Abstract

In recent decades, research has provided new insights on the phenomenon of language change, use and appreciation, revealing the degree of complexity that characterizes the social context in which the phenomenon evolves. This study intends to complement and relativize these investigations to demonstrate that the Quechua-Spanish language shift requires a cultural and ideological perspective, where the preference for Spanish by Quechua native speakers is also manifested as a resistance factor. For this purpose, we have focused on two key issues: first, the importance of addressing the linguistic variation known as castellano andino, or Andean Spanish. Then, through a text from the sixteenth century by Guaman Poma de Ayala and a series of short stories from the twentieth century by José María Arguedas, we demonstrate how Spanish has been used ideologically and instrumentally to preserve the Quechua language and to not allow its extinction.