Cofán
Cofán is a language isolate spoken in Colombia and Ecuador, by about 1,700 people. Glottolog rates it threatened.
An isolate: no relationship to any other known language has been demonstrated.
Cofán or Kofán, known in the language itself as Aʼingae, is the primary language of the 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 and Nariño provinces), who call themselves the Aʼi. Although still robustly learned by children in Ecuadorian communities, Cofán is considered an 'endangered' language with estimates of around 1,500 native speakers.
From Wikipedia · Cofán language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Cofán
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| person | a7i* | |
| name | inise* | |
| eye | co7pe* | |
| ear | cosina* | |
| nose | copa7th3* | |
| tooth | the7tho* | |
| tongue | medzadza7pa* | |
| hand | tibe* | |
| blood | ahapa* | |
| bone | c37tha* | |
| skin | thono* | |
| knee | c3tha7Co* | |
| breast | Co* | |
| liver | sasa* | |
| water | tsa'ccu | |
| fire | si7ge* | |
| sun | Cixa* | |
| star | o7pe* | |
| stone | pat3* | |
| mountain | khotha7kho* | |
| tree | kini7kho* | |
| leaf | khakhe* | |
| night | kose* | |
| dog | ai* | |
| fish | ab3* | |
| louse | sisi* | |
| one | pae* | |
| two | khoagi7kho* | |
| I | 5a* | |
| you | ke* |
* in the simplified ASJP transcription
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
- ImondaBorder10% alike
- Northeastern Russian River PomoPomoan10% alike
- Northern TujiaSino-Tibetan9% alike
- XârâcùùAustronesian9% alike
- Central NicobareseAustroasiatic9% alike
- HituAustronesian9% alike
Grammar
- Shipibo-ConiboPano-Tacanan87% alike
- Central OkinawanJaponic87% alike
- GuambianoBarbacoan86% alike
- Tama (Chad)Tamaic85% alike
- Angosturas TuneboChibchan85% alike
- CoguiChibchan84% alike
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · cofa1242 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · con