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(Top) 1 Phonology 1.1 Consonants 1.2 Tones^[2] 1.3 Vowels^[2]^[3] 2 References

Vute language

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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 languageofCameroon 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

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Consonants

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Consonants in Vute are numerous and include pulmonic and implosive airstreams. Labializationisphonemic 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]	Palatal	plain	lab.	Labial– velar	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⟩

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.

^ ^a ^b Doume dialect only.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Doume and eastern dialects only.

^ becomes a fricative [β] intervocalically. [ŋgáb] "they" -> [ŋgáβè] "their"

^ becomes a fricative [ɣ] intervocalically. [ɡè nɨ] "to carry" -> [ɲdʒɨ̀ɨ̀ɣɨ̀βɨ̀] "of leprosy"

^ ^a ^b ^c Low frequency^[4]

^ Central dialects only

^ initially: [leè] "wall ; intervocalically: [tòɾò] "papaya' ; finally: [bɨ́r] "oil palm tree"

Tones^[2]

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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]^[3]

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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