Vute language

Vute
Native to	Cameroon
Native speakers	(21,000 cited 1997) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Mambiloid Mambila–Konja Mambila–Vute Tep–Vute Vute languages Vute
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vut
Glottolog	vute1244

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] [3]}

		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		m ⟨m⟩	mʷ ⟨mw⟩	n ⟨n⟩				ɲ ⟨ny⟩	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 [d] ⟨b⟩		d ⟨d⟩		d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩	d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩ [c]		g [e] ⟨g⟩	gʷ ⟨gw⟩	ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩
	prenasalized	ᵐb ⟨mb⟩		ⁿd ⟨nd⟩	ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩ [c]	ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩ [f]			ᵑg ⟨ŋg⟩	ᵑgʷ ⟨ŋgw⟩	ᵑᵐɡ͡b ⟨mgb⟩ [f]
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	fʷ ⟨fw⟩ [b]	s ⟨s⟩	sʷ ⟨sw⟩ [c]							h ⟨h⟩	hʷ ⟨hw⟩ [g]
	voiced	v ⟨v⟩
	prenasalized	ᶬv ⟨mv⟩ [f]
Rhotic				( ɾ ~ r ) [h]
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

Source: ^[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

Sources: ^{[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.