Tsafiki language

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

Phonology

Consonants

  • /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.

  • Unaccented vowels before voiceless stops are often devoiced [ḁ].

Morphology

Evidentiality

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

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


Uses material from the Wikipedia article Tsafiki language, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.