Bamum language

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

{{{mapalt}}}

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 a quarter million speakers. The language is well known for its original script developed by King Njoya and his palace circle around 1895. Cameroonian musicians Claude Ndam and Gerryland are native speakers of the language and use it in their music.

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 kkʷkpʔ
bd ɡɡʷɡb
mpnt ŋkŋkʷ?
mbnd ŋɡŋɡʷ?
fsʃx?
vzʒɣ?
ɱf?ɲʃ
ɱv?ɲʒ
mn?ŋŋʷŋm
r   lj w

References

  1. ↑ 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.

External links