742

Morocomarca may result from more recent contacts, but
Since the examples for Morocomarca came from only one
source, that dialect needs further checking.

A different explanation than that of population
movements may account for similarities among dialects
distant from La Paz, whether to the north, south, east,
or west, and their differences from dialects in or close
to the Bolivian capital. Most of the features that
distinguish peripheral dialects from those of La Paz
are conservative in terms of the latter. That is,
peripheral features represent a survival of forms or of
complex morphophonemic processes that La Paz probably
once had but has since lost, such as stop voicing after
nasals and other voiced nonstop consonants, complex
morphophonemics of possessive suffixes and certain verbal
inflectional suffixes, the four-member -ipana subordinating
paradigm, and the native Aymara diminutive suffix -cha.
The hypothesis that La Paz dialects once had such forms
or processes is supported by the existence today of certain
relics like Tayk.s Mariya (5-3.24.4), Na.nak.n awki
(5-3.31.2), and s.ipna (7-4.44), but requires a convincing
explanation for their loss. In many cases it may be
attributable to Spanish influence, always stronger in
the capital city and areas accessible to it than in remote
areas. La Paz dialects conform more closely to Spanish

phonotactics in avoiding stop-nasal or stop-fricative