Verbal complexity in South Bolivian Quechua : insights from the speech of monolingual elders

This dissertation analyzes the complexity of verbal morphology of Southern Bolivian Quechua (SBQ) variety as it is spoken by monolingual elders in a rural town of Southern Bolivia. It states that the verbal morphology is composed by two types of morphemes: simplex and complex. This analysis relies on L1 native speaker intuitions. The findings are different from what previous linguists found (see, Lastra 1968, Bills et al., 1971, Muysken 1986, Herrero & Sanchez 1978, Van de Kerke 1993, Plaza 2009). The simplex suffixes analyzed have a compositional meaning derivable from the individual suffix or from the context. The complex suffixes are units historically built up from simplex ones. Synchronically they lack compositional meaning and are no longer interpretable from their individual counterparts. The meanings of those complex suffixes are abstract and particular to spontaneous conversations and cultural knowledge. The functions of these complex suffixes range from associated motion, directionality, and others that remains uninterpretable. In this dissertation I argue that some of the meanings of some complex suffixes are culturally specific determined by L1 speakers of SBQ.Linguistic