On the experienced past tense in the Bolivian Aymara of Bilingual Aymara-Spanish speakers

Abstract

This paper examines the use of the experienced past tense in Aymara as employed by bilingual Aymara-Spanish speakers. The study specifically focuses on the variety of Aymara predominantly spoken in the La Paz department (Bolivia). The primary data consists of transcriptions from audio recordings available in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA). The analysis explores both the evidential and non-evidential uses of this tense, suggesting that certain uses have emerged due to language contact with Spanish. Furthermore, the study provides insights into the aspectual and temporal characteristics of this tense, elucidating the differences between the two tenses used to express direct evidentiality and past actions in Aymara: the experienced past tense and the simple past tense.