6.73 means (ranging from 59 to 92 years), 80.4% of the sample were females. We obtain socio‐demographic data (educational level, occupation, and precedence residence area) and the Q‐RUDASscores. Additionally, we asked the patients open‐ended questions about the test adaptation. Weexcluded patients with antecedents of pathologies that may interfere with the performance of the test. Verbal and signed consent were obtained. We use the previous RUDAS cut‐off from Peruvian validationstudies to have an initial approach to cognitive prevalence.ResultsWe include 502 participants without relevant medical history. Participants understood all Q‐RUDAS items but reported difficulties with visuospatial construction (more than 50% could not draw thecube, more than 25% failed to draw some parts, and around 20% drew it accordingly). The mean scoreof Q‐RUDAS was 26.01 ± 2.71. We found that 448 participants have standard scores (26.67 ± 1.92), 46MCI (21.49 ± 1.92), and 11 participants that meet scores of dementia (17.00 ± 2.71). Besides, differences were found in the total score regarding the precedence area of participants, with Urban´shaving an increased score.ConclusionThe previously adapted RUDAS test to Quechua (Q‐RUDAS) in Peru was well understoodamong native patients. This culturally sensitive tool is essential for diagnosing dementia in indigenouspopulations, but more studies are needed, such as cross‐validation studies. An initial approach of theprevalence of MCI and dementia is around 10.8% in the native population.

De paradoxen van “Latijns-Amerikaans Handboek” van Kristien Hemmerechts en zijn vertaling

“Latijns-Amerikaans Handboek” by Kristien Hemmerechts proves that short stories as a literary genre are able to portray a complex multilingual adven-ture in just a few pages. The writer makes use of a Latin American setting to give shape to the galloping loss of identity of a young Flemish man, travel-ling with his girlfriend through the Peruvian Quechua world. The enormous cultural distance between the Flemish and Quechua cultures makes his metamorphosis as absurd as it is comprehensible. Because of her emotional faithfulness, his girlfriend does not intervene and as a result the young man dies. The translation of this short story in its turn poses the problem of the loss of that same cultural identity. In the name of his professional faithful-ness, however, it is the duty of the translator to intervene in time and to save from death the original cultural identity of the story.

Genome-Wide Epigenetic Signatures of Adaptive Developmental Plasticity in the Andes.

High-altitude adaptation is a classic example of natural selection operating on the human genome. Physiological and genetic adaptations have been documented in populations with a history of living at high altitude. However, the role of epigenetic gene regulation, including DNA methylation, in high-altitude adaptation is not well understood. We performed an epigenome-wide DNA methylation association study based on whole blood from 113 Peruvian Quechua with differential lifetime exposures to high altitude (>2,500) and recruited based on a migrant study design. We identified two significant differentially methylated positions (DMPs) and 62 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with high-altitude developmental and lifelong exposure statuses. DMPs and DMRs were found in genes associated with hypoxia-inducible factor pathway, red blood cell production, blood pressure, and others. DMPs and DMRs associated with fractional exhaled nitric oxide also were identified. We found a significant association between EPAS1 methylation and EPAS1 SNP genotypes, suggesting that local genetic variation influences patterns of methylation. Our findings demonstrate that DNA methylation is associated with early developmental and lifelong high-altitude exposures among Peruvian Quechua as well as altitude-adaptive phenotypes. Together these findings suggest that epigenetic mechanisms might be involved in adaptive developmental plasticity to high altitude. Moreover, we show that local genetic variation is associated with DNA methylation levels, suggesting that methylation associated SNPs could be a potential avenue for research on genetic adaptation to hypoxia in Andeans.

Association of EGLN1 gene with high aerobic capacity of Peruvian Quechua at high altitude

Highland native Andeans have resided at altitude for millennia. They display high aerobic capacity (VO2max) at altitude, which may be a reflection of genetic adaptation to hypoxia. Previous genomewide (GW) scans for natural selection have nominated Egl-9 homolog 1 gene (EGLN1) as a candidate gene. The encoded protein, EGLN1/PHD2, is an O2 sensor that controls levels of the Hypoxia Inducible Factor-α (HIF-α), which regulates the cellular response to hypoxia. From GW association and analysis of covariance performed on a total sample of 429 Peruvian Quechua and 94 US lowland referents, we identified 5 EGLN1 SNPs associated with higher VO2max (L⋅min-1 and mL⋅min-1⋅kg-1) in hypoxia (rs1769793, rs2064766, rs2437150, rs2491403, rs479200). For 4 of these SNPs, Quechua had the highest frequency of the advantageous (high VO2max) allele compared with 25 diverse lowland comparison populations from the 1000 Genomes Project. Genotype effects were substantial, with high versus low VO2max genotype categories differing by ∼11% (e.g., for rs1769793 SNP genotype TT = 34.2 mL⋅min-1⋅kg-1 vs. CC = 30.5 mL⋅min-1⋅kg-1). To guard against spurious association, we controlled for population stratification. Findings were replicated for EGLN1 SNP rs1769793 in an independent Andean sample collected in 2002. These findings contextualize previous reports of natural selection at EGLN1 in Andeans, and support the hypothesis that natural selection has increased the frequency of an EGLN1 causal variant that enhances O2 delivery or use during exercise at altitude in Peruvian Quechua.

Teleological talk in parent–child conversations in Quechua

Southern Peruvian Quechua is an indigenous language spoken primarily in rural communities in the Peruvian Andes. The language includes a syntactic construction, ‘ -paq’, that expresses purpose or function, thus providing an opportunity to trace how parents and children with little formal education express teleological concepts. The authors recorded parent–child dyads ( N = 36; children aged 3–5 years) talking about items in a picture book, and coded uses of - paq (e.g., ‘What is that little [toy] bear for?’ [‘Chay usuchari imapaqtaq?’]. For younger children (3–4 years) and their parents, - paq was infrequent and equivalent across domains. For older children (5-year-olds) and their parents, - paq increased dramatically and differentially by domain (most commonly produced for artifacts, food, and animals). These results provide new evidence that speaks to existing developmental accounts regarding the domain-specificity vs. domain-generality of teleological concepts in development.

Developmental Effects Determine Submaximal Arterial Oxygen Saturation in Peruvian Quechua.

Kiyamu, Melisa, Fabiola León-Velarde, María Rivera-Chira, Gianpietro Elías, and Tom D. Brutsaert. Developmental effects determine submaximal arterial oxygen saturation in Peruvian Quechua. High Alt Med Biol 16, 138-146, 2015.--Andean high altitude natives show higher arterial oxygen saturation (Sao(2)) during exercise in hypoxia, compared to acclimatized sojourners. In order to evaluate the effects of life-long exposure to high altitude on Sao(2), we studied two groups of well-matched, self-identified Peruvian Quechua natives who differed in their developmental exposure to hypoxia before and after a 2-month training period. Male and female volunteers (18-35 years) were recruited in Lima, Peru (150 m). The two groups were: a) Individuals who were born and raised at sea-level (BSL, n=34) and b) Individuals who were born and raised at high altitude (BHA, n=32), but who migrated to sea-level as adults (>16 years old). Exercise testing was conducted using a submaximal exercise protocol in normobaric hypoxia in Lima (BP=750 mmHg, Fio(2)=0.12), in order to measure Sao(2) (%), ventilation (VE L/min) and oxygen consumption (Vo(2), L/min). Repeated-measures ANOVA, controlling for VE/VO(2) (L/min) and sex during the submaximal protocol showed that BHA maintained higher Sao(2) (%) compared to BSL at all workloads before (p=0.005) and after training (p=0.017). As expected, both groups showed a decrease in Sao(2) (%) (p<0.001), as workload increased. Resting Sao(2) levels were not found to be different between groups. The results suggest that developmental exposure to altitude contributes to the maintenance of higher Sao(2) levels during submaximal exercise at hypoxia.

Aerobic capacity of Peruvian Quechua: a test of the developmental adaptation hypothesis.

High altitude natives are reported to have outstanding work capacity in spite of the challenge of oxygen transport and delivery in hypoxia. To evaluate the developmental effect of lifelong exposure to hypoxia on aerobic capacity, VO2peak was measured on two groups of Peruvian Quechua subjects (18-35 years), who differed in their developmental exposure to altitude. Male and female volunteers were recruited in Lima, Peru (150 m), and were divided in two groups, based on their developmental exposure to hypoxia, those: a) Born at sea-level individuals (BSL), with no developmental exposure to hypoxia (n = 34) and b) Born at high-altitude individuals (BHA) with full developmental exposure to hypoxia (n = 32), but who migrated to sea-level as adults (>16-years-old). Tests were conducted both in normoxia (BP = 750 mm Hg) and normobaric hypoxia at sea-level (BP = 750 mm Hg, FiO2 = 0.12, equivalent to 4,449 m), after a 2-month training period (in order to control for initial differences in physical fitness) at sea-level. BHA had a significantly higher VO2peak at hypoxia (40.31 ± 1.0 ml/min/kg) as compared to BSL (35.78 ± 0.96 ml/min/kg, P = 0.001), adjusting for sex. The decrease of VO2peak at HA relative to SL (ΔVO2peak ) was not different between groups, controlling for baseline levels (VO2peak at sea-level) and sex (BHA = 0.35 ± 0.04 l/min, BSL = 0.44 ± 0.04 l/min; P = 0.12). Forced vital capacity (controlling for height) and the residuals of VO2peak (controlling for weight) had a significant association in the BHA group only (r = 0.155; P = 0.031). In sum, results indicate that developmental exposure to altitude constitutes an important factor to determine superior exercise performance.

Developmental and genetic components explain enhanced pulmonary volumes of female peruvian quechua

High altitude natives have enlarged vital capacities and residual volumes (RV). Because pulmonary volumes are an indication of functionally relevant traits, such as diffusion capacity, the understanding of the factors (genetic/developmental) that influence lung volumes provides insight into the adaptive responses of highlanders. In order to test for the effect of growth and development at high altitude on lung volumes, we obtained forced vital capacities (FVC), RV, and total lung capacities (TLC) for a sample of 65 Peruvian females of mostly Quechua origins (18-34 years) who were sub-divided into two well-matched groups: 1) sea-level born and raised females (BSL, n = 34) from Lima, Peru (150 m), and 2) high-altitude born and raised females (BHA, n = 31) from Cerro de Pasco, Peru (4,338 m). To determine Quechua origins, Native American ancestry proportion (NAAP) for each individual was assessed using a panel of 70 ancestry informative markers. NAAP was similar between groups (BSL = 91.71%; BHA = 89.93%; P = 0.240), and the analysis confirmed predominantly Quechua origins. After adjusting for body size and NAAP, BHA females had significantly higher FVC (3.79 ± 0.06 l; P < 0.001), RV (0.98 ± 0.03 l; P < 0.001) and TLC (4.80 ± 0.07 l; P < 0.001) compared to BSL females (FVC = 3.33 ± 0.05 l; RV = 0.69 ± 0.03 l; TLC = 4.02 ± 0.06 l). NAAP was not associated with FVC (P = 0.352) or TLC (P = 0.506). However, NAAP was positively associated with RV (P = 0.004). In summary, results indicate that developmental exposure to high altitude in females constitutes an important factor for all lung volumes, whereas both genetic and developmental factors seem to be important for RV.

A Developmental Analysis of Generic Nouns in Southern Peruvian Quechua

Generic noun phrases (e.g., “Cats like to drink milk”) are a primary means by which adults express generalizations to children, yet they pose a challenging induction puzzle for learners. Although prior research has established that English speakers understand and produce generic noun phrases by preschool age, little is known regarding the cross-cultural generality of generic acquisition. Southern Peruvian Quechua provides a valuable comparison because, unlike English, it is a highly inflected language in which generics are marked by the absence rather than the presence of any linguistic markers. Moreover, Quechua is spoken in a cultural context that differs markedly from the highly educated, middle-class contexts within which earlier research on generics was conducted. We presented participants from five age groups (3–6, 7–9, 10–12, 14–35, and 36–90 years of age) with two tasks that examined the ability to distinguish generic from nongeneric utterances. In Study 1, even the youngest children understood generics as applying broadly to a category (like “all”) and distinct from indefinite reference (“some”). However, there was a developmental lag before children understood that generics, unlike “all,” can include exceptions. Study 2 revealed that generic interpretations are more frequent for utterances that (a) lack specifying markers and (b) are animate. Altogether, generic interpretations are found among the youngest participants, and may be a default mode of quantification. These data demonstrate the cross-cultural importance of generic information in linguistic expression.

Autosomal and X chromosome Alu insertions in Bolivian Aymaras and Quechuas: Two languages and one genetic pool

Thirty-two polymorphic Alu insertions (18 autosomal and 14 from the X chromosome) were studied in 192 individuals from two Amerindian populations of the Bolivian Altiplano (Aymara and Quechua speakers: the two main Andean linguistic groups), to provide relevant information about their genetic relationships and demographic processes. The main objective was to determine from genetic data whether the expansion of the Quechua language into Bolivia could be associated with demographic (Inca migration of Quechua-speakers from Peru into Bolivia) or cultural (language imposition by the Inca Empire) processes. Allele frequencies were used to assess the genetic relationships between these two linguistic groups. Our results indicated that the two Bolivian samples showed a high genetic similarity for both sets of markers and were clearly differentiated from the two Peruvian Quechua samples available in the literature. Additionally, our data were compared with the available literature to determine the genetic and linguistic structure, and East-West differentiation in South America. The close genetic relationship between the two Bolivian samples and their differentiation from the Quechua-speakers from Peru suggests that the Quechua language expansion in Bolivia took place without any important demographic contribution. Moreover, no clear geographical or linguistic structure was found for the Alu variation among South Amerindians.

Dangerous Repasts: Food and the Supernatural in the Quechua Oral Tradition

Culinary descriptions in Quechua oral narratives often emphasize the important role food plays in the construction and maintenance of vital kinship and community bonds. References to the culture's foodways signal important plot twists, establish the tone of a scene, foreshadow impending doom, or allude to the intentions and personality of a character. In Southern Peruvian Quechua narratives, food-related aberrations frequently emerge as a result of inappropriate or unsanctioned sexual relationships, and a character's blatant disrespect for the culture's food decorum signals the impending disintegration of family relationships. Supernatural cooks often adulterate meals in order to punish family members for these violations of food etiquette. Through an analysis of four Quechua narratives, this article demonstrates the ways in which narrators use food symbolism to instill and reinforce cultural mores.

The First New Chronicle and Good Government, Abridged

This is the second English-language abridgement and translation of Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, an early colonial-period chronicle of the Andean past that transcends the Inca and Spanish conquests. The author, about whom little is known, appears to have been a member of the local nobility of the central highlands of Peru, as well as a speaker of Quechua, Aymara, and Spanish. The first English rendition, also an abridgement, was the eminently readable but not altogether satisfactory Letter to a King: A Peruvian Chief’s Account of Life under the Incas and under Spanish Rule, [translated], arranged, and edited with an introduction by Christopher Dilke, an amateur historian and traveler (Dutton, 1978).David Frye is a professional anthropologist and skilled translator. His previous work includes Indians into Mexicans: History and Identity in a Mexican Town (University of Texas Press, 1996), a revision of his 1989 Princeton University doctoral dissertation; and various translations of Mexican and Cuban fiction, most notably José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi’s Periquillo Sarniento (The Mangy Parrot) and Abilio Estévez’s Tuyo es el reino (Thine Is the Kingdom). Presently Frye is an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, where he has had the advantage of working with Bruce Mannheim, a specialist in the development of Southern Peruvian Quechua after the Spanish Conquest. In this regard, it should be recalled that the dialect, if not language, of Quechua (substituted for runa simi, literally “language of the people”) employed by Guaman Poma de Ayala was that of Southern Peruvian Quechua, more or less equivalent to the Cuzco Quechua of the first half of the colonial period (but not that of nowadays).The First New Chronicle and Good Government, Abridged includes an introduction which provides most of the information needed to understand Guaman Poma de Ayala’s text and Frye’s translation thereof, a map, a glossary, an index, and generally helpful notes that demonstrate a solid command of the relevant primary and secondary literature. The sections of the lengthy manuscript (1,189 pages in the original) selected for translation are representative of the work as a whole: “The Ages of the World,” “The Pontiff’s Throne,” “The Ages of the Indians,” “The Fifth Age of Indians: The Incas,” “The Conquest of This Kingdom,” “Good Government,” “Conquest Society in the Andes,” “Andean Society under Spanish Rule,” and “Conclusions and Appendices.” Frye also includes some of Guaman Poma de Ayala’s several hundred black-and-white drawings, which should be viewed as an integral, not merely supplementary, part of his work. (Some scholars, such as the late John Howland Rowe, maintain that the drawings are more authentically Andean than the text.) Not incidentally, the Incas were familiar with the representational arts of drawing and painting. It is just that no examples of the painted wooden boards on which they recorded their histories have survived.Given that not many students of Latin America read Spanish of the early colonial period, let alone the particular admixture of coeval Spanish and Southern Peruvian Quechua in which Nueva primer corónica y buen gobierno is written, this is a welcome translation, all the more so because it is well done. Not being an Andeanist himself, Frye has been painstaking in his explanation of terminology. I recommend this work for courses on Latin America during the colonial period, or more specifically the Central Andes (i.e., Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia). The literate public at large will also profit from this English version.My only caveat has to do with the illustrations. Although Frye has added appropriate English-language captions to those given by the author, he does not comment on the Andean significance of the chronicler’s black-and-white drawings, especially insofar as the meaning of the layout of the drawings and the relative sizes and juxtapositions of the images represented are concerned. In this regard, albeit parenthetically, some of us are wondering what an analysis of the hues employed by native artists (Guaman Poma de Ayala among them) will tell us.Each color probably had a particular meaning, as found in the watercolors in the 1590 and 1616 versions of Martín de Murúa’s history of the Incas, recently published in facsimile as the Códice Murúa: Historia y genealogía de los reyes Incas del Perú del padre mercedario Fray Martín de Murúa: Códice Galvin (Madrid: Testimonio Compañía Editorial, 2004); and Historia general del Piru: Facsimile of J. Paul Getty Museum Ms. Ludwig XIII 16 and The Getty Murúa: Essays on the Making of Martín de Murúa’s “Historia general del Piru” (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2008) — the earliest and most extensive post – Spanish Conquest bodies of color Andean iconography.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Genotype and Arterial Oxygen Saturation at High Altitude in Peruvian Quechua

The I-allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism has been associated with performance benefits at high altitude (HA). In n = 142 young males and females of largely Quechua origins in Peru, we evaluated 3 specific hypotheses with regard to the HA benefits of the I-allele: (1) the I-allele is associated with higher arterial oxygen saturation (Sa(O(2))) at HA, (2) the I-allele effect depends on the acclimatization state of the subjects, and (3) the putative I-allele effect on Sa(O(2)) is mediated by the isocapnic hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR, l/min(1)/% Sa(O(2))(1)). The subject participants comprised two different study groups including BLA subjects (born at low altitude) who were lifelong sea-level residents transiently exposed to hypobaric hypoxia (<24 h) and BHA subjects (born at HA) who were lifelong residents of HA. To control for the possibility of population stratification, Native American ancestry proportion (NAAP) was estimated as a covariate for each individual using a panel of 70 ancestry-informative molecular markers (AIMS). At HA, resting and exercise Sa(O(2)) was strongly associated with the ACE genotype, p = 0.008 with approximately 4% of the total variance in Sa(O(2)) attributed to ACE genotype. Moreover, I/I individuals maintained approximately 2.3 percentage point higher Sa(O(2)) compared to I/D and D/D. This I-allele effect was evident in both BLA and BHA groups, suggesting that acclimatization state has little influence on the phenotypic expression of the ACE gene. Finally, ACE genotype was not associated with the isocapnic HVR, although HVR had a strong independent effect on Sa(O(2)) (p = 0.001). This suggests that the I-allele effect on Sa(O(2)) is not mediated by the peripheral control of breathing, but rather by some other central cardiopulmonary effect of the ACE gene on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS).

Quechua for Catherine the Great: José Joaquín Ávalos Chauca’s Quechua Vocabulary (1788)

The eighteenth century has become known for its decreasing interest in and even its intentions to restrict the use of the Amerindian languages by the authorities in the Americas. However, overseas there was interest in indigenous languages, directed toward the multiplicity of human languages and their comparison more than toward the description of individual languages. Thus, in Russia, Catherine II founded an initiative to find universals in the world’s languages. The Quechua vocabulary presented here was composed because of this and is one of only a few eighteenth‐century manuscripts on Southern Peruvian Quechua which can be dated (1788); it is kept in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville. This paper presents a transcription of and a short analytic comment on this Quechua vocabulary, which is an important document because it gives us information about how an eighteenth‐century Peruvian Quechuist saw the linguistic situation in the Andes and because through the lexical entries it offers phonological material which can help us gain more knowledge of a linguistically rather scarcely documented period.

Procesos y visitas de idolatrías: Cajatambo, siglo XVIII

Procesos y visitas de idolatrías: Cajatambo, siglo XVIII

Spanish genetic admixture is associated with larger V(O2) max decrement from sea level to 4338 m in Peruvian Quechua.

Quechua in the Andes may be genetically adapted to altitude and able to resist decrements in maximal O2 consumption in hypoxia (DeltaVo2 max). This hypothesis was tested via repeated measures of Vo2 max (sea level vs. 4338 m) in 30 men of mixed Spanish and Quechua origins. Individual genetic admixture level (%Spanish ancestry) was estimated by using ancestry-informative DNA markers. Genetic admixture explained a significant proportion of the variability in DeltaVo2 max after control for covariate effects, including sea level Vo2 max and the decrement in arterial O2 saturation measured at Vo2 max (DeltaSpO2 max) (R2 for admixture and covariate effects approximately 0.80). The genetic effect reflected a main effect of admixture on DeltaVo2 max (P = 0.041) and an interaction between admixture and DeltaSpO2 max (P = 0.018). Admixture predicted DeltaVo2 max only in subjects with a large DeltaSpO2 max (P = 0.031). In such subjects, DeltaVo2 max was 12-18% larger in a subgroup of subjects with high vs. low Spanish ancestry, with least squares mean values (+/-SE) of 739 +/- 71 vs. 606 +/- 68 ml/min, respectively. A trend for interaction (P = 0.095) was also noted between admixture and the decrease in ventilatory threshold at 4338 m. As previously, admixture predicted DeltaVo2 max only in subjects with a large decrease in ventilatory threshold. These findings suggest that the genetic effect on DeltaVo2 max depends on a subject's aerobic fitness. Genetic effects may be more important (or easier to detect) in athletic subjects who are more likely to show gas-exchange impairment during exercise. The results of this study are consistent with the evolutionary hypothesis and point to a better gas-exchange system in Quechua.

The home team advantage: reproduction in women indigenous to high altitude.

Although there is substantial evidence that environmental conditions disrupt reproductive function among newcomers to hypoxic settings, it is not certain that low oxygen pressure reduces fertility among those indigenous to high altitude. Even when fertility does appear to be relatively lower, numerous behavioral and sociocultural factors may be responsible. These are best examined within demographic frameworks that delineate a finite list of the proximate determinants of fertility. The findings presented here are based on several studies of indigenous Andean populations (Peruvian Quechua at 4000 m, Bolivian Quechua at 3100 m, Bolivian Aymara at 4000 m). Data on ovarian function suggest that neither progesterone levels nor menstrual cycle length or regularity are significantly different from those of women at lower altitudes. Data on two behavioral factors that determine fertility levels, coital frequency and infant feeding practices, suggest that the former is not likely to be of significance in co-habitating couples, but that variation in breastfeeding patterns has probably made a substantial contribution to differences in fertility among at least some populations at high altitude.

β‐fibrinogen allele frequencies in Peruvian Quechua, a high‐altitude native population

Elevated hematocrits, which are found in many high-altitude populations, increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and may represent an adaptation to hypoxic environments. However, as high hematocrit increases blood viscosity, which in turn is associated with hypertension and heart disease, it may be advantageous for high-altitude populations to limit other factors that contribute to increased blood viscosity. One such factor is the plasma concentration of the coagulation protein fibrinogen. Several common polymorphisms in the β-fibrinogen gene have been identified that affect fibrinogen concentrations. We determined the allele frequencies of three of these polymorphisms (G/A-455(HaeIII), C/T-148(HindIII), and G/A+448(MnlI)) in sample groups drawn from three populations: Quechua-speaking natives living at over 3,200 m in the Peruvian Andes, North American natives (Na-Dene) from coastal British Columbia, and Caucasian North Americans. The frequencies of the alleles previously shown to be associated with increased fibrinogen levels were so low in the Quechuas that their presence could be accounted for solely by genetic admixture with Caucasians. Frequencies in the Na-Dene, a Native American group unrelated to the Quechua, were not significantly different from those in Caucasians. Am J Phys Anthropol 109:181–186, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Lexical acculturation, areal diffusion, lingua francas, and bilingualism

ABSTRACTThis study continues an investigation of lexical acculturation in Native American languages using a sample of 292 language cases distributed from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego (Brown 1994). Focus is on the areal diffusion of native language words for imported European Objects and concepts. Approximately 80% of all sharing of such terms is found to occur among closely genetically related languages. Amerindian languages only distantly related, or not related at all, tend to share native labels for acculturated itemsonlywhen these have diffused to them from a lingua franca, such as Chinook Jargon (a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest Coast) or Peruvian Quechua (the language of the Inca empire). Lingua francas also facilitate diffusion of terms through genetically related languages; but sometimes, as in the case of Algonquian languages, these are neither familiar American pidgins nor languages associated with influential nation states. An explanatory framework is constructed around the proposal that degree of bilingualism positively influences extent of lexical borrowing. (Amerindian languages, bilingualism, language contact, lexical acculturation, lexical diffusion, lingua francas)

Bilingual Education and Language Maintenance: A Southern Peruvian Quechua Case

Reviewed by NANCY C. DORIAN, Bryn Mawr College This is an unusually valuable study. Hornberger worked at solid ethnographic depth in two different communities within a Peruvian Andean setting that she was already widely familiar with. She was fully proficient in both Quechua and Spanish at the outset of the study. Though well read in the literature of language shift and language maintenance, she seems to have avoided partisan adherence to any school of thought and to have waited with patience for local patterns to reveal their fit with existing theories, or their lack of fit. The result is a wellobserved, thoughtful, and revealing study which discourages any notion of a simple direct connection between the existence of a bilingual education program and the maintenance of a minority language. H's research on Quechua bilingual education is carefully located in the context of education policy in Peru and in the Department of Puno over the course of the 20th century and especially in recent decades. The Puno Experimental Bilingual Education Project began operation in 1980, with Quechua and Aymara programs undertaken in the appropriate districts respectively. H's two-year period of residence and observation in two Quechua-speaking communities came in 1982 and 1983. She lived and worked in Kinsachata, which in 1981 and 1982 had a Quechua bilingual education program, and in Visallani, which had not had such a program at all. The two communities were chosen to be much alike except for the presence of the bilingual school program in the one and the traditional monolingual Spanish-language school program in the other. Before giving any account of what she observed in the Kinsachata and Visallani schools, H discusses language attitudes and language use in the two communities, basing her analysis on informal conversations, observations of language interactions, and a formal (and tape-recorded) Language Use/Language History questionnaire which she had prepared as part of her research methodology. She offers not her own, but rather the community members' opinions and points of view, as they expressed them and demonstrated them. She is resolute at this point, as she is throughout her study, in trying to refrain from applying her own values and opinions to observed behavior or expressed opinions, though she conscientiously notes some matters in connection with which she found such restraint difficult (5). Within the Quechua-speaking communities H identifies two long-established domains of language use, the ayllu and the non-ayllu domains. The ayllu domain (from a Quechua word referring to community and family) encompasses social interactions between community members within traditional community life, while the non-ayllu domain refers to social interactions between community members and outsiders in which the larger Peruvian society intrudes on local life, such as interactions at the school or at the district seat. Beyond these two