Vute language

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

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.

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]
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Labial–
velar 		Glottal
plain lab.[a] plain lab.[a] plain lab.[a] plain lab. plain lab.[a]
Nasal stop m ⟨m⟩ mʷ ⟨mw⟩ n ⟨n⟩ ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩
Implosive ɓ ⟨ɓ⟩ ɓʷ ⟨ɓw⟩ ɗ ⟨ɗ⟩ ɗʷ ⟨ɗw⟩[b]
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p ⟨p⟩ t ⟨t⟩ t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ t͡ʃʷ ⟨cw⟩[c] k ⟨k⟩ kʷ ⟨kw⟩ k͡p ⟨kp⟩
voiced b~β[d] ⟨b⟩ d ⟨d⟩ d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩[c] g~ɣ[d] ⟨g⟩ gʷ ⟨gw⟩ ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩
prenasalized ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩[c] ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩[e] ᵑg ⟨ŋg⟩ ᵑgʷ ⟨ŋgw⟩ ᵑᵐɡ͡b ⟨mgb⟩[e]
Fricative voiceless f ⟨f⟩ fʷ ⟨fw⟩[b] s ⟨s⟩ sʷ ⟨sw⟩[c] h ⟨h⟩ hʷ ⟨hw⟩[f]
voiced v ⟨v⟩
prenasalized ᶬv ⟨mv⟩[e]
Approximant l~ɾ~r[g] ⟨l~r⟩ j ⟨y⟩ w ⟨w⟩
  1. ^ a b c d Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.
  2. ^ a b Doume dialect only.
  3. ^ a b c d Doume and eastern dialects only.
  4. ^ a b becomes a fricative intervocalically. [ŋgáb] "they" -> [ŋgáβè] "their"
  5. ^ a b c Low frequency[3]
  6. ^ Central dialects only
  7. ^ 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][]

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) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d 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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