Vute language

Vute
Native to	Cameroon
Native speakers	(21,000 cited 1997)
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. 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

		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

Tones

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

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