Vute language
# Vute language

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 :

| | | Labial | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Dental/ Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Labial– velar | Glottal | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | Palatal | plain | lab. | Labial– velar | plain | lab. |
| Nasal | Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | mʷ ⟨mw⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | | | | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩ | | | | |
| Implosive | 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⟩ | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b⟨b⟩ | | d ⟨d⟩ | | d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ | d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩ | | g⟨g⟩ | gʷ ⟨gw⟩ | ɡ͡b ⟨gb⟩ | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | 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⟩ |
| Fricative | voiced | v ⟨v⟩ | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Fricative | prenasalized | ᶬv ⟨mv⟩ | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | | (ɾ~r) | | | | | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | l ⟨l⟩ | | | | j ⟨y⟩ | | | w ⟨w⟩ | | |

* 1 2 3 4 Only vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ may follow a labialized consonant.
* 1 2 Doume dialect only.
* 1 2 3 4 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"
* 1 2 3 Low frequency
* ↑ Central dialects only
* ↑ initially: [leè] "wall ; intervocalically: [tòɾò] "papaya' ; finally: [bɨ́r] "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 | Oral | Nasal | 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 | |
