Vili (Civili, Tshivili) is one of the Zone H Bantu languages, grouped with the Kongo clade.

The language has a few thousand native speakers along the coast between southern Gabon and northern Cabinda, most of them in the Republic of the Congo's Kouilou, Pointe-Noire and Niari departments. The Vili people (singular Muvili, plural Bavili) were the population of the 17th- to 18th-century Kingdom of Loango in the same region.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPost-alv./ PalatalVelar
Nasalmnɲ
Plosive/ Affricatevoicelessptt͡ʃk
voicedbdd͡ʒɡ
prenasal vl.ᵐpⁿtᶮt͡ʃᵑk
prenasal vd.ᵐbⁿdᶮd͡ʒᵑɡ
Fricativevoicelessfs
voicedvz
prenasal vl.ᶬfⁿs
prenasal vd.ᶬvⁿz
Rhoticr
Approximantwlj

Consonants may also be labialized [ʷ] when preceding /w/.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closei u
Close-mide əo
Open-midɛ ɛːɔ ɔː
Opena

External links