Kuteb language

Kuteb
Kuteb
Native to	Nigeria, Cameroon
Region	Taraba State
Ethnicity	Kuteb people
Native speakers	46,000 (2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Jukunoid Kuteb; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kub
Glottolog	kute1248
ELP	Kuteb

Kuteb (also known as Kutep) also known as Ati, Kutev, Mbarike is a Nigerian ethnic language. The Kuteb people mostly live in the southern part of Taraba state in Nigeria, with a thousand-or-so speakers across the border in Cameroon. In Nigeria, it is spoken mostly in Takum and Ussa LGAs, and Yangtu SDA Taraba State.^[2]

Phonology

In Kuteb, there are 27 consonant phonemes, 12 vowels, and five tones.^[3]

Vowels

In Kuteb, there are two different sets of vowels, oral, and nasal. Phonemically, each set has six different vowels. In total, there are 12 separate phonemes. The status of ɨ being a phoneme in Kuteb is uncertain. This phoneme only occurs in closed syllables, some noun prefixes, and in verbal reduplication where there is neutralization of u and i.^[3]

Table of vowel phonemes in Kuteb
	Oral Vowels			Nasal Vowels
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/	ɨ /ɨ/	u /u/	ĩ /ĩ/		ũ /ũ/
Close Mid	e /e/		o /o/	ē /ẽ/		ō /õ/
Near Open	ae /æ/			ãe /æ̃/
Open		a /a/			ã /ã/

Consonants

Kuteb has 27 different consonant phonemes. The italicized entries are found in common loan words, or, in the case of /v/ and /z/, subdialectical variation. Like most Jukunoid languages, Kuteb has velarized consonants. In one study, these are included not as modifications on the base-phoneme, but as their own separate sound.^[4]^[5]

Table of consonant phonemes in Kuteb
		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n, nn ^{[note 1]} /n/	ny /ɲ/	ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiced	b /b/	d /d/		g /g/
	unvoiced	p /p/	t /t/	c /c/	k /k/
	pre-nasal voiced	mb /m͡b/	nd /n͡d/	nj /n͡ʒ/	ŋg /ŋ͡g/
Affricate			ts /t͡s/
Fricative	voiced	v /v/	z /z/	j /ʒ/
Fricative	unvoiced	f /f/	s /s/	sh /ʃ/		h /h/
Approximant				y /j/	w /w/
Flap			r /ɾ/
Lateral-Approximant			l /l/

Tones

In Kuteb, there are either four or five different tones, depending on how they are counted. The tones that are accepted by multiple studies are the low (unmarked), mid (¯), high (´), and falling (ˆ) tones.

Arguments

According to Roger Blench, there are five different tones in Kuteb, these are: low (unmarked), mid (¯), high (´), falling (ˆ), and rising (ˇ). The fifth tone, (rising) is only created through sandhi changes that affect some vocabulary after an "upstep".^[3] According to W.E. Welmers, this sandhi change does not occur, and if it did, only the pronunciation would change, not the written diacritic as well.^[6]

Phonotactics

Syllabic boundaries

In Kutep, like in other Jukunoid languages, most consonantal phonemes can either be labialized or palatal. If these changes are taken to be consonantal phonemic clusters, the syllabic boundaries are as follows:^[7]

N - syllabic nasal, V - vowel, C - consonant
	Kuteb (divided syllabically)	Kuteb	English translation
N	ḿ.m	ḿm	no
V	u.fu	ufu	door
CV	bá	bá	come
CVC	mūm	mūm	dig
CCV	u.kwe	ukwe	chief
CCVC	kwáb	kwáb	try

Sandhi changes

The letter ⟨w⟩ in the Kuteb language retains its status as a voiced labio-velar approximant, as in uwé ‘face’ or in wōm ‘dry’ - though, when ⟨w⟩ is included in clusters with a palatal consonant (/c, j, sh, nj/) /w/, due to sandhi changes, becomes a voiced or voiceless labiodental release.

Distribution of consonants

In Kuteb, there are many consonant clusters that can exist, though, most of these occur between word boundaries, though, some of these do occur in single-syllable isolation - these syllables are listed below. Theoretically though, any combination of syllable-final consonants (see below) followed by any syllable-initial consonant is possible. It is likely, however, that reduction would occur, as in the word ushitong ‘soup-stirrer’ (from shir and utoŋ) in which the /r/ has been dropped. Also, when final ⟨nn⟩ ^{[note 1]} stems precede stems beginning with ⟨n⟩, the double ⟨nn⟩+⟨n⟩ is reduced to just ⟨n⟩. This effect can be shown in words such as munae (munn-náe) ‘be abundant’, and in munji (munn-nji) ‘forget’.^[8]

In CV positions, the following consonants are used:^[8]

p ts t c k b (d) (g) mb nd nj ŋg f s sh h v z nz m n ŋ r l

While in C(C)VC final positions, the following are used instead:

b r g m n* ŋ*

And the following are used in CC clusters:

With Cw: pw, mbw, bw, fw, mw, sw (?), cw, njw, jw, shw, kw, ngw, and ŋw ^{[note 2]}
With Cy: py, mby
With Ck: pk, tk, fk, sk
With Cg: mbg, ndg

Consonant clusters

In 1964, Peter Ladefoged recorded the phonetics of multiple West African languages. One of these languages was Kuteb, and these were his findings:^[9]

Labial			Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Post-palatal	Velar
With /w/	With /y/	With /ɣ/ or /x/	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Post-palatal	Velar
pw	py	px	ts	tx	tʃ	tɕf	kw
mbw	mby	mbɣ	ndz	ndɣ	ndʒ	ndʑv	ŋgw
bw	by	bɣ			dʒ	dʑv	(gw)
fw	fy	fx		sk		ʃf
mw	my	(mɣ)			nay		ŋw

Notes

1 2 In the standard Kuteb orthography, ⟨n⟩ is used initially and medially for /n/, while ⟨nn⟩ is used finally
↑ Roger Blench notes that ⟨ŋ⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ are equivalent in the standard orthography. Here, both ⟨ŋw⟩ and ⟨ngw⟩ are listed as separate phonemes, though, the difference between them is not given

References

↑ Kuteb at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ "Did you know Kuteb is at risk?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
1 2 3 Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 19
↑ Kiyoshi, Shimizu (1980). Comparative Jukunoid. Vienna, Austria: Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Afrikanistik und Ägyptlogie der Universität Wien. p. 66.
↑ Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 20
↑ Welmers, W.E. (1948). The Phonology and Morphology of Kuteb (unpublished). Sudan United Mission. pp. 105 & 173.
↑ Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 53–54
1 2 Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 37–38
↑ Ladefoged, Peter (1964). A phonetic study of west African languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University. p. 31. ISBN 0-521-06963-7.

External links

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[:0-6] 1 2 In the standard Kuteb orthography, ⟨n⟩ is used initially and medially for /n/, while ⟨nn⟩ is used finally

[10] Roger Blench notes that ⟨ŋ⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ are equivalent in the standard orthography. Here, both ⟨ŋw⟩ and ⟨ngw⟩ are listed as separate phonemes, though, the difference between them is not given

[e18-1] Kuteb at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] "Did you know Kuteb is at risk?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2022-01-23.

[:0-3] 1 2 3 Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 19

[4] Kiyoshi, Shimizu (1980). Comparative Jukunoid. Vienna, Austria: Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Afrikanistik und Ägyptlogie der Universität Wien. p. 66.

[5] Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 20

[7] Welmers, W.E. (1948). The Phonology and Morphology of Kuteb (unpublished). Sudan United Mission. pp. 105 & 173.

[8] Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 53–54

[:1-9] 1 2 Blench, Roger. Kuteb grammar. p. 37–38

[11] Ladefoged, Peter (1964). A phonetic study of west African languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University. p. 31. ISBN 0-521-06963-7.

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