Dialects: Eastern Cajamarca, Western Cajamarca. Relatively minor dialect differences. Lexical similarity: 94% with Lambayeque , (most similar), 92% with Pacaraos ,. A member of macrolanguage Quechua ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 30,000 (2000 D. Coombs).
Language Use: Relatively strong use in 8 to 10 communities. Strong pressure from Spanish in all communities due to secondary schools and gold mining in the area. Many deny its existence (2000 D. Coombs). Home. Mainly adults. Negative attitudes. At least 20,000 to 25,000 speak a country dialect of Spanish [spa].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 5%–10%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–35%. Series of basic primers and graded readers in Quechua. Some Quechua reading classes in a few rural schools. A few Quechua reading and grammar classes in rural high schools. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2004–2008.
Typology: SOV.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Peru
Other Comments: Christian.