Pentateuco del Quechua Arequipa La Unión
Overview
Pentateuco del Quechua Arequipa La Unión ("Pentateuch of the Arequipa La Unión Quechua") is the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) in the Arequipa-La Unión variety of Quechua, published by The Seed Company and available via YouVersion/Bible.com (ID 4593; abbreviation: QXU). SIL/ILV began linguistic and literacy work in this dialect in 1985; earlier translations produced Luke and Acts (available via Scripture Earth); the Pentateuch published here extends the available scripture. The local title, Traducción del Pentateuco Quechua de La Unión, Cotahuasi-Arequipa, specifies the precise geographic variety: the Cotahuasi basin in La Unión Province.
Language and People
Arequipa-La Unión Quechua (ISO 639-3: qxu; autonym: Chanka runasimi — "the speech of the Chanka people") is a Southern Quechua variety: Quechuan → Peripheral Quechua → Chinchay → Southern Chinchay → Southern Peruvian Quechua (Torero's "Quechua IIc"). It is most closely related to Ayacucho Quechua (quy) and Cusco Quechua (quz), sharing high mutual intelligibility and a common literary standard with these varieties.
The language is spoken in La Unión Province, Arequipa Department, southern Peru, centered on the town of Cotahuasi and the Cotahuasi Canyon — one of the world's deepest canyons (~3,354 m deep, a UNESCO tentative World Heritage site). Communities range from ~2,600 m elevation at Cotahuasi to above 4,000 m on the high plateaus (puna).
Estimated speakers: approximately 19,000 (SIL 1985 La Unión province study) to 42,000 (Joshua Project ethnic group). The language is classified as stable and institutionally active (used in some schools), though out-migration to coastal cities is eroding it.
Cultural Context
The Arequipa Quechua are descendants of Inca-era inhabitants of the Cotahuasi basin. They practice traditional Andean agriculture — potatoes, maize, and llama herding on high plateaus — and women are known for colorful textile work. Religious practice is nominally Roman Catholic (~93%) but deeply syncretized with Andean animism, including reverence for mountain spirits (Apus). Joshua Project classifies this community at Progress Scale 3 (Superficially Reached), with approximately 0.1–2% evangelical.
A grammar of La Unión Quechua was produced by Andrew Buckingham in 1992 (SIL); literacy teachers were trained from 1985 onward.
Publishing and Organizations
Published by The Seed Company (distribution). SIL International/ILV began linguistic and translation work in 1985; the Pentateuch translation extends earlier work on Luke and Acts.