Bamum language

Bamum
Shüpamom
Region Cameroon, Nigeria
Native speakers
420,000 (2005)[1]
Bamum syllabary
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bax
Glottolog bamu1253[2]

Page from a manuscript in the Bamum script

Bamum (Shüpamom [ʃŷpǎˑmə̀m] "Bamum language"), or in its French spelling Bamoun, is one of the Benue–Congo languages of Cameroon, with approximately 420,000 speakers.[1] The language is well known for its original script developed by King Njoya and his palace circle around 1895. Cameroonian musician Claude Ndam is a native speaker of the language and uses it in his music.[3]

Phonology

Bamum has tone, long vowels and diphthongs, and coda consonants. The simple vowels are,

FrontCentralBack
i   y ɨ ɯ   u
e ə
ɛ ɔ
a

The consonants are,

LabialAlveolarPost-
alveolar
VelarLabialized
velar
Labial-
velar
Glottal
pt kkpʔ
bd ɡɡʷɡb
mpnt ŋkŋkʷ?
mbnd ŋɡŋɡʷ?
fsʃx?
vzʒɣ?
ɱf?ɲʃ
ɱv?ɲʒ
mn?ŋŋʷŋm
r   lj w

References

  1. 1 2 Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Bamun". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. Cathy Kell (14 September 2005). "Cameroon: Claude Ndam : Committed To Culture". Retrieved 28 August 2015.


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