Vili language

Last updated
Vili
Civili [1]
Native to Republic of the Congo, Gabon
Native speakers
(100,000 cited 2000) [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 vif
Glottolog vili1238
H.12 [3]

Vili (Civili) is one of the Zone H Bantu languages, grouped with the Kongo clade.

Contents

The language has a few thousand native speakers spread along the coast between southern Gabon and Cabinda, most of them in the Republic of the Congo's Kouilou, Pointe-Noire and Niari departments. The Vili people (singular Muvili, plural Bavili) were the population of the 17th- to 18th-century Kingdom of Loango in the same region.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d d͡ʒ ɡ
prenasal vl. ᵐp ⁿt ᶮt͡ʃ ᵑk
prenasal vd. ᵐb ⁿd ᶮd͡ʒ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s
voiced v z
prenasal vl. ᶬf ⁿs
prenasal vd. ᶬv ⁿz
Rhotic r
Approximant w l j

Consonants may also be labialized [ʷ] when preceding /w/. [4] [5]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ə o
Open-mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a

References

  1. Civili is pronounced Tchivili and can also be pronounced Tshivili.
  2. Vili at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  4. Loëmbe, Gervais (2005). Parlons vili: langue et culture de Loango. Paris: L'Harmattan.
  5. Tele-Pemba, Audrey Mariette (2009). Éléments pour une approche comparée des emprunts lexicaux du civili du Gabon, du Congo-Brazzaville et du Cabinda: proposition d'un modèle de dictionnaire. Libreville: Université Omar Bongo.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)