Bilingüismo y realidad sociolingüística de la lengua inga en Colombia

Abstract

The main goal of the research presented here is to study the Inga speech community. Inga is a Quechuan language, and its community is spread around the south of Colombia; the study tackles the features of language contact, Spanish/Inga or amongst any other languages known and used by the members of the community. We shall pay special attention to those communities around Sibundoy Valley (Putumayo), Atante (Nariño), Bota Caucana (Cauca), as well as to those already settled in the large Colombian urban areas such as Bogotá and Cali. Our main goal is to render an adequate characterization of this indigenous community: its territorial situation, its sociolinguistic characteristics, the degree and type of bilingualism amongst its members, the survival of the community members and of the language itself, the use and distribution of the language across communicative fields, especially in a context of diglosia, multilingualism and multiculturality typical of and intrinsic to Colombia, and the study of language awareness and sociolinguistic attitudes of this community.