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spanish america  Language  Alan Durston The parish church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas , not far from Cusco, contains a seventeenth-­ century mural featuring the sacramental formula “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” in five different languages (Fig. 61). The mural appropriately frames the baptistry doorway and disposes the languages in a hierarchical fashion on both vertical and horizontal axes: Latin, Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and Puquina. It appears that one of the purposes of the mural was to help the indigenous parishioners learn the formula in their native language so that they could baptize infants in the absence of a priest. There is some debate, however, as to whether Aymara and in particular the now-­ extinct Puquina language were spoken at that time in Andahuaylillas.1 The mural seems to serve instead (oralso) as a diagram ranking languages according to how well established they were in the faith.Thus,Quechua, the “Latin of the Andes,” is ranked above Aymara, and Aymara above Puquina. Something like a translation relay is also implied here. Christianity moved from Latin into Spanish and from Spanish (primarily) into the languages of the New World. Christian translation into Aymara and Puquina appears to have been heavily influenced by what had been done first with Quechua, although this topic requires further research. There is evidence that the tiny Christian literature in Puquina extant today was translated from Quechua rather than from Spanish originals.2 Beyond the practical necessities of ruling and converting vast and diverse dominions, multilingualism was favored by the pluralism of the Habsburg monarchy and by the Church’s Pentecostal mandate as the recipient of thedivine Gift of Tongues. As Vicente Rafael observes in his book on missionary uses of Tagalog in the colonial Philippines, translation epitomized the entire conversion process: the Word transcended the individuality of the languages of the world, ancient and new, civil and “savage,” by becoming incarnated in them. However, Rafael notes, translation was not a process through which the new languages could substitute for the old ones and break free. A strict hierarchy was maintained among them, and the new always bore the mark of the old.3 In pastoral publications indigenous languages are hemmed in and invaded by the source languages —parallel Spanish versions, Spanish loanwords for most keyconcepts, and Latin quotations from scripture, all monitoring the interpretation of the vernacular. It is also worth noting that there were strict limitations on pastoral multilingualism, especially in the Andes, where a standard variety of Quechua was developed by the Church and used to the exclusion of other forms of Quechua and probably also to the detriment of the developing Christian literatures in other Andean languages.4 This image of hierarchy and control does not tell the whole story. Only the tip of the iceberg of translation activities and general linguistic interaction is in full view, but sometimes we can catch a glimpse of the less regimented, submerged parts. In 1589 Juan de Cellorigo, a prominent vecino of Cusco, was accused of translating into Quechua libelous songs in the copla genre attacking the Jesuit order and of singing them in the indigenous harawi style accompanied by a vihuela (stringed instrument of Spanish origin ).5 While Cellorigodenied the charges, this sounds like a very effective form of anti-­Jesuit propaganda; first, because it would easily spread among the indigenous population, and second, because it used the Jesuits’ own missionary tools against them. The Jesuits were known and criticized for their use of both Quechua and songs in the copla genre in religious instruction. The generally pro-­ Jesuit indigenous chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala warned that Indians used coplas to “offend” God; they were clearly well aware of the genre’s origins in Spanish popular culture and its profane (particularly amorous) uses. In other parts of his work Guaman Poma brilliantly satirized the mangled sermons ofostensibly Quechua-­speaking priests, whose attempts at vernacular preaching made them the laughingstock of their parishioners.6 While ecclesiastical institutions struggled to maintain hierarchy and control in the processes of translation that they initiated, the results on the ground tended to slide into the carnivalesque. The multilingual mural of Andahuaylillas also gives occasion to reflect on the importance of what sociolinguists call “code-­ switching” as a device of baroque literature . I use the term loosely, with reference to the juxtaposition of texts in different languages as well as switching languages within a text or sentence. I do, however, distinguish...

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