syntactic roles and retain or lose their own or preceding
vowels according to complex morphophonemic rules. All
dialects also have certain linguistic postulates: a
system of four grammatical persons, a distinction of human
and nonhuman reference, and a distinction of direct and
indirect knowledge. All dialects are mutually (though

not equally) intelligible.

Regional differences occur primarily in phonology
and morphophonemics. Two dialects have a phoneme lacking
in the others, and there is considerable variety in phono-
logical shapes in morphemes stemming from phonemic insta-
bility and morphophonemic variation. Regional patterning
involves two overlapping distinctions: (1) a division
into northern and southern dialects (with two intermediate
dialects sharing some features of both), and (2) a division
into central and peripheral dialects reflecting the spread
of La Paz influence toward outlying areas that retain
certain features La Paz has lost. The dialectal picture
is further complicated by the existence of certain features
shared by a few dialects without regard to regional
patterning.

While many La Paz innovations are attributable
to Spanish influence and all dialects of Aymara appear
to be adopting Spanish loans at an accelerating rate,
Aymara is a vigorous language that will survive due to
natural population increases for at least several genera-

tions. In the long run the future of the language will

XV