Cofán language

The Cofán language (also Kofan or Kofane; autonym: A'ingae) is the language of the Cofán people, an indigenous group native to Napo Province northeast Ecuador and southern Colombia, between the Guamués River (a tributary of the Putumayo River) and the Aguarico River (a tributary of the Napo River).

Approximately 60% of Cofán speakers in Ecuador are literate in their own language. There is extensive bilingualism with Spanish on both sides of the border. Intermarriage with Siona people and Secoya people also promotes bilingualism.

While Cofán is an endangered language, it is classified as a developing language and a language isolate with 1400 to 2400 speakers. Speakers reside in the “eastern Andean foothills on both sides of the Ecuadorian and Columbian border”. There are two distinct types of Cofán, the Aguarico (Ecuador) and the San Miguel (primarily spoken in Colombia).

The language is written in the Roman script and has ten vowels (five with and without nasalization) and twenty-eight consonants. Cofán alphabet has 33 singular or compound letters. Written Cofán has seven sentence types, five sentence margin tagmemes and specific paragraph types distinct to Cofán.

Cofán had been classified as a Chibchan language, but this appears to be due to borrowed vocabulary.

Use of Cofán in Ecuador is connected to the language in land property rights documents and in the bilingual access to the language in schools. In Colombia, Cofán is more endangered because of war, displacement, and intermarriage.