Editing Inca Empire (section)

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Quechua languages}}

The empire was linguistically diverse. Some of the most important languages were [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Puquina language|Puquina]] and [[Mochica language|Mochica]], respectively mainly spoken in the Central Andes, the [[Altiplano]] ([[Qullasuyu]]), the south coast ([[Kuntisuyu]]), and the area of the north coast ([[Chinchaysuyu]]) around [[Chan Chan]], today [[Trujillo, Peru|Trujillo]]. Other languages included [[Quignam language|Quignam]], [[Jaqaru language|Jaqaru]], [[Leco language|Leco]], [[Uru-Chipaya languages]], [[Kunza language|Kunza]], [[Humahuaca language|Humahuaca]], [[Cacán language|Cacán]], [[Mapuche language|Mapudungun]], [[Culle language|Culle]], [[Extinct languages of the Marañón River basin#Chacha|Chachapoya]], [[Catacao languages]], [[Manta language (Ecuador)|Manta]], [[Barbacoan languages]], and [[Cañari–Puruhá languages|Cañari–Puruhá]] as well as numerous Amazonian languages on the frontier regions. The exact linguistic topography of the pre-Columbian and early colonial Andes remains incompletely understood, owing to the extinction of several languages and the loss of historical records.

In order to manage this diversity, the Inca lords promoted the usage of [[Quechua languages|Quechua]], especially [[:es:Quechua costeño|the variety of what is now Lima]],<ref>Torero Fernández de Córdoba, Alfredo, (1970), "Lingüística e historia de la Sociedad Andina", Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, VIII, 3-4, pp. 249–251, Lima: UNALM.</ref> as the [[official language]] or [[lingua franca]]. Defined by mutual intelligibility, Quechua is actually a family of languages rather than one single language, parallel to the Romance or Slavic languages in Europe. Most communities within the empire, even those resistant to Inca rule, learned to speak a variety of Quechua (forming new regional varieties with distinct phonetics) in order to communicate with the Inca lords and mitma colonists, as well as the wider integrating society, but largely retained their native languages as well. The Incas also had their own ethnic language, which is thought to have been closely related to or a dialect of [[Puquina language|Puquina]].

There are several common misconceptions about the history of Quechua, as it is frequently identified as the "Inca language". Quechua did not originate with the Incas, had been a lingua franca in multiple areas before the Inca expansions, was diverse before the rise of the Incas, and it was not the native or original language of the Incas. However, the Incas left a linguistic legacy in that they introduced Quechua to many areas where it is still widely spoken today, including Ecuador, southern Bolivia, southern Colombia, and parts of the Amazon basin. The Spanish conquerors continued the official usage of Quechua during the early colonial period and transformed it into a literary language.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Sounds/Quechua/QuechuaOriginsAndDiversity.htm |title=Origins And Diversity of Quechua |website=quechua.org.uk}}</ref>

The Incas were not known to develop a written form of language; however, they visually recorded narratives through paintings on vases and cups ([[qiru]]s).<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Comparing chronicles and Andean visual texts  |url=http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/chungara/v46n1/art06.pdf |journal=[[Chungara (journal)|Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena]] |volume=46, Nº 1, 2014 |pages=91–113}}</ref> These paintings are usually accompanied by geometric patterns known as toqapu, which are also found in textiles. Researchers have speculated that toqapu patterns could have served as a form of written communication (e.g. heraldry or glyphs), however, this remains unclear.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Royal Tocapu in Guacan Poma: An Inca Heraldic? |journal=Boletin de Arqueologia PUCP |date=11 April 2004 |volume=Nº 8 |issue=8 |pages=305–323 |last1=Eeckhout |first1=Peter |doi=10.18800/boletindearqueologiapucp.200401.016 |s2cid=190129569 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Incas also kept records by using [[quipu]]s.