In Napo, Ecuador, many speakers experience the use of the standardized variety Kichwa Unificado in formal education and other forms of institutional language revitalization to be a serious imposition upon their regional varieties of Kichwa. This article explores the assumptions about the nature of language—or what have been called ontologies of language (Hauck and Heurich 2018; Ferguson 2019)—that shape responses to language revitalization in Napo. At stake in debates over language standardization are fundamental assumptions of the nature of language and its connection to personhood. Grassroots Amazonian Kichwa media focused on “listening” and “remembering,” reveal the importance of not only ideological clarification (Kroskrity 2009), but also ontological clarification in language revitalization and advocacy.

中文翻译：

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语言性质：厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的方法，媒体和语言开垦

在厄瓜多尔的那坡市，许多发言者都体验到在正规教育和其他形式的机构语言振兴中使用标准化变体Kichwa Unificado，以强加于其当地变体Kichwa。本文探讨了关于语言本质的假设-或所谓的语言本体论（Hauck and Heurich 2018; Ferguson 2019）-塑造了Napo对语言复兴的反应。关于语言标准化的争论中，最基本的假设是语言的性质及其与人格的联系。注重“听”和“记住”的草根亚马逊基奇瓦媒体不仅揭示了意识形态澄清的重要性（Kroskrity 2009），而且还揭示了在语言复兴和倡导中进行本体论澄清的重要性。