Tsafiki language

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

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

External links

• Colorado (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)