Tsafiki language

Tsafiki, also known as Tsachila or Colorado, is a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador by c. 2000 ethnic Tsáchila people.

Tsafiki
Colorado
Tsa'fiki
Native to	Ecuador
Ethnicity	Tsáchila
Native speakers	(2,300 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Barbacoan Southern? Tsafiki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cof
Glottolog	colo1256
ELP	Tsafiki
Tsafiki

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)