| Vute | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Cameroon |
| Native speakers | (21,000 cited 1997) |
| Language family | Niger–Congo?
|
| 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.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Labial– velar |
Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||||
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | mʷ ⟨mw⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩ | ||||||||
| Implosive | ɓ ⟨ɓ⟩ | ɓʷ ⟨ɓw⟩ | ɗ ⟨ɗ⟩ | ɗʷ ⟨ɗw⟩ | |||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ | t͡ʃʷ ⟨cw⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | kʷ ⟨kw⟩ | k͡p ⟨kp⟩ | |||||
| voiced | b⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩ | d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ | d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩ | g⟨g⟩ | gʷ ⟨gw⟩ | ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩ | ||||||
| prenasalized | ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ | ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ | ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩ | ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩ | ᵑg ⟨ŋg⟩ | ᵑgʷ ⟨ŋgw⟩ | ᵑᵐɡ͡b ⟨mgb⟩ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f ⟨f⟩ | fʷ ⟨fw⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | sʷ ⟨sw⟩ | h ⟨h⟩ | hʷ ⟨hw⟩ | ||||||
| voiced | v ⟨v⟩ | ||||||||||||
| prenasalized | ᶬv ⟨mv⟩ | ||||||||||||
| Rhotic | (ɾ~r) | ||||||||||||
| Approximant | l ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | w ⟨w⟩ | ||||||||||
- ^ Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.
- ^ Doume dialect only.
- ^ Doume and eastern dialects only.
- becomes a fricative intervocalically. "they" -> "their"
- becomes a fricative intervocalically. "to carry" -> "of leprosy"
- ^ Low frequency
- Central dialects only
- initially: "wall; intervocalically: "papaya'; finally: "oil palm tree"
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 |
| ii | i | i̧i̧ | i̧ |
| ee | e | ȩȩ | ȩ |
| ɨɨ | ɨ | ɨ̧ɨ̧ | ɨ̧ |
| əə | ə | ə̧ə̧ | ə̧ |
| aa | a | a̧a̧ | a̧ |
| uu | u | u̧u̧ | u̧ |
| oo | o | o̧o̧ | o̧ |
| ɔɔ | ɔ | ɔ̧ɔ̧ | ɔ̧ |
| ei | ȩi̧ | ||
| ai | a̧i̧ | ||
| ɨi | ɨ̧i̧ | ||
| əi | ə̧i̧ | ||
| oi | o̧i̧ | ||
References
- Vute at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Thwing, Rhonda (2004) . "Vute Orthography Statement" (PDF). General Alphabet of Cameroonian Languages.
- ^ Thwing, Rhonda Ann (1987). The Vute Noun Phrase and the Relationship Between Vute and Bantu (Cameroon). Ann Arbor: UMI.
- "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
| Northern Bantoid languages | |
|---|---|
| Dakoid | |
| Mambiloid | |
| Other | |