Vute language

Vute is a Mambiloid language of Cameroon and Gabon, with a thousand speakers in Nigeria. The orthography was standardized on March 9, 1979.[2] Noted dialect clusters are eastern, central, and Doume.

Vute
Native toCameroon
Native speakers
(21,000 cited 1997)[1]
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3vut
Glottologvute1244

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in Vute are numerous and include pulmonic and implosive airstreams. Labialization is phonemic in many consonants, some of which is dialectal.

Consonants of Vute[2][3]
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Labial–
velar		 Glottal
plainlab.[lower-alpha 1] plainlab.[lower-alpha 1] plainlab.[lower-alpha 1] plainlab. plainlab.[lower-alpha 1]
Nasal m ⟨m⟩ mʷ ⟨mw⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ɲ ⟨ny⟩ ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩
Implosive ɓ ⟨ɓ⟩ ɓʷ ⟨ɓw⟩ ɗ ⟨ɗ⟩ ɗʷ ⟨ɗw⟩[lower-alpha 2]
Plosive/
Affricate		 voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ t͡ʃʷ ⟨cw⟩[lower-alpha 3] k ⟨k⟩ kʷ ⟨kw⟩ k͡p ⟨kp⟩
voiced b[lower-alpha 4]⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩[lower-alpha 3] g[lower-alpha 5]⟨g⟩ gʷ ⟨gw⟩ ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩
prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩[lower-alpha 3] ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩[lower-alpha 6] ᵑg ⟨ŋg⟩ ᵑgʷ ⟨ŋgw⟩ ᵑᵐɡ͡b ⟨mgb⟩[lower-alpha 6]
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ fʷ ⟨fw⟩[lower-alpha 2] s ⟨s⟩ sʷ ⟨sw⟩[lower-alpha 3] h ⟨h⟩ hʷ ⟨hw⟩[lower-alpha 7]
voiced v ⟨v⟩
prenasalized ᶬv ⟨mv⟩[lower-alpha 6]
Rhotic (ɾ~r)[lower-alpha 8]
Approximant l ⟨l⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩
  1. Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.
  2. Doume dialect only.
  3. Doume and eastern dialects only.
  4. becomes a fricative [β] intervocalically. [ŋgáb] "they" -> [ŋgáβè] "their"
  5. becomes a fricative [ɣ] intervocalically. [ɡè nɨ] "to carry" -> [ɲdʒɨ̀ɨ̀ɣɨ̀βɨ̀] "of leprosy"
  6. Low frequency[4]
  7. Central dialects only
  8. initially: [leè] "wall ; intervocalically: [tòɾò] "papaya' ; finally: [bɨ́r] "oil palm tree"

Tones[2]

There are more phonemic tones than are marked in orthography, such as mid-high rising tone and mid tone being both unmarked ⟨a⟩ for example. Phonologically conditioned downstep is unmarked.

Tone Category IPA Orthography Example Gloss
high tone ˦ á, áá tím blood
mid tone ˧ a, aa məb louse
low tone ˨ à, àà tɨ̀mnɨ to drown
mid-high ˧˥ a, aá tɨm antelope
low-high* ˩˥ à ɓùn grass
high-low ˥˩ â, áà bɨ̂ŋ round, complete
high-mid ˥˧ â, áa mîn good
high-low-high ˥˩˦ âá sîím rainy season

*Only in eastern dialects, on short vowels. All other dialects merge this class with low tone.

Vowels[2][3]
Oral Nasal
Long Short Long Short
[iː] ii [i~ɪ] i [ĩː] i̧i̧ [ĩ] i̧
[eː] ee [e~ɛ] e [ɛ̃ː] ȩȩ [ɛ̃] ȩ
[ɨː] ɨɨ [ɨ] ɨ [ɨ̃ː] ɨ̧ɨ̧ [ɨ̃] ɨ̧
[əː] əə [ə] ə [ə̃ː] ə̧ə̧ [ə̃] ə̧
[aː] aa [a] a [ãː] a̧a̧ [ã] a̧
[uː] uu [u~ʊ] u [ũː] u̧u̧ [ũ] u̧
[oː] oo [o~ɔ] o [õː] o̧o̧ [õ] o̧
[ɔː] ɔɔ [ɔ] ɔ [ɔ̃ː] ɔ̧ɔ̧ [ɔ̃] ɔ̧
[ei] ei [ẽĩ] ȩi̧
[ai] ai [ãĩ] a̧i̧
[ɨi] ɨi [ɨ̃ĩ] ɨ̧i̧
[əi] əi [ə̃ĩ] ə̧i̧
[oi] oi [õĩ] o̧i̧

References
  1. Vute at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Thwing, Rhonda (2004) [1981]. "Vute Orthography Statement" (PDF). General Alphabet of Cameroonian Languages.
  3. Thwing, Rhonda Ann (1987). The Vute Noun Phrase and the Relationship Between Vute and Bantu (Cameroon). Ann Arbor: UMI.
  4. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
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