35

been present. His mistakes in transcription were sig-
nificant in showing points of difference between the

two dialects and, when brought to his attention, made

him aware of the ways that one's own language or dialect
grid may structure one's perception. Throughout the
research I maintained and encouraged in all persons with
whom I worked an attitude of respect or even enthusiasm
toward the diversity that became apparent, noting, however,

their occasional linguocentric comments (see 10-2.6).
1-3.5 Organization of the study

This study is organized into chapters on the
following topics: a survey of literature on Aymara
from the colonial period to the present; variation in
phonemics and in phonological shape of morphemes within
and across dialects; variation in morphophonemics, in-
cluding rules general to all dialects and rules limited
to certain dialects; variation in the noun system, in
the verb system, and in morphosyntactic and syntactic
Structures and processes; variation in semantics, including
a section on the nonvarying linguistic postulates; three
translation dialects: Missionary, Patr6n, and Radio
Aymara; and a conclusion summarizing kinds of variation,
identifying regional dialect groups on the basis of sig-
nificant variation, and offering suggestions for future

research. Following the chapters there are Appendices

v “My