MULTILINGÜISMO Y LENGUAJE MEZCLADO EN LAS MINAS DE POTOSÍ (BOLIVIA)

Abstract

This paper explores, using the methodology of historical sociolinguistics, multilingualism and language contact in the mines of Potosí (Bolivia) in the colonial period. Potosí was the destination of massive immigration during its economic heydays and one of the largest cities in the Western hemisphere in 1610. In the mines a special code was developed, with a specialized lexicon that contains words from different languages. This lexicon was so different that the first vocabulary of the mining language was written in 1610, and many have followed from that date onward. Quechua played a key role as intermediary language between two forms of speaking: The indigenous mining language of the yanaconas and mingas, probably a mix of Spanish and Quechua, and the language of the mitayos, possibly a mix of Aymara and Quechua. The similarities between Aymara and Quechua must have contributed to this possibility of an intermediary language.