Prosody in Kichwa as a Tool for Enhanced Language Instruction in Bilingual Settings
Presenter(s)
Affiliation
Topic
Indigenous Languages and Technology
Type
Papers
Abstract
This research explores the role of Kichwa prosody in enhancing language instruction for bilingual Kichwa-speaking students within Kichwa-Spanish educational contexts. While Kichwa is traditionally an oral language, its integration into formal bilingual education systems necessitates innovative strategies to support literacy and language retention among Indigenous students. Prosody—the rhythm, stress, and intonation of spoken Kichwa—plays a vital yet often underutilized role in conveying meaning and enhancing comprehension.
This ongoing study hypothesizes that increased awareness of prosodic features can improve language comprehension, expression, and retention in bilingual settings by aligning teaching methods with Kichwa’s distinct oral characteristics. Data collection involves recording sentences with various syntactic structures (e.g., S–O–V, S–Adj.O–V, Adj.S–O–V, among others) to observe prosodic patterns across different sentence types. The analysis is conducted using specialized software (Praat) to synthesize and examine speech patterns, segmenting by syllable and glossing each structure to identify trends in intonation and stress placement. Preliminary findings suggest that in S–O–V sentences, stress typically falls on the penultimate syllable of the object, while in S–Adj.O–V structures, the highest pitch tends to occur on the penultimate syllable of the adjective.
These initial results indicate that incorporating prosodic features into Kichwa-Spanish instruction may enhance students' ability to parse and interpret both Kichwa and Spanish morphosyntactic structures. This approach could facilitate cross-linguistic transfer and support bilingual literacy. The research holds significant implications for educators, applied linguists, and psychologists interested in bilingual education strategies that honor and incorporate the oral traditions of Indigenous languages. By embedding prosodic elements into teaching methodologies, we can foster deeper linguistic engagement and improve bilingual outcomes for Kichwa-speaking students, advocating for a prosody-informed approach in Indigenous language education.
