Tsafiki language

Tsafiki
Colorado
Tsa'fiki
Native toEcuador
EthnicityTsáchila
Native speakers
(2,300 cited 2000)[1]
Barbacoan
  • Southern?
    • Tsafiki
Language codes
ISO 639-3cof
Glottologcolo1256
ELPTsafiki
  Tsafiki

Tsafiki, also known as Tsachila or Colorado, is a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador by about 2,000 ethnic Tsáchila people.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d
Affricate t͡s
Fricative ɸ s h
Nasal m n
Lateral l
Flap ɹ ~ ɾ
Semivowel j w
  • /b, d/ are preglottalized [ˀb, ˀd] when occurring intervocalically.
  • /k/ can become voiced [ɡ] when intervocally after nasal sounds.
  • /ɹ/ is heard as [ɾ] when occurring word-initially, and when following a nasalized vowel, an allophone [n] occurs.
  • /s/ is heard as [ʃ] when preceding high vowels /i, u/ and after unaccented high vowels.
  • /t͡s/ is heard as [t͡ʃ] when preceding high vowels, but many speakers pronounce it as [t͡ʃ] in all environments.

Vowels

Tsafiki has five vowels Four vowels have nasalized forms.

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a
Front Central Back
High ĩ ũ
Mid ẽ
Low ã
  • Unaccented vowels before voiceless stops are often devoiced [ḁ].[2]

Morphology

Evidentiality

Tsafiki has a four-way evidentiality system. Unmarked verbs indicate "direct" witness.[3]

Manuel

Manuel

ano

food

fi-e

eat-VIS+DECL

Manuel ano fi-e

Manuel food eat-VIS+DECL

Manuel ate (speaker saw him)

-nu- is used when it is inferred from physical evidence.

Manuel

Manuel

ano

food

fi-n-ki-e

eat-INFR-DECL

Manuel ano fi-n-ki-e

Manuel food eat-INFR-DECL

Manuel ate (speaker sees dishes)

References

  1. ^ Tsafiki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Dickinson, Connie (2002). Complex Predicates in Tsafiki. Ann Arbor: UMI.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  3. ^ Miyaoka, Osahito; Sakiyama, Osamu; Krauss, Michael E., eds. (2007). The vanishing languages of the Pacific rim. Oxford linguistics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 196–197. ISBN 978-0-19-926662-3. OCLC 71004259.


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