Medumba phonology explained

Medumba phonology is the way in which the Medumba language is pronounced. Medumba is a Bamileke language of Cameroon; the people who speak it originate from the Nde division of the West Region of the country. It deals with phonetics, phonotactics and their variation across different dialects of Medumba.

Segments

Initial research on the Medumba segment inventory was conducted by Voorhoeve in the early 1960s, and published in Voorhoeve (1965). He identified 15 vowels and 40 consonants. Not described by Voorhoeve (1965) are the plain and pre-nasalized bilabial trills /ʙ/, /ᵐʙ/, which occur most often before central vowels /ʉ, ə/, which brings the total number of consonants to 42.^[1] The following two subsections survey the vowel and consonant inventory.

Vowels

Medumba has a 12 simple vowels, and 5 complex vowels (diphthongs).

Simple vowels

Medumba has 12 phonemic vowels given in the following inventory:

Simple vowels
		Front	Central	Back
Closed(High)	+Advanced Tongue Root	i	ʉ	u
Closed(High)	-Advanced Tongue Root	ɪ		ʊ
Closed(Non-high)	Mid	e	ə	o
	Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
	Low	a		ɑ
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:320, fn. 6; Voorhoeve 1977:65)

Phoneme! colspan=3
Word	IPA	Gloss
Example
pronounced as //i//	fídə	pronounced as /[fídə́]/	'to be arrogant'
pronounced as //ʉ//	fʉdə	pronounced as /[fʉ́də́]/	'to fly'
pronounced as //u//	fubə	pronounced as /[fúbə́]/	'bedding'
pronounced as //ɪ//	fídə	pronounced as /[fɪ́də́]/	'to peel'
pronounced as //ʊ//	fudə	pronounced as /[fʊ́də́]/	'hunting, net'
pronounced as //e//	fènə	pronounced as /[fènə́]/	'to choke, suffocate'
pronounced as //ə//	fət	pronounced as /[fə̀t]/	'wind'
pronounced as //o//	fogə	pronounced as /[fógə́]/	'widowship'
pronounced as //a//	fat	pronounced as /[fàt]/	'head-protector pillow for load-carrying'
pronounced as //ɑ//	fɑ'ɑ	pronounced as /[fɑ́ʔɑ́]/	'kind of tree'
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:327;3.2.1)

Diphthong vowels

Medumba has five phonemic diphthongs.

Diphthongs in Medumba
		V1
		Front	Central	Back
		i	ʉ	u
V2	a	ia	ʉa
	ə	iə
	ɑ		ʉɑ	uɑ
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:320, fn. 6)

Examples of diphthongs in Medumba
pronounced as //ia//		fyaŋəpronounced as /[fiaŋə]/ 'sort of tree'	pronounced as //uɑ//	cwɑdəpronounced as /[cuɑdə]/ 'to sow, plant'
pronounced as //ʉa//		fʉɑgəpronounced as /[fʉɑgə]/ 'to blow'	pronounced as //ʉɑ//	fʉɑgəpronounced as /[fʉɑgə]/ 'to be wild'
pronounced as //iə//	(a)	nzwəʔəpronounced as //ᶮjʷiəʔə//➝pronounced as /['''ⁿz'''ʷəʔə]/ 'sort of dance'
	(b)	vəpronounced as //gʷiə//➝pronounced as /['''v'''ə]/ L 'architecture'
	(c)	tsə'tsəpronounced as //ciəʔ-tə// ➝ pronounced as /[tsəʔtə]/ 'to collect'	cf.	cə'pronounced as /[cəʔ]/ H 'servant of chief'
	(d)	zəpronounced as //jiə// ➝ pronounced as /[zə]/ H 'relative pronoun'	cf.	yənpronounced as /[jen]/ H 'demonstrative pronoun'
	(e)	mfəpronounced as //ᵐfiə//➝pronounced as /[ᵐfə]/ H 'oath'	cf.	mvəpronounced as //ᵐfə//➝pronounced as /[ᵐvə]/ H 'on'
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:325;3.1.6-7 and 327;3.2.2)row 1 = orthography; row 2 = [IPA]; row 3 = 'gloss'

Diphthongs involve a combination of a closed (high) vowel (V1) /i,ʉ,u/ with a non-closed (non-high) vowel (V2) /a,ə,ɑ/, as follows:

front /i/ combines with front or centre /a/ and /ə/ to form /ia/ and
- front /i/ does not combine with back /ɑ/, so */iɑ/ is not a possible diphthong
central /ʉ/ combines with front or back /a/ and /ɑ/ to form /ʉa/ and /ʉɑ/
- central /ʉ/ does not combine with central /ə/; so */ʉə/ is not a possible diphthong
back /u/ combines with back /ɑ/ to form /uɑ/
- back /u/ does not combine non-back vowels, so */ua/ and */uə/ are not possible diphthongs

Consonants

The canonical morpheme in Medumba is a single syllable, either an open CV syllable or a closed CVC syllable (Voorhoeve 1965:319).^[2] This morpheme structure constraint has consequences for the consonant inventory. Indeed, a notable property of Medumba is that the number of contrastive consonants differs according to whether one considers consonants in onset position (i.e., consonants that begin a CV or CVC syllable) or consonants in coda position (i.e. consonants that end a CVC syllable). Below, the consonant inventory is introduced, and the distributional differences between coda (C2) and onset (C1) consonants are described.

Medumba has 42 consonants, of which 18 are simplex consonants and 24 are complex consonants.

Simplex consonants

There are 18 simplex consonants in Medumba (Voorhoeve 1965).

Medumba has 18 simple consonants, with three of them (placed in parentheses in the table below) being extremely rare.

Simplex consonants
		labial	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
nasal		pronounced as /m/	pronounced as /n/	pronounced as /ɲ/	pronounced as /ŋ/
stop	voiced	pronounced as /b/	pronounced as /d/	pronounced as /ɟ/	pronounced as /ɡ/
stop	voiceless		pronounced as /t/	pronounced as /c/	pronounced as /k/	pronounced as /ʔ/
trill		pronounced as /ʙ/
fricative	voiced	(pronounced as /v/)	(pronounced as /z/)
fricative	voiceless	pronounced as /f/	pronounced as /s/	(pronounced as /ʃ/)
approximant		pronounced as /w/		pronounced as /j/
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:320, and Nganmou 1991:62)

Note the absence of the following segments:

there is a voiced bilabial stop pronounced as //b//, but no counterpart voiceless bilabial stop *pronounced as //p//
- but pronounced as /[p]/ occurs as an allophone of pronounced as //b//
there is a voiceless palatal fricative pronounced as //ʃ// (with limited distribution), but no counterpart voiced palatal fricative *pronounced as //ʒ//
- but pronounced as /[ʒ]/ occurs as an allophone of pronounced as //ɟ//
there are velar nasal and oral stops, but no counterpart velar fricatives *pronounced as //ɣ// or *pronounced as //x//
- but pronounced as /[ɣ]/ occurs as a release in the pronounced as //ᵑg//~pronounced as /[ᵑgɣ]/ alternation, and [x] occurs as a release in the pronounced as //ᵑk//~pronounced as /[ᵑkx]/ alternation

Complex consonants

There are 24 complex consonants found in Medumba (Voorhoeve 1965:326, section 3.1.9). Complex consonants only occur in onset position.

Complex consonants
	labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
labialized	nasal				pronounced as /ɲʷ/	pronounced as /ŋʷ/
	stop	voiced	pronounced as /bʷ/		pronounced as /ɟʷ/	pronounced as /gʷ/
	stop	voiceless			pronounced as /cʷ/	pronounced as /kʷ/
	fricative			pronounced as /sʷ/
pre-nasalized	trill		pronounced as /ᵐʙ/
	plosive	voiced	pronounced as /ᵐb/	pronounced as /ⁿd/	pronounced as /ᶮɟ/	pronounced as /ᵑg/
	plosive	voiceless		pronounced as /ⁿt/	pronounced as /ᶮc/	pronounced as /ᵑk/
	fricative		pronounced as /ᵐf/	pronounced as /ⁿs/
pre-nasalized labialized	plosive	voiced	pronounced as /ᵐbʷ/		pronounced as /ᶮɟʷ/	pronounced as /ᵑgʷ/
	plosive	voiceless			pronounced as /ᶮcʷ/	pronounced as /ᵑkʷ/
	fricative			ⁿsʷ
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:326)

Note the following gaps in the inventory of complex consonants:

no labialized labial nasal or voiceless stop: *pronounced as //mʷ//, *pronounced as //pʷ//, *pronounced as //ᵐpʷ//
no labialized alveolar (nasal or oral) stop: *pronounced as //nʷ//, *pronounced as //dʷ//, *pronounced as //ⁿdʷ//, *pronounced as //tʷ//, *pronounced as //ⁿtʷ//
no labialized voiceless labial, palatal or velar fricative: *pronounced as //fʷ//, *pronounced as //ᵐfʷ//, *pronounced as //ʃʷ//, *pronounced as //ᶮʃʷ//, *pronounced as //xʷ//, *pronounced as //ᵑxʷ//

Final consonants

Of the 40 consonants found in Medumba, only 7 can be coda consonants: the 3 nasal stops pronounced as //m, n, ŋ//, the 3 counterpart voiced oral stops pronounced as //b, d, ɡ//, and the glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ//.

Final consonants and their allophones
			Place of Articulation
			labial	alveolar	velar	glottal
Manner ofArticulation	nasal stop		m	n	ŋ
	oral stop	voiced	b ~ p	d ~ l	ɡ ~ ʁ/k
	oral stop	voiceless				ʔ
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:328, sn. 3.3.3)

Final nasals

Final nasals include bilabial pronounced as //m//, alveolar pronounced as //n//, and velar pronounced as //ŋ//.

Examples of final nasals
Phoneme	Example
Phoneme	Word	IPA	Gloss
pronounced as //m//	cùm	pronounced as /[cʊ'''m''']/ L(H)	'prune'
pronounced as //n//	tɑn L	pronounced as /[tɑ'''n''']/ L(H)	'cricket'
pronounced as //ŋ//	fòŋmɑŋgəm LHL	pronounced as /[fo'''ŋ'''.mɑ.ᵑgəm]/ LHL(H)	'sort of ant'
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:328;3.3.3)

Final stops

Final stops includes bilabial pronounced as //b// (with allophone pronounced as /[p]/), alveolar pronounced as //d// (with allophones pronounced as /[l,t]/), velar pronounced as //g// (with allophone pronounced as /[ʁ, k]/), and glottal pronounced as //ʔ//.

Examples of final stops
Phoneme	Allophone	Example
Phoneme	Allophone	Word	IPA	Gloss
pronounced as //b//	pronounced as /[b]/
pronounced as //b//	pronounced as /[p]/	cùupnyɑm	pronounced as /[cʊʊ'''p'''.ɲɑm]/	'wild cat'
pronounced as //d//	pronounced as /[d]/
pronounced as //d//	pronounced as /[l, t]/	mfətni	pronounced as /[ᵐfə'''t'''.ni]/ HH	'reconciliation ceremony'
pronounced as //g//	pronounced as /[g]/
pronounced as //g//	pronounced as /[ʁ, k]/	ciaktə	pronounced as /[cia'''k'''.tə]/ HH	'hairstyle,cap'
pronounced as //ʔ//	pronounced as /[ʔ]/
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:328;3.3.3)for examples of consonant allophones, see Danis, Barnes & O'Connor 2012

Initial consonants

The below table presents the inventory of onset consonants and their allophones. The only consonant excluded from onset position is the glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ//. All other consonants occur in onset position, so there are 39 possible onset consonants. In onset position, nasals may be plain (C) or labialized (Cʷ). All other consonant types (voiced plosives, voiceless plosives, fricative) occur as plain (C), labialized (Cʷ), pre-nasalized (ⁿC), or pre-nasalized and labialized (ⁿCʷ). In addition, onset consonants display allophonic variation that is conditioned by the following vowel.

Onset consonants and their allophones
					Place of articulation
					labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
Manner ofarticulation	stop	nasal		C	pronounced as /m/	pronounced as /n/	pronounced as /ɲ/	pronounced as /ŋ/
		nasal		Cʷ			pronounced as /ɲʷ/	pronounced as /ŋʷ/
		oral	voiced	C	pronounced as /b ~ p/	pronounced as /d ~ l/	pronounced as /ɟ ~ y/z/ʒ/	pronounced as /ɡ ~ ʁ/
				Cʷ	pronounced as /bʷ ~ bⱽ/		pronounced as /ɟʷ ~ yʷ>/zʷ/	pronounced as /gʷ ~ w/v/
				ⁿC	pronounced as /ᵐb/	pronounced as /ⁿd/	pronounced as /ᶮɟ ~ ⁿz/ᶮʒ/	pronounced as /ᵑg ~ ᵑgˠ/
				ⁿCʷ	pronounced as /ᵐbʷ/		pronounced as /ᶮɟʷ ~ ⁿzʷ/	pronounced as /ᵑgʷ/
			voiceless	C		pronounced as /t ~ tʰ/	pronounced as /c ~ ʦ/cʃ/	pronounced as /k ~ kʰ/kx/
				Cʷ			pronounced as /cʷ ~ tsʷ/ʃ/	pronounced as /kʷ/
				ⁿC		pronounced as /ⁿt ~ ⁿtʰ/	pronounced as /ᶮc ~ ⁿts/ᶮcʃ/	pronounced as /ᵑk ~ ᵑkʰ/ᵑkx/
				ⁿCʷ			pronounced as /ᶮcʷ~ ᶮʃ/	pronounced as /ᵑkʷ/
	fricative			C	pronounced as /f/	pronounced as /s/
				Cʷ		pronounced as /sʷ/
				ⁿC	pronounced as /ᵐf ~ ᵐv/	pronounced as /ⁿs ~ ⁿz/
				ⁿCʷ		pronounced as /ⁿsʷ/
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:326)

Initial labials

Initial labials include:

plain consonants (C: pronounced as //m//, pronounced as //b// (with allophone pronounced as /[p]/), and pronounced as //f// (with allophone pronounced as /[ᵐv]/)
labialized consonants (Cʷ): pronounced as //bʷ// (with allophone pronounced as /[bⱽ]/)
pre-nasalized consonants (ⁿC): pronounced as //ᵐb// and pronounced as //ᵐf//
pre-nasalized labialized consonants (ⁿCʷ): pronounced as //ᵐbʷ//

Examples of labial onsets
C	nasal	pronounced as //m//	pronounced as /[m]/	mʉ'pronounced as /['''m'''ʉʔ]/ H 'lake'(V323;3.1.2)
	stop	pronounced as //b//	pronounced as /[b]/	bɑb Lpronounced as /['''b'''ɑb]/ L 'wing' (V323;3.1.2)	pronounced as /[p]/	pxxxpronounced as /['''p'''xxx]/ /__[+Closed.V] 'zzz'
	fricative	pronounced as //f//	pronounced as /[f]/	fàmpronounced as /['''f'''àm]/ 'deserted homestead (V323;3.1.2)'	pronounced as /[ᵐv]/	mvxxxpronounced as /['''ᵐv'''xx]/ /__[-Closed.V] 'zzz'
Cʷ	stop	pronounced as //bʷ//	pronounced as /[bʷ]/	bwə'ə pronounced as /['''bʷ'''əʔə] ~ ['''bʷ'''əʔɑ]/ HH 'owl' (V332;4.1)	pronounced as /[bᵛ]/	bvə pronounced as /['''bᵛ'''ə]/ H 'there' (V324;3.1.4)
ᴺC	stop	pronounced as //ᵐb//	pronounced as /[ᵐb]/	mbà pronounced as /['''ᵐb'''aʔ]/ L(H) 'nut' (V324;3.1.3)
ᴺC	fricative	pronounced as //ᵐf//	pronounced as /[ᵐf]/	mfaŋpronounced as /['''ᵐf'''áŋ]/ 'wound' (V324;3.1.3)
ᴺCʷ	stop	pronounced as //ᵐbʷ//	pronounced as /[ᵐbʷ]/	*mbwəpronounced as /['''ᵐbʷ'''ə]/ H* 'goat' (V325;3.1.5)
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965)row 1 = orthography; row 2 = [IPA]; row 3 = 'gloss'

Initial alveolars

Initial alveolars include:

plain consonants (C): pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //d// (with allophone pronounced as /[l]/), pronounced as //t// (with allophone pronounced as /[tʰ]/), and pronounced as //s//
labialized consonants (Cʷ): pronounced as //sʷ//
pre-nasalized consonants (ⁿC): pronounced as //ⁿd//, pronounced as //ⁿt// (with allophone pronounced as /[ⁿtʰ]/), and pronounced as //ⁿs// (with allophone pronounced as /[ⁿz]/)
pre-nasalized labialized consonants (ᴺCʷ): pronounced as //ⁿsʷ//

Examples of alveolar onsets
C	nasal	pronounced as //n//	pronounced as /[n]/	nàpronounced as /['''n'''ɑ]/ L 'field' (V323;3.1.2)
	stop,voiced	pronounced as //d//	pronounced as /[d]/	dimpronounced as /['''d'''ɪm]/ H 'tongue' (V323;3.1.2)	pronounced as /[l]/	lxxxpronounced as /['''l'''xxx]/ /__[-Closed.V] 'zzz'
	stop,voiceless	pronounced as //t//	pronounced as /[t]/	tupronounced as /['''t'''u]/ tone? 'head'	pronounced as /[tʰ]/	tupronounced as /['''t'''ʰʊ]/ tone? 'to pierce' (Voorhoeve 1966:323)
	fricative	pronounced as //s//	pronounced as /[s]/	sògopronounced as /['''s'''ògó]/ LH 'to wash' (V323;3.1.2)
Cʷ	fricative	pronounced as //sʷ//	pronounced as /[sʷ]/	swápronounced as /['''sʷ'''á]/ 'broom, tail' (V324;3.1.4)
ᴺC	stop,voiced	pronounced as //ⁿd//	pronounced as /[ⁿd]/	ndəb Lpronounced as /['''ⁿd'''əb]/ L(H) 'cotton' (V324;3.1.3)
	stop,voiceless	pronounced as //ⁿt//	pronounced as /[ⁿt]/	ntɑnə pronounced as /['''ⁿt'''ɑn''ə'']/ HH 'market, business' (V324;3.1.3)	pronounced as /[ⁿtʰ]/	ntxx pronounced as /['''ⁿtʰ''yyy]//__[+Closed] 'zzz'
	fricative	pronounced as //ⁿs//	pronounced as /[ⁿs]/	nsindɑpronounced as /['''ⁿs'''í-ⁿdɑ]/ H!H 'floor' (V324;3.1.3)	pronounced as /[ⁿz]/	nzxxx pronounced as /['''ⁿz'''yyyy]/ /__[-Closed] 'zzz'
ᴺCʷ	fricative	pronounced as //ⁿsʷ//	pronounced as /[ⁿsʷ]/	*nswəpronounced as /['''ⁿsʷ'''ə]/ H* 'new' (V325;3.1.5)
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965)row 1 = orthography; row 2 = [IPA]; row 3 = 'gloss'

Initial palatals

Initial palatals include:

plain consonants (C): pronounced as //ɲ//, pronounced as //ɟ// (with allophones pronounced as /[j]/, pronounced as /[ʒ]/, pronounced as /[z]/), pronounced as //c// (with allophones pronounced as /[ts]/ and pronounced as /[cʃ]/), and pronounced as //ʃ//
labialized consonants (Cʷ): pronounced as //ɲʷ//, pronounced as //ɟʷ// (with allophones pronounced as /[ʒʷ]/,pronounced as /[zʷ]/), and pronounced as //cʷ// (with allophones pronounced as /[ʃ]/ and pronounced as /[tsʷ]/)
pre-nasalized consonants (ᴺC): pronounced as //ᶮɟ// (with allophones pronounced as /[ᶮʒ]/, pronounced as /[ⁿz]/), and pronounced as //ᶮc// (with allophones pronounced as /[ᶮcʃ]/ and pronounced as /[ⁿts]/)
pre-nasalized labialized consonants (ⁿCʷ): pronounced as //ᶮcʷ// with allophone pronounced as /[ᶮʃ]/

Examples of palatal onsets
Phoneme	Allophone	Example
Phoneme	Allophone	Orthography	IPA	Gloss
pronounced as //ɲ//	pronounced as /[ɲ]/	nyàang	pronounced as /['''ɲ'''aaŋ]/ LH	'to dance' (V323;3.1.2)
pronounced as //ɟ//	pronounced as /[ɟ]/	jənə	pronounced as /['''ɟ'''ənə]/ HH	'to see' (V323;3.1.2)
	pronounced as /[j]/
	pronounced as /[ʒ]/
	pronounced as /[z]/	zə	pronounced as /['''z'''ə]/ H __/i/	'relative pronoun' (V325; 3.1.6)
pronounced as //c//	pronounced as /[c]/	tu	pronounced as /['''c'''u]/	'head' (ref)
	pronounced as /[ts]/	tu	pronounced as /['''ts'''ʰʊ]/	'to pierce' (Voorhoeve 1966:323)
	pronounced as /[cʃ]/
pronounced as //ʃ//	pronounced as /[ʃ]/
pronounced as //ɲʷ//	pronounced as /[ɲʷ]/	*nyw*ìi	pronounced as /['''ɲʷ''iiʔ]/ LH	'to spoil' (V324;3.1.4)
pronounced as //ɟʷ//	pronounced as /[ɟʷ]/	jwəde LH	pronounced as /['''ɟᵂ'''ədə]/ LH	'to wet' (V324; 3.1.4)
	pronounced as /[ʒʷ]/
	pronounced as /[zʷ]/
pronounced as //cʷ//	pronounced as /[cʷ]/	cwi	pronounced as /['''cʷ'''ii]/ LH	'to give a name' (V327,3.3.1)
	pronounced as /[ʃ]/	shʉmə	pronounced as //cʷʉmə//, pronounced as /[ʃʉmə]/ HH __ʉ,u	'to swing' (V325;3.1.8)
	pronounced as /[tsʷ]/
pronounced as //ᶮɟ//	pronounced as /[ᶮɟ]/	*nyj*iag	pronounced as /['''ᶮj'''iag]/ H	'mane' (V324;3.1.3)
	pronounced as /[ᶮʒ]/
	pronounced as /[ⁿz]/
pronounced as //ᶮc//	pronounced as /[ᶮc]/	ntɑnə	pronounced as /['''ⁿt'''ɑnə]/ HH	'market, business' (V324;3.1.3)
	pronounced as /[ᶮcʃ]/
	pronounced as /[ⁿts]/
pronounced as //ⁿsʷ//	pronounced as /[ⁿsʷ]/	*nyjw*i	pronounced as /['''ᶮɟᵂ'''i]/	'woman' (V325;3.1.5)
pronounced as //ⁿsʷ//	pronounced as /[ⁿzʷ]/
pronounced as //ᶮcʷ//	pronounced as /[ᶮcʷ]/
pronounced as //ᶮcʷ//	pronounced as /[ᶮʃ]/
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965)

Initial velars

Initial velars include:

plain consonants (C): pronounced as //ŋ//, pronounced as //g// (with allophone pronounced as /[ʁ]/), pronounced as //k// (with allophones pronounced as /[kʰ]/ and pronounced as /[kx]/)
labialized consonants (Cʷ): pronounced as //ŋʷ// and pronounced as //gʷ// (with allophones pronounced as /[w]/ and pronounced as /[v]/)
pre-nasalized consonants (ᴺC): pronounced as //ᵑg// (with allophone pronounced as /[ᵑgˠ]/)and pronounced as //ᵑk// (with allophones pronounced as /[ᵑkʰ]/ and pronounced as /[ᵑkx]/)
pre-nasalized labialized consonants (ⁿCʷ): pronounced as //ᵑgʷ// and pronounced as //ᵑkʷ//

Examples of velar onsets
Phoneme	Allophone	Example
Phoneme	Allophone	Orthography	IPA	Gloss
pronounced as //ŋ//	pronounced as /[ŋ]/	ŋà'ŋà'	pronounced as /['''ŋ'''ɑʔ-ŋɑʔ]/ LL	'mosquito' (V323;3.1.2)
pronounced as //g//	pronounced as /[g]/	gubtə	pronounced as /['''g'''ub-tə]/ HH	'to linger on' (V323;3.1.2)
pronounced as //g//	pronounced as /[ʁ]/
pronounced as //t//	pronounced as /[k]/
	pronounced as /[kʰ]/
	pronounced as /[kx]/
pronounced as //ŋʷ//	pronounced as /[ŋʷ]/	ŋwìnte LLH	pronounced as /['''ŋʷ'''in-tə]/ LLH	'to grow thin' (V324;3.1.4)
pronounced as //gʷ//	pronounced as /[gʷ]/	gwə	pronounced as /['''gᵂ'''ə]/ H	'who?' (V324; 3.1.4)
	pronounced as /[w]/
	[v]
pronounced as //kʷ//	pronounced as /[kʷ]/
pronounced as //ᵑg//	pronounced as /[ᵑg]/	ŋgà	['''ᵑg'''ɑ] L(H)	'root, vein' (V324;3.1.3)
pronounced as //ᵑg//	pronounced as /[ᵑgˠ]/
pronounced as //ᵑk//	pronounced as /[ᵑk]/	ŋkɑnə	pronounced as /['''ᵑk'''ɑn''ə'']/ HH	'market, business' (V324;3.1.3)
	pronounced as /[ᵑkʰ]/
	pronounced as /[ᵑkx]/
pronounced as //ᵑgʷ//	pronounced as /[ᵑgʷ]/		*ŋgw*àn	pronounced as /['''ᵑgʷ'''an]/ L(H)	'slave' (V325;3.1.5)
pronounced as //kʷ//	pronounced as /[ᵑkʷ]/
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:323ff.)

Phonological processes affecting segments

Vowel insertion

Consonant-final words - which are generally CVC because of the size constraint that favours CV or CVC words - are often augmented by a final vowel. This process of vowel insertion happens in one of two contexts: (i) before a pause; (ii) at the end of a sentence. The quality of the inserted vowel is conditioned by the final consonant: if the final C is a glottal stop, then the inserted vowel is schwa; elsewhere, the inserted vowel is a copy of the stem vowel. Examples illustrating vowel insertion are given in (60).

(60) a. koo b. cintEE ko-o cin-te-e love-FV xx-yy-FV 'to want, to love' 'to urinate' (adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:332)

Consonant mutation

Consonants in onset position surface with different variants. This consonant allophone, a form of consonant mutation, is conditioned by the following vowel. There are seven conditioning contexts, as follows:

the non-closed vowels
the closed vowels
the high front vowel pronounced as //i//
the high non-front vowels pronounced as //ʉ// and pronounced as //u//
the high central (non-front, non-back) vowel pronounced as //ʉ//
the high back vowel pronounced as //u//
the vowels pronounced as //o// and pronounced as //ə//

Conditioning contexts for consonant mutation
Context		Class	Effect	Alternation
1.	__ V[-Closed]	voiced stop	"devoicing"	/b/→[p]; /d/→[l]; /ɟ/→[y]; /ɟᵂ/→[yᵂ]; /g/→[ʁ]; /gᵂ/→[w]
1.	__ V[-Closed]	nasalized fricative	voicing	/ᵐf/→[ᵐv]; /ⁿs/→[ⁿz] (except before /o/)
2.	__ V[+Closed]	voiceless stop	aspiration	/t/→[tʰ]; /ⁿt/→[ⁿtʰ]; /k/→pronounced as /[kʰ/kˣ]/; /ᵑk/→pronounced as /[ᵑkʰ/ᵑkˣ]/
2.	__ V[+Closed]	bilabial	devoicing	/b/→[p] (optional)
3.	__ /i/	palatal	fronting + spirantization	/ɟ/→[z]; /ɟᵂ/→[zᵂ]; /ᶮɟ/→[ⁿz]; /ᶮɟᵂ/→[ⁿzᵂ]; /c/ →[ʦ]; /cᵂ/ → [ʦᵂ]; /ᶮcᵂ/ →[ᶮʃ]?
4.	__ /ʉ, u/	palatal	spirantization	/ɟ/ →[ʒ]; /ᶮɟ/ → [ᶮʒ]; /c/ → [cʃ]; /cᵂ/ → [ʃ] (3.1.8, V1965)
4.	__ /ʉ, u/	labialized voiced velar	spirantization	/gᵂ/→[v]
5.	__ /ʉ/	simplex & nasalized voiced velar	spirantization	/g/ → [ɣ]; /ᵑg/ → [ᵑgˠ]
6.	__ /u/	simplex voiced velar	retraction + spirantization	/g/ → [ʁ]
7.	__ /o, ə/	labialized bilabial	spirantization	/bᵂ/ → [bᵛ]
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1965:xxx-zzz)

Tone

Medumba is famous for the extent to which tone shapes grammar. Although having only a two-tone contrast, namely High (H) and Low (L), surface tone melodies are conditioned by a variety of lexical, morphological and syntactic factors:

lexically specified level Low (L) and High (H) tone
morphologically derived falling (HL) and rising (HL) contour tones
syntactically conditioned downstep, where H is produced at a lower pitch than a preceding H tone

Two tones: high versus low

Medumba is described as a two-level tone system with low (L) and high (H) tones; examples are given in Table 16. Observe that the L/H contrast is found with all Lexical (open) class categories; this includes verbs, nouns and prepositions. Likewise, Functional (closed-class) categories show an L/H contrasts; this includes verbal F-categories (C, T, and Aspect) and nominal F-categories (Dem, Det, Pl). [Describe examples; also give minimal pairs]

Tone contrasts with verbs

Verb stems come in two shapes, CV and CVC, with each one contrasting Low and High tone. See (1-5) for examples of High/Low tone contrast with CV stems, and (6-6) for examples of High/Low tone contrast with CVC stems.

High/Low contrast with CV verb stems
	Low tone			High tone			Source
IPA	orthography	gloss	IPA	orthography	gloss		Source
	bɑ L	'ecaillier'		bɑ	'be crazy'	V1976:111
	lò	'stand up'		lo	'leave'	V1976:123
	nyì	'defecate'		nyi	'press'	V1976:125
	tà	'be strong, hard'		ta	1. trade2. deny 3. defend oneself	V1976:127
	zwì	'laugh'		zwi	'kill'	V1976:131

High/Low contrast with CVC verb stems
	Low tone			High tone			Source
IPA	orthography	gloss	IPA	orthography	gloss		Source
	fʉ̀əgə LH	'be light'		fʉəgə H	'blow'	V1976:117
	kʉ̀a L	'sharpen, limer'		kʉa H	'reclame'	V1976:121
	làdə LH	'assemble'		ladə	'lick'	V1976:122
	lɑnə	'cry, lament'		lɑnə	'be clean, clear, healthy'	V1976:122
	tagə	'miss'		tagə	'gather with full hands'	V1976:127
	tamə LH	'mix, assemble'		tamə	1. 'pull with thread' 2. 'sew' 3. ''	V1976:127
	tɔgə LH	'spit'		tɔgə	'pass'	V1976:128
	vɔgə LH	'wake up with a start'		vɔgə	'be short'	V1976:129
[jɑʔɑ] LH	yɑʔ'ɑ LH	'cross'	[jɑʔɑ] HH	yɑʔɑ	'give credit'	V1976:130
	yɔgə LH	1. 'live'2. 'devore'		yɔgə	1. 'warm onsself up'2. 'pass the day'	V1976:130
	ywədə LH	'soak, wet'		ywədə	1. 'be rested2. 'be full (from eating'	V1976:130
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1976)

Tone contrasts with nouns

High/Low tone contrast with CV nouns stems
	Low tone				High tone				Source
	IPA	orthography	gloss		IPA	orthography	gloss		Source
L(H)	[mbà]	m-bà	'nut' (c2)	H(L)	[mbá]	m-ba	'pot, marmite'	V1976:111
L(L)	[cɔ]	cɔ	'news, story' (c1/4)	H(H)	[cɔ]	cɔ	'theft' (c3)	V1976:114
L(L)	[ndɔ]	ndɔ	'long solid unit'	H(L)	[ndɔ]	ndɔ	1. horn "corne"2. whistle	V1976:115
L(H)		fə	1. 'feather' (c3/5)2.' leaf'	H(L)		fə	'dead body'	V19`76:116
L(H)		sà	'star'	H(L)		sa	'game'	V1976:126
L(H)		n-zà	'miracle' (c2/4)	H(L)		n-za	'hill'	V1976:131
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1976)

High/Low tone contrast with CVC noun stems: (23-29)
	Low tone				High tone				Source
		IPA	orthography	gloss		IPA	orthography	gloss	Source
(23)	L(L)	[mbàn]	m-bàn	'rain' (c2)	H(L)	[mbán]	m-ban	'side, c?'	V1976:111
(24)	L(H)	[bùʔ]	bù	'mushroom' (c3/5)	H(L)	[búʔ]	bu	'package' (c3/6)	V1976:113
(25)	L(H)	[ɣəʔ]	ghə	'cheek' (c3/5)	H(H)		ghə	'avarice' (c3)	V1976:117
(26)	L(L)		n-tɑn	'string' (c1)	H(H)		n-tɑn	'trade, commerce' (c1)	V1976:127
(27)	L(H)		ŋ-kùn	'tail' (c2/4)	H(L)		ŋ-kun	'rice, beans'	V1976:121
(28)	L(L)		kɑb	'fence' (c1/4)	H(L)		ŋ-kɑb	'money' (c1)	V1976:119
(29)	L(L)		kam	'piece' (c3/5)	H(L)		ŋ-kam	'noble' (c1/4)	V1976:119
(30)	L(H)		cwed	'the bush'	L(H)		ncwed	'chiefancy
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1976)

In principle, given the possibility of a stem bearing associated with one of four tone melodies — namely L(L), L(H), H(L) and H(H) for nouns and L or H for verbs — one expects to find a four-way tone contrast for a given segmental base (either CV or CVC). No such examples are attested within a given word-class, but there is one instance elf a 4-way contrast across word-classes. In addition, there are a few three-way contrasts for a given noun base, and numerous many four-way tone contrasts with the same base, if one looks at tone melodies across word-classes.

CV tɔ, which has L(H), H(L) and H(H) stems
CVC m-vɛd, which has L(L)
CVC lɛn, to, and mvdd.

Examples are given in (1-3).

Tone contrasts across word classes: L versus H
	Low tone				High tone				Source
		IPA	orthography	gloss		IPA	orthography	gloss	Source
(1)	L(L)	—			H(L)		tɔ	'N: neck, throat' (c2)	V1976:128
	L(H)		tɔ	N: 'nombril' (c3)	H(H)		tɔ	'N: hole' (c3/5)	V1976:128
	L		tɔ-ɔ LH	1. V: 'govern'2. V: take/pay a debt	H	—

(2)	L(L)		m-vɛd	N: 'rope' (c1/4)	H(L)		m-vɛd	'N: oil' (c5)	V1976:129
	L-L(L)		m-vɛd-m-vɛd	N: 'mosquito' (c4)	H(L)		m-vɛd	'N: oil' (c5)
	L(H)	—			H(H)		m-vɛd	'N: brother' (c1/4)
	L		vɛd-ə LH	V: 'tremble'	H	—

(3)	L(L)		lɛn	N: 'sign' (c2/4)	H(L)		lɛn	N: 'name' (c3/5)	V1976:123
	L(H)		lɛn	N: 'mark, quality, sort' (c2)	H(H)	—
	L		lɛn-ə LH	V: know, recognize	H	—

(4)	L(L)		bàg	N: 'side' (c?)	H(L)	—			V1976:111
	L(H)		bàg	N: '1pl pronoun'	H(H)	—
	L		bàg-ə LH	V: 'split'	H		bag-ə HH	V: 'lean'

(5)	L(L)		bàm	N: 'belly" (c3/5)	H(L)	—			V1976:111
	L(H)				H(H)	—
	L		bàm-ə LH	V: 'wake up'	H		bam	V: 'accept, believer, answer'

(6)	L(L)				H(L)
	L(H)		bu'	N: 'mushroom' (c3/5)	H(H)		bu'	N: package (c3/5)
	L				H		bu'	V: 'play, sound out'
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1976)

Noun classes
	Low tone				High tone				Source
		IPA	orthography	gloss		IPA	orthography	gloss	Source
(1)	L(L)		kà	'sorcellery, magic (c3)	L(H)		ŋ-kà	'rank' (c2)	V1976:119
(2)	L(L)	[kəʔ]	kə	'tam-tam' (c3/5)	H(L)		ŋ-kə	'ball'	V1976:120
(3)	L(H)		kɔ	'arrow" (c3/5)	L(H)		ŋ-kɔ	'pilon' (c1/4)	V1976:121
(4)	H		shun	'friendship (c1/4)	H(H)		n-shun	'friend' (c1/4)	V1976:126
(5)	H(H)		tʉ	1. 'tree' (c3/5)2. 'up above'	H(L)		n-tʉ	'heart' (c/24)	V1976:129
(adapted from Voorhoeve 1976)

(3) Low-tone fù (4) High-tone tʃə́ŋ [fù] [tʃə́ŋ] 'medicine' 'food' (From Kouankem 2013:60; Mucha 2017: 8)

Tone contrasts with prepositions

(5) Low-tone (a) mbàŋ [ᵐbàŋ] (b) nùm [nùm] (c) ɲàm [ɲàm] 'next to' 'on' 'behind' (6) High-tone mʙə́ [ᵐʙə́] 'in front of' (from Hawkes et al. 2015:122)

Tone contrasts with complementizers

(7) Low-tone (a) ndà (8) High-tone mbʉ [ⁿdà] [ᵐb''ʉ́''] 'C' 'C' (From)

Tone contrasts with demonstratives

(9) Low-tone (a) s-ə̂n (10) High-tone N yə́n [s-ə̂n] [N yə́n] AGR-this N Dem.Dist 'that N' (Kouankem 2013:60)

Tone contrasts with plural-marking

(11) Low-tone (a) bà N (12) High-tone ba N [bà] [bá] 'PL' 'PL' (Kouankem 2013:62)

Falling and rising tones

In addition to level high and low tones, Medumba exhibits falling (HL) and rising (LH) contour tones. These contour tones are morphologically derived from floating H tones that occur as affixes preceding or following the stems they associate with. These floating tones make themselves known by docking to tone-bearing units (TBUs) associated with L-tone, thus forming a tone contour. [DESCRIBE EXAMPLES; add LH examples] (13) L-tone verb (put in sentence) ghʉ̀ [ɣʉ̀] do 'do’ (14) Derived HL-tone verb (put in sentence) nghʉ̀ [N-ɣʉ̀] N-do 'do, consecutive’ (identify source)

Downstep

Medumba shows downstep, where H is produced at a lower pitch than an immediately preceding H tone; downstep is represented as (ꜜ). Downstep is viewed as resulting from a floating Low tone that shifts the pitch level of a following High tone one step lower than the preceding High tone.^[3] Downstep is syntactically conditioned in that it occurs at phrasal boundaries:

Downstep occurs between Subject and following Verb,
Downstep occurs between Verb and following Complement
Downstep occurs between Noun and following Complement

Notes and References

Olson. Kenneth S.. Meynadier. Yohann. 2015. On Medumba Bilabial Trills and Vowels. Proceedings of the International Phonetic Association.
Voorhoeve. Jan. 1965. The Structure of the Morpheme in Bamileke (Bangangté dialect). Lingua. 13. 319–334. 10.1016/0024-3841(64)90034-8.
Voorhoeve. Jan. 1971. Tonology of the Bamileke Noun. Journal of African Languages. 10. 44–53.