Cofán language

Cofán
Aʼingae
Native to	Ecuador, Colombia
Ethnicity	Cofán people
Native speakers	1,000 (2012)
Language family	Language isolate
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	con
Glottolog	cofa1242
ELP	Cofán

Aʼingae, commonly known as Cofán or Kofán, is the primary language of the Aʼi (Cofán) people, an indigenous group whose ancestral territory lies at the interface between the Andean foothills and Amazonia in the northeast of Ecuador (Sucumbíos province) and southern Colombia (Putumayo & Nariño provinces).

While past classifications have identified Cofán as belonging to linguistic families such as Chibchan or Andean B, it is now widely agreed to be a language isolate, with no known genetic relatives. Although still robustly learned by children in Ecuadorian communities, it is considered an 'endangered' language with estimates of around 1500 native speakers.

History and current status

Aʼingae is a language isolate of Amazonia spoken by the Cofán people in Sucumbios Province in northeastern Ecuador and the departments of Putumayo and Nariño in southern Colombia. The language has approximately 1500 speakers and is relatively vital in Ecuador and severely endangered in Colombia. However, language attitudes about Aʼingae are positive and it is considered foundational to Cofán identity and community (Cepek 2012).

The Aʼi are traditionally hunter-gatherers who historically spanned over a large territory (AnderBois et al. 2019). In Ecuador, the Cofán have resisted conquest by the Inca and colonization by the Spanish, as well as anti-indigenous policies by the Ecuadorian government. The pre-Colombian Cofán population is estimated at 60,000 to 70,000. Though the origin of the Cofán is the Eastern Andean Cordilleras, Inca encroachment pushed the Cofán to the eastern lowlands, which they still inhabit today. The Cofán have undergone de facto segregation codified by the Ecuadorian government, a measles outbreak in 1923 that reduced the population to a few hundred, and illegal oil extraction that threatened the environment in Cofán territory and the Cofán way of life. The Cofán have played a major role in the Indigenous movement in Ecuador, and in 2018 they won a judicial case recognizing their right to decide over environmental activities in their territory and prohibiting the continued operation of mining activities.

The Cofán's religious tradition is shamanistic, and a key cultural value of the Cofán is harmonious conviviality. In addition, participation in cultural practices such as drinking yaje and traditional skills like hunting and housebuilding, rather than descent or ethnicity, plays a large role in determining one's status as an aʼi (Cepek 2012). The Cofán credit their strong linguistic identity for their ability to withstand colonial oppression and protect their traditional way of life.

Aʼingae is a language isolate. The language has considerable Amazonian borrowings from Tukanoan and Cariban languages, as well as many Quechuan borrowings. While there have been previous claims of genetic ties or language contact of Aʼingae to Barbacoan, Chicham, and Chibchan, it has been determined that there are no substantial borrowings. No complete grammar of the language has been produced.

The name of the language, Aʼingae, which consists of the stem aʼi ('person, Cofán person, civilized person') and the manner clitic =ngae, means 'in the manner of the people'. Though the speakers use the word Aʼingae, the language is also known by the Spanish denomination Cofán.

Phonology

Aʼingae has 27 consonants as well as 5 oral monophthongs and 6 oral diphthongs, each with a nasal counterpart which is contrastive. The language is currently considered to have an unknown amount of dialectal variation. It is quite likely that there is some, but no concrete research and evidence has been put forward to make a strong claim either way, warranting further investigation.

Consonants

The 27 consonant phonemes are listed below in the table with their IPA representations. In Aʼingae, there is a three-way, contrastive distinction between voiceless, aspirated, and prenasalized plosives and affricates. There are no such distinctions for fricatives. All consonants can be word-initial, except for /ʔ/ and /ɰ/. Note that glottal stop, although phonologically contrastive, can be realized as creakiness.

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t	t͡s	t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	t͡sʰ	t͡ʃʰ	kʰ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd	ⁿd͡z	ⁿd͡ʒ	ᵑg
Fricative		f	s		ʃ		h
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Approximant		ʋ			j	ɰ
Tap			ɾ

Vowels

The 5 oral vowels and their nasal counterparts are listed in the table below with their IPA representation. The 6 diphthongs and their nasal counterparts in IPA representation are the following: [ai]/[ãĩ], [oe]/[õẽ], [oa]/[õã], [oi]/[õĩ], [ɨi]/[ɨ̃ĩ], and [ao]/[ãõ].

	Front	Central	Back
High	i / ĩ	ɨ / ɨ̃
Mid	e / ẽ		o / õ
Low		a / ã

Diphthongs

When vowels appear adjacent to one another, they either become a diphthong (for the pairs listed above) or a glide is inserted if a diphthong does not exist for that pair. For example:

(1)

/ho.ʋaʔ.kã.o/

[ho.ʋaʔ.kãõ]

DIST=SIM=AUG

/ho.ʋaʔ.kã.o/

[ho.ʋaʔ.kãõ]

DIST=SIM=AUG

'exactly like that'

(2)

/ɲo.tsʰi.a/

[ɲõ.tsʰia]

good=QUAL=ADJR

/ɲo.tsʰi.a/

[ɲõ.tsʰia]

good=QUAL=ADJR

'good'

Note that the vowel pair /ae/ is realized as [ai].

Triphthongs do not exist in Aʼingae, and glottal stops are inserted phonemically when a sequence of three vowels would occur as in example (1) below.

(3)

/ᵐbia.a/

[bi̯a.ʔa]

(long=ADJR)

/ᵐbia.a/

[bi̯a.ʔa]

(long=ADJR)

'long'

Nasalization

Nasalization is a major feature of the Aʼingae sound system. As already seen, there are contrastive prenasalized consonants as well as contrastive nasal counterparts to all monophthongs and diphthongs. Example (4) below demonstrates their contrasting nature:

(4a) /hi/ $\rightarrow$ [hi] 'to come'

(4b) /hĩ/ $\rightarrow$ [hĩ] 'to exist'

Along with being contrastive, nasalization also plays a key phonological role in the surface realization of morphemes, working both backwards and forwards. The consonants /p/, /t/, /ʋ/, and /j/ all become nasalized when following a nasal vowel, becoming /ᵐb/, /ⁿd/, /m/, and /ɲ/, respectively, as in examples (5) and (6).

(5a) /ha-pa/ $\rightarrow$ [ha.pa] (go-SS) 'to go'

(5b) /hẽ-pa/ $\rightarrow$ [hẽ.ᵐba] (sound-SS) 'to sound'

(6a) /hi-ʔja/ $\rightarrow$ [hiʔ.ja] (come-VER) 'does come'

(6b) /hĩ-ʔja/ $\rightarrow$ [hĩʔ.ɲã] (exist-VER) 'does exist'

Note that nasalization of vowels can cross consonant boundaries when the vowels are separated by a glottal fricative /h/ or glottal stop /ʔ/ (even when a glide is present) as in example (*) above and example (7) below:

(7a) /tsɨi-ʔhe/ $\rightarrow$ [tsɨiʔ.he] (walk-IPFV) 'walking'

(7b) /tsõ-ʔhe/ $\rightarrow$ [tsõʔ.hẽ] (do-IPFV) 'doing'

Additionally, oral vowels become nasalized when preceding prenasalized consonants and when following nasal consonants.

(8) /dɨ.ʃo.ⁿde.kʰɨ/ $\rightarrow$ [dɨ.ʃõ.ⁿde.kʰɨ] (child=HUM.PL) 'children'

(9) /ɲoɲa.pa/ $\rightarrow$ [ɲõɲã.ᵐba] (make=SS) 'make'

They also become nasalized when either preceded or followed by a nasal vowel, as in examples (10) and (11).

(10) /ho.ʋaʔ.kã.o/ $\rightarrow$ [ho.ʋaʔ.kãõ] (DIST=SIM=AUG) 'exactly like that'

Syllable structure

Aʼingae syllable structure is (C)V(ʔ), with many variations thereof. At minimum a syllable can be a singular vowel and at maximum can be consonant onset with a diphthong nucleus and glottal stop coda. Note that vowel length is not a relevant feature in syllable structure. A complete list of the structures allowed is given in the table below with examples for each.

V	[a.ʔi]	'person'
VV	[ãĩ]	'dog'
CV	[tʃã]	'mother'
CVV	[kʰoa]	'pumpkin'
Vʔ	[iʔ.fa]	'we/they/you all bring'
VVʔ	[aiʔ.ʋo]	'body'
CVʔ	[paʔ.tʃo]	'dead'
CVVʔ	[dʒaiʔ.tʃo]	'chair'

Prosody

Generally speaking, in the absence of a glottal stop, stress in Aʼingae is found on the penultimate syllable as in examples (12a) and (12b). When a glottal stop is present however, stress is found on the syllable with the second mora before the glottal stop (Dąbkowski, 2020), compare examples (13a) and (13b). This is a stress pattern that is currently cross-linguistically unattested.

(12a) [ˈfe.tʰa] 'open'

(12b) [fe.ˈtʰa.hi] 'open-PRCM'

(13a) [ˈfe.tʰa.ʔhe] 'open-IPFV'

(13b) [fɨn.ˈdɨi.ʔhe] 'sweep-IPFV'

Stress can in some cases be contrastive, compare (14a) and (14b).

(14a) [ˈnẽ.pi] 'disappear'

(14b) [nẽ.ˈpi] 'arrive'

Morphology

Morphology in Aʼingae consists of stems, clitics, and suffixes. Free stems include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbials, and meteorological stems (such as words for "wind", "rain", and "sun").

tse=tsû

ANA.LOC=3

thesi

tiger

na’sû=ma

chief=ACC.REAL

da

become

tse=tsû thesi na’sû=ma da

ANA.LOC=3 tiger chief=ACC.REAL become

‘Then the tiger became the chief.’

tsa

ANA

sinjûnkhû

valley

rande

big

tsampi

forest

sepakhue-fa

behind-CLF:lateral

tsa sinjûnkhû rande tsampi sepakhue-fa

ANA valley big forest behind-CLF:lateral

‘that big valley behind the forest’ (elic.)

ji=pa

come=SS

ana

sleep

a’ta

day

ji=pa ana a’ta

come=SS sleep day

‘After coming (he) slept and dawned (i.e., got up at dawn).’

While many stems are free, there are also a number of bound stems, which typically express states of being or properties, and are in a class of "flexible stems" by themselves. In the following sentence, bia "long" is one of these bound stems.

tutu-fa-’khu=ve=tsû

white-CLF:lateral=AUG=ACC.IRR=3

bia-ña=’fa=’ya

long-CAUS=SBJ.PL=ASS

tutu-fa-’khu=ve=tsû bia-ña=’fa=’ya

white-CLF:lateral=AUG=ACC.IRR=3 long-CAUS=SBJ.PL=ASS

‘They lengthened (the cotton) into white rope.’

Beyond stems, Aʼingae has both bound suffixes and clitics, specifically enclitics that appear after the stem. There are no known prefixes or proclitics. In glossed content, suffixes are typically notated with a hyphen, and clitics are notated with an equal sign. The language has a very rich inventory of clitics, that can appear either at sentence level or constituent level. Sentence-level clitics occur at second position, meaning they attach to the end of the first word in a sentence, and mark qualities such as subject and sentence type.

atesû=ti=ki

know=INT=2

ke=ja

2.SG=CNTR.TOP

Secoya

Secoya

a’i=ma

person=ACC.REAL

atesû=ti=ki ke=ja Secoya a’i=ma

know=INT=2 2.SG=CNTR.TOP Secoya person=ACC.REAL

‘Do you know Secoya people?’

Constituent-level clitics can either attach to the noun phrase or subordinate clause, or to the predicate clause. Clitics in the noun phrase occur in a fixed order, and can mark case, negation, and other grammatical features.

jingesû

HORT

ja-ye

go-INF

tsa

ANA

a’i

person

cerveza=ma

beer=ACC.REAL

chava-en-je=ni

buy-CAUS-IPFV=LOC

jingesû ja-ye tsa a’i cerveza=ma chava-en-je=ni

HORT go-INF ANA person beer=ACC.REAL buy-CAUS-IPFV=LOC

‘Let’s go to where that man is selling beer.’ (elic.)

juva

DIST

ña

1.SG

dû’shû=ndekhû=’sû

child=HUM.PL=ATTR

dû’shû

child

juva ña dû’shû=ndekhû=’sû dû’shû

DIST 1.SG child=HUM.PL=ATTR child

‘those children of my children’

Suffixes also mark certain grammatical features. Some example include sentential type/mood, nominalization, and aspect. Passive, causative, and shape features are also indicated with suffixes.

jungue=sû=ma=tsû

IGNR2=ATTR=ACC.REAL=3

ñua’me

really

tsetse’pa=ve

chicha=ACC.IRR

tsetse’pa-en-ñe

chicha-CAUS-INF

atesû=’fa

HAB.AUX=SBJ.PL

jungue=sû=ma=tsû ñua’me tsetse’pa=ve tsetse’pa-en-ñe atesû=’fa

IGNR2=ATTR=ACC.REAL=3 really chicha=ACC.IRR chicha-CAUS-INF HAB.AUX=SBJ.PL

‘What did they use to make chicha with?’

Also present in the language is the process of reduplication, which expresses iterative aspect.

Tsunsi

tsun=si

do=DS

chapejuen

chape=ju=en

soften=SH.SFC=ADV

akesi

ake=si

warm.up=DS

kikhûkhûpa

kikhû~khû=pa

hurl~ITER=SS

Tsunsi chapejuen akesi kikhûkhûpa

tsun=si chape=ju=en ake=si kikhû~khû=pa

do=DS soften=SH.SFC=ADV warm.up=DS hurl~ITER=SS

"Then they cook and when they're warmed up, we crush them."

Inflectional template

Clitics and suffixes in the language have a relatively fixed order of how they will attach to a verb or predicate phrase.

Inflection template of the Aʼingae verb

causative		-ɲa (CAUS)
reciprocal		-kʰo∅ (RECP)
passive		-je∅ (PASS)
aspect		-ʔhe∅ (IPFV) -hi (PRCM) -kʰa∅ (PAUC) -ʔɲakʰa∅ (SMFC)
associated motion		-ʔᵑgi∅ (VEN) -ʔᵑga∅ (AND)
subject number		-ʔfa (PLS)
reality		-ja (IRR)
polarity		-ᵐbi (NEG)
clause type	subordinate	-je (INF) -saʔne (APPR) -ʔni (LOC) -ʔma (FRST)
	cosubordinate	-pa (SS) -si (DS)
	matrix	-ha (IMP) -kʰa∅ (IMP2) -ʔse (IMP3) -hama∅ (PROH) -ʔja (VER)
information structure		-ʔta (NEW) -ʔkʰe (ADD) -ʔha (CNTR)
sentence-level		=te (RPRT) =ti (YNQ)
subject person		=ᵑgi (1) =ki (2) =tsɨ (3) =ke (?)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	ña "I, my"	ingi "we, our"
2nd person	ke "you, your"	ke'i "you all, your"
3rd person	tise "he/she/it, his/her/its"	tisepa "they, their"

Second person subject clitics

1st person	=ngi
2nd person	=ki
3rd person	=tsû

Syntax

Constituent order in matrix clauses in Aʼingae is relatively flexible, with SOV (or SO-predicate) considered basic. In embedded clauses, word order is more rigidly SOV/SOPred. Clauses must minimally consist of a predicate.

a’i

person

mani=ma

peanut=ACC

isû

take

a’i mani=ma isû

person peanut=ACC take

‘The people took the peanuts.’

amûnde=tshi=ve

dirty-QUAL=ACC.IRR

tsun=’fa=ya

do=SBJ.PL=IRR

amûnde=tshi=ve tsun=’fa=ya

dirty-QUAL=ACC.IRR do=SBJ.PL=IRR

‘We’ll make it dirty.’

chava=ngi

buy=1

fûesû

OTHER

simba-’khu=ma

fishing-CL:angular=ACC.REAL

chava=ngi fûesû simba-’khu=ma

buy=1 OTHER fishing-CL:angular=ACC.REAL

‘I bought a different fishing hook.’ (elic.)

kanjen

stay

kanjen

stay

‘He stayed’

Subordinate clauses are strictly predicate-final.

ña=ja

I=CNTR.TOP

asithaen=ngi

think=1

[kinikhu=ve

tree=ACC.IRR

da-ye]

become-INF

ña=ja asithaen=ngi [kinikhu=ve da-ye]

I=CNTR.TOP think=1 tree=ACC.IRR become-INF

‘I think I’ll become a tree.’

Case and alignment

Case markers are constituent-level clitics.

tayupi=ja

former=CNTR.TOP

charapa

charapa.turtle

dû’sûchu=ve

egg=ACC.IRR

kaje=ni

downriver=LOC

ja-je=’fa=’ya

go-IPFV=PL=ASS

tayupi=ja charapa dû’sûchu=ve kaje=ni ja-je=’fa=’ya

former=CNTR.TOP charapa.turtle egg=ACC.IRR downriver=LOC go-IPFV=PL=ASS

‘In earlier times they used to go downriver for charapa eggs.’

The full list of case markers is shown below.

=ma	ACC1	accusative 1
=ve/=me	ACC2	accusative 2
=mbe	BEN	benefactive
=i'khû	INST	instrument
=pi	LIM	limitative
=ni	LOC	locative
=ngae	MANN	manner, path
=ne	ABL	ablative
=nga	DAT	dative
=ye / =ñe	ELAT	elative

Note that there are two accusative case markers. Accusative 2 typically is used in negative sentences or when the P-argument is not yet present or does not exist, in contexts of expressing desire, causation, or creation.

Sentences follow a nominative-accusative pattern. Aʼingae displays optional agreement—optional agreement in person using second position clitics, and optional agreement in number using the clitic ='fa--both of which agree with the subject argument. Within the noun phrase, there is no agreement.

Sentence type

Aʼingae distinguishes between several different sentence types. These distinctions are indicated using different morphosyntactic strategies. Declarative sentences can contain the optional veridical clitic ='ya. There are several imperative types, depending on what speech act is being performed, using either the imperative clitics =ja or ='se or the diminutive suffix ='kha. There is a distinction between yes/no interrogative and content interrogative sentences, with the former using the interrogative clitic =ti and the latter using the indeterminate/interrogative wh-word in the initial position (jungaesû ("what"), maki ("when"), mani ("where"), majan ("which"), mikun ("why"), mingae ("how")). Exhortative sentences use the hortative particle jinge. Prohibitive sentences use the clitic =jama. Below are some examples of these sentence types.

Assertive/Declarative

Tsumbate

tsun=pa=te

do=SS=RPRT

tsa

tsa

ANA

tisema

tise=ma

3.SG=ACC

se'jepa

se'je=pa

cure=SS

Tsumbate tsa tisema se'jepa

tsun=pa=te tsa tise=ma se'je=pa

do=SS=RPRT ANA 3.SG=ACC cure=SS

"They cured him"

setsa=ne=ta=tsû

low=ABL=NEW.TOP=3

ji=’fa=’ya

come=SBJ.PL=ASS

setsa=ne=ta=tsû ji=’fa=’ya

low=ABL=NEW.TOP=3 come=SBJ.PL=ASS

‘They came from downriver.’

Imperative

tsa=’ka=en

ANA=SIM=ADVR

tsun=ja

do=IMP

tsa=’ka=en tsun=ja

ANA=SIM=ADVR do=IMP

‘Do it like that!’

Me'in

me'in

no

kanse

kan='se

look=IMP3

Me'in kanse

me'in kan='se

no look=IMP3

"Don't look (you shouldn't look)"

injan=’fa=kha

think=PL=DIM

injan=’fa=kha

think=PL=DIM

‘Mind you!/Be careful!’

Yes/no-Interrogative

fûesû=ti

OTHER=INT

jin

exist

fûesû=ti jin

OTHER=INT exist

‘Is there another one?’

Content Interrogative

ma=jan=tsû

IGNR1=CNTR.TOP=3

ka’ni-a

enter-CAUS

ma=jan=tsû ka’ni-a

IGNR1=CNTR.TOP=3 enter-CAUS

‘Who let you in?’

Prohibitive

anthe=jama

let.go=PROH

chigane

please

anthe=jama chigane

let.go=PROH please

‘Don’t let it go please!’

Writing system

Aʼingae has two principal orthographies, both using the Latin alphabet. The first was developed by missionaries Marlytte and Roberta Borman, and first employed in M. Borman (1962). This orthography was influenced by Spanish and thus contained some needless complexity such as representing the phoneme /k/ with ⟨qu⟩ before front vowels, and with ⟨c⟩ elsewhere. Borman also conveyed aspirated obstruents via reduplication instead of via <h> insertion like in the modern orthography. More recently, the Cofán community has created and widely adopted a new writing system which aimed to solve some of the opacities of Borman's script. A comparison between the two orthographies can be observed in the tables below:

Consonants

IPA	Borman	Community	IPA	Borman	Community
/p/	p		/ⁿdz/	ndz, dz
/pʰ/	pp	ph	/ⁿdʒ/	ndy, dy
/t/	t		/f/	f
/tʰ/	tt	th	/s/	s
/k/	c, qu	k	/ʃ/	sh
/kʰ/	cc, qqu	kh	/h/	j
/ʔ/	ʼ		/m/	m
/ts/	ts		/n/	n
/tsʰ/	tss	tsh	/ɲ/	ñ
/tʃ/	ch		/ɾ/	r
/tʃʰ/	cch	chh	/ʋ/	v
/ᵐb/	mb, b		/j/	y
/ⁿd/	nd, d		/ɰ/	g
/ᵑɡ/	ng, g

Vowels

IPA	Borman	Community	IPA	Borman	Community
/a/	a		/ã/	an, a
/e/	e		/ẽ/	en, e
/i/	i		/ĩ/	in, i
/o/	o	u	/õ/	on, o	un, u
/ɨ/	u	û	/ɨ̃/	un, u	ûn, û

Examples

Aʼingae	English gloss
kase'te	hello (morning)
kuse kuse	hello (evening)
jû	yes
me'in	no
dasû	OK; goodbye
Mingae ki	How are you?
Chiga tsû afepuenjan	Thank you (lit. "May God pay you")
Pañambingi	I don't understand
Ñutshi tsû	That's good; good
Chigai'khû	Goodbye (lit. "God with you")
Junguesû tsû?	What is this?
Majan tsû?	Who is it?
Junguesû inise ki?	What is your name?
Ña inise tsû ____.	My name is ____.
kûi'khû	banana drink
tsa'u	house
a'i	person; Cofán person
ña; aña'chu	meat
na'e	river
panzaye	to hunt
khuvû	moon
kue'je	sun

Sample

Aʼingae passage

The following text is The North Wind and the Sun translated into Aʼingae.

Umbaʼkhûniʼsû

[õˈᵐba.kʰɨ.ni.sɨ

Fingian

ˈfĩ.ᵑɡiã

tuyakaen

ˈto.ja.kãe

kueʼjete

koḛ.ˈhe.te

afaʼkhuʼjeʼfa

a.ˈfã̰.kʰo.he.fa

majan de

ˈmã.jã.ⁿde

tiʼtshe

ˈti.t͡sʰɨi

kiʼanʼkhe,

ˈkĩ.jã.kʰẽ

tsunʼjeninde

ˈt͡sõ̰.hẽ.nĩ.ⁿde

jakanʼsû

ˈha.kã̰.sɨ

tuʼmbia

ˈto.ᵐbia̰

saʼvutshia

ˈsa̰.ʋɨ.t͡sʰia

upûiʼjenga

oˈpuḭ.hẽ.ᵑɡa

findiyeʼchu

fĩ.ˈdi.je.t͡ʃo

ji

ˈhi]

Umbaʼkhûniʼsû Fingian tuyakaen kueʼjete afaʼkhuʼjeʼfa {majan de} tiʼtshe kiʼanʼkhe, tsunʼjeninde jakanʼsû tuʼmbia saʼvutshia upûiʼjenga findiyeʼchu ji

[õˈᵐba.kʰɨ.ni.sɨ ˈfĩ.ᵑɡiã ˈto.ja.kãe koḛ.ˈhe.te a.ˈfã̰.kʰo.he.fa ˈmã.jã.ⁿde ˈti.t͡sʰɨi ˈkĩ.jã.kʰẽ ˈt͡sõ̰.hẽ.nĩ.ⁿde ˈha.kã̰.sɨ ˈto.ᵐbia̰ ˈsa̰.ʋɨ.t͡sʰia oˈpuḭ.hẽ.ᵑɡa fĩ.ˈdi.je.t͡ʃo ˈhi]

The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.

Tansiʼfate tsa

[tã.ˈsḭ̃.fa.te.t͡sa

majan

ˈmã.hã

uʼtie

ˈo̰.tiḛ

tise

ˈti.se

jakansû

ˈha.kã.sɨ

findiyeʼchu

fi.ˈⁿdi.jḛ.t͡ʃo

upûiʼjema

o.ˈpuḭ.hẽ.mã

ushiʼchhachhu

u.ˈʃiʔ.t͡ʃʰa.t͡ʃʰo

tiʼtshe

 

kiʼañe

kĩ.jã.nẽ]

{Tansiʼfate tsa} majan uʼtie tise jakansû findiyeʼchu upûiʼjema ushiʼchhachhu tiʼtshe kiʼañe

[tã.ˈsḭ̃.fa.te.t͡sa ˈmã.hã ˈo̰.tiḛ ˈti.se ˈha.kã.sɨ fi.ˈⁿdi.jḛ.t͡ʃo o.ˈpuḭ.hẽ.mã u.ˈʃiʔ.t͡ʃʰa.t͡ʃʰo {} kĩ.jã.nẽ]

They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.

Tsumbate,

[ˈt͡sõ.ᵐba.te

umbaniʼsû

ˈõ.ᵐba.ni.sɨ

fingian

fĩ.ᵑɡiã

ûʼfa kiaʼme

ˈɨ.fakiã̰.mẽ

tise

ˈti.se

ushaʼfanga,

ˈu.ʃa̰.fã̰.ᵑɡa

tsama

ˈt͡sa.ma

tise

ˈti.se

tiʼtshe

ˈti.t͡sʰe

ûfaʼni

ˈɨ.fa̰.ni

jakanʼsû

ˈha.kã.sɨ

tise

ˈti.se

upûiʼjema

o.ˈpuḭ.hẽ.mã

findi;

ˈfĩ.ⁿdi

usefaʼpanga

o.ˈse.faʔ.pã.ᵑɡa

umbakhûniʼsû

õ.ˈᵐba.kʰɨ.nḭ.su

fingian

ˈfĩ.ᵑɡiã

ushambipa

u.ˈʃã.ᵐbi.pa

anthe

ã.tʰḛ]

Tsumbate, umbaniʼsû fingian {ûʼfa kiaʼme} tise ushaʼfanga, tsama tise tiʼtshe ûfaʼni jakanʼsû tise upûiʼjema findi; usefaʼpanga umbakhûniʼsû fingian ushambipa anthe

[ˈt͡sõ.ᵐba.te ˈõ.ᵐba.ni.sɨ fĩ.ᵑɡiã ˈɨ.fakiã̰.mẽ ˈti.se ˈu.ʃa̰.fã̰.ᵑɡa ˈt͡sa.ma ˈti.se ˈti.t͡sʰe ˈɨ.fa̰.ni ˈha.kã.sɨ ˈti.se o.ˈpuḭ.hẽ.mã ˈfĩ.ⁿdi o.ˈse.faʔ.pã.ᵑɡa õ.ˈᵐba.kʰɨ.nḭ.su ˈfĩ.ᵑɡiã u.ˈʃã.ᵐbi.pa ã.tʰḛ]

Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt.

Tsunsite

[ˈt͡sõ.si.te

kueʼje

ˈkoe.he

savutshi

ˈsaʔ.ʋɨ.t͡si

chanʼjun,

ˈt͡ʃã.hɨ

tsuinʼkhûte

t͡sɨ̃ḭ̃.kɨ.tḛ

favatsheyi

fa.ˈʋa.t͡sɨi

jacanʼsu

ˈha.kã̰.sɨ

tise

ˈti.se

upûiʼjema

o.ˈpuḭ.he.mã

ushicha

u.ˈʃi.t͡ʃʰa]

Tsunsite kueʼje savutshi chanʼjun, tsuinʼkhûte favatsheyi jacanʼsu tise upûiʼjema ushicha

[ˈt͡sõ.si.te ˈkoe.he ˈsaʔ.ʋɨ.t͡si ˈt͡ʃã.hɨ t͡sɨ̃ḭ̃.kɨ.tḛ fa.ˈʋa.t͡sɨi ˈha.kã̰.sɨ ˈti.se o.ˈpuḭ.he.mã u.ˈʃi.t͡ʃʰa]

Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.

Tsumbate

[ˈt͡so.ᵐbaʔ.tḛ

umbaniʼsû

ˈõ.ᵐba.ni.su

fingian

ˈfĩ.ᵑɡia

tansiʼñaʼchovedaʼya

tã.ˈsi.jã̰.t͡ʃo.ʋe.ˈda̰.ja

tsa

t͡sa

kueʼje

ˈkoḛ.he

khuaʼnginga

ˈkʰua̰.ᵑɡi.ᵑɡa

inʼjani

ˈĩʔ.ha.ni

tiʼtshe

ˈti.t͡sʰe

kianʼkhe.

ˈkĩ.jã.kʰḛ̃]

Tsumbate umbaniʼsû fingian tansiʼñaʼchovedaʼya tsa kueʼje khuaʼnginga inʼjani tiʼtshe kianʼkhe.

[ˈt͡so.ᵐbaʔ.tḛ ˈõ.ᵐba.ni.su ˈfĩ.ᵑɡia tã.ˈsi.jã̰.t͡ʃo.ʋe.ˈda̰.ja t͡sa ˈkoḛ.he ˈkʰua̰.ᵑɡi.ᵑɡa ˈĩʔ.ha.ni ˈti.t͡sʰe ˈkĩ.jã.kʰḛ̃]

And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

Further reading

• Dąbkowski, Maksymilian. 2021. Aʼingae (Ecuador and Colombia) - Language Snapshot. Language Documentation and Description 20, 1-12.
• Baldauf, R. B., Kaplan, R. B., King, K. A., & Haboud, M. (2007). Language planning and policy in Latin America: Language Planning and Policy in Ecuador (Vol. 1). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Borman, M. B. (1962). "Cofan phonemes". In Elson, Benjamin; Peeke, Catherine (eds.). Studies in Ecuadorian Indian languages: I. SIL International Publications in Linguistics. pp. 45–59. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
• Borman, M. B. (1976). Vocabulario cofán: Cofán-castellano, castellano-cofán. (Serie de vocabularios indígenas Mariano Silva y Aceves, 19). Quito: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• Borman, M. B. (1977). "Cofan paragraph structure and function". SIL International Publications in Linguistics. 52 (3): 289–338. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
• Borman, M. B. (1990). Cofan cosmology and history as revealed in their legends: The Cofan Alphabet. Quito, Ecuador: Instituto Linguistico de Verano.
• Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Cofán". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
• Gijn, E. V., Haude, K., & Muysken, P. (2011). Subordination in native South-American languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co.
• Klein, H. E., & Stark, L. R. (2011). South American Indian languages: retrospect and prospect. Austin: University of Texas Press.

References

ACC1:accusative case ACC2:accusative case ANG:angular CMP:comparative DIST2:distal DMN:diminutive HORT2:hortative IMP3:imperative mood LAT:lateral PLH:human plural PLS:plural subject PRCM:preculminative PRHB:prohibitive mood RPRT:reportative SFC:surface SH:shape

ADJR:adjectivalizer ADVR:adverbializer ANA.LOC:anaphoric locative ANA:anaphoric reference to entity or event IGNR1:ignorative 1 IGNR2:ignorative 2 OTHER:difference marker QUAL:quality SIM:similative

External links

• Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: COFÁN
• ELAR archive of Aʼingae language documentation materials
• Cofán (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)