| Vute | |
| States: | Cameroon |
| Speakers: | 21,000 |
| Date: | 1997 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam4: | Mambiloid |
| Fam5: | Mambila–Konja |
| Fam6: | Mambila–Vute |
| Fam7: | Tep–Vute |
| Fam8: | Vute languages |
| Iso3: | vut |
| Glotto: | vute1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Vute |
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.
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 | pronounced as /ink/ (m) | pronounced as /ink/ (mw) | pronounced as /ink/ (n) | pronounced as /link/ (ny) | pronounced as /ink/ (ŋ) | |||||||||
| Implosive | pronounced as /ink/ (ɓ) | pronounced as /ink/ (ɓw) | pronounced as /ink/ (ɗ) | pronounced as /ink/ (ɗw) | ||||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ (p) | pronounced as /ink/ (t) | pronounced as /ink/ (c) | pronounced as /ink/ (cw) | pronounced as /ink/ (k) | pronounced as /ink/ (kw) | pronounced as /ink/ (kp) | ||||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/(b) | pronounced as /ink/ (d) | pronounced as /ink/ (j) | pronounced as /ink/ (jw) | pronounced as /ink/(g) | pronounced as /ink/ (gw) | pronounced as /ink/ (gb) | |||||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /ink/ (mb) | pronounced as /ink/ (nd) | pronounced as /ink/ (ndw) | pronounced as /ink/ (nj) | pronounced as /ink/ (ŋg) | pronounced as /ink/ (ŋgw) | pronounced as /ink/ (mgb) | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ (f) | pronounced as /ink/ (fw) | pronounced as /ink/ (s) | pronounced as /ink/ (sw) | pronounced as /ink/ (h) | pronounced as /ink/ (hw) | |||||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ (v) | |||||||||||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /ink/ (mv) | |||||||||||||
| Rhotic | (pronounced as /ink/~pronounced as /ink/) | |||||||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ (l) | pronounced as /ink/ (y) | pronounced as /ink/ (w) | |||||||||||
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 |
| 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 | |||