Tsafiki, also known as Tsachila or Colorado, is a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador by c. 2000 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 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 ate (speaker sees dishes)
References
- ^ Tsafiki at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Dickinson, Connie (2002). Complex Predicates in Tsafiki. Ann Arbor: UMI.
- ^ 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.
External links
| Official languages | |
|---|---|
| Indigenous languages | |
| Spanish varieties | |
| Sign languages | |
