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 (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]
Bilabial Labio-
dental		 Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Labial–
velar		 Glottal
plain lab.‡‡ plain lab.‡‡ plain lab.‡‡ plain lab.‡‡ plain lab. plain lab.‡‡
Nasal stop [m] m [mʷ] mw [n] n [ŋ] ŋ
Implosive [ɓ] ɓ [ɓʷ] ɓw [ɗ] ɗ [ɗʷ] ɗw†
Plosive voiceless [p] p [t] t [k] k [kʷ] kw [k͡p] kp
voiced [b~β]* b [d] d [g~ɣ]* g [gʷ] gw [ɡ͡b] gb
prenasalized [ᵐb] mb [ⁿd] nd [ⁿdʷ] ndw†† [ŋg] ŋg [ŋgʷ] ŋgw [ŋmɡ͡b] mgb§
Affricate voiceless [t͡ʃ] c [t͡ʃʷ] cw††
voiced [d͡ʒ] j [d͡ʒʷ] jw††
prenasalized [ⁿd͡ʒ] nj§
Fricative voiceless [f] f [fʷ] fw† [s] s [sʷ] sw†† [h] h [hʷ] hw‡
voiced [v] v
prenasalized [ɱv] mv§
Approximant [l~ɾ~r]** l~r~r [j] y [w] w

*becomes a fricative intervocalically. [ŋgáb] "they" -> [ŋgáβè] "their"

**initially: [leè] "wall ; intervocalically: [tòɾò] "papaya' ; finally: [bɨ́r] "oil palm tree"

†Doume dialect only.

††Doume and eastern dialects only.

‡Central dialects only'

‡‡Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.

§ Low frequency[3]

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]
Oral Nasal
Long Short Long Short
[i:] ii [i~ɪ] i [ĩ:] i̧i̧ [ĩ] i̧ †
[e:] ee [e~ɛ] e [ɛ̃:] ȩȩ [ɛ̃] ȩ
[ɨ:] ɨɨ † [ɨ] ɨ [ɨ̃:] ɨ̧ɨ̧ [ɨ̃] ɨ̧
[ə:] əə † [ə] ə [ə̃:] ə̧ə̧ [ə̃] ə̧ †
[a:] aa [a] a [ã:] a̧a̧ [ã] a̧
[u:] uu [u~ʊ] u [ũ:] u̧u̧ [ũ] u̧
[o:] oo [o~ɔ] o [õ:] o̧o̧ [õ] o̧
[ɔ:] ɔɔ* [ɔ] ɔ* [ɔ̃:] ɔ̧ɔ̧ [ɔ̃] ɔ̧ †
[ei] ei [ẽĩ] ȩi̧
[ai] ai [ãĩ] a̧i̧
[ɨi] ɨi [ɨ̃ĩ] ɨ̧i̧
[əi] əi [ə̃ĩ] ə̧i̧
[oi] oi [õĩ] o̧i̧

* /ɔ/ only contrasts from /o/ in open syllables and before velar final consonants: /k/ and /ŋ/. When preceding bilabial and alveolar final consonants, [ɔ] is understood to be an allophone of /o/.

† Low frequency

References
  1. Vute at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Thwing, Rhonda (2004) [1981]. "Vute Orthography Statement" (PDF). General Alphabet of Cameroonian Languages.
  3. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.


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