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Abstract
This study looks to examine and describe interference phenomena occurring among bilingual Quechua and Spanish speakers from Ancash (northern Peru) which leads to a morphological and semantic convergence between these two languages. From preliminary observations it has been concluded that Quechua morphology within certain semantic categories is being transferred into the Spanish past tense system of the speech of bilinguals. This research aims at identifying and describing the nature and degree of transfer of morphological features between two linguistic systems in contact. The fieldwork will be carried out in Ancash, Peru. Approximately twenty adult persons from this area will be selected based on a judgment sample. It is hypothesized that variables of sex, age and social class will be the primary determinants of the issues being investigated, and thus will be considered in the selection of bilingual Spanish-Quechua participants. Findings from this study will further our understanding of linguistic change, which in turn will help us gain insights into the nature of dialectal variation in the Peruvian northern highlands.