Bamum language

Bamum
	Shüpamom
	ꛀꛣꚧꚳ
Region	Cameroon, Nigeria
Ethnicity	Bamum people
Native speakers	420,000 (2005)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Grassfields Eastern Grassfields Mbam-Nkam Nun Bamum; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin script, Bamum syllabary (being revived)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bax
Glottolog	bamu1253
	Page from a manuscript in the Bamum script

Bamum (Bamun: Shü Pamom [ʃŷpǎˑmə̀m] "language of the Bamum", or Shümom "Mum language"), also spelled Bamun or in its French spelling Bamoun, is an Eastern Grassfields language 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 was a native speaker of the language and sang it in his music.^[2]

Phonology

Bamum has tone, vowel length, diphthongs and coda consonants.

Vowels

The simple vowels are:

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i	y	ɨ	ɯ	u
Mid	e		ə		o
Open-mid	ɛ				ɔ
Open			a

Bamum vowels can be normal or half-long /ˑ/.

Consonants

The consonants are:

			Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Labialized velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
Plosive	Plain	Voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ	k͡p	ʔ
	Plain	Voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ	g͡b
	Prenasalized	Voiceless	ᵐp	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑkʷ	ᵑ͡ᵐk͡p
	Prenasalized	Voiced	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ	ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b
Fricative	Plain	Voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x
	Plain	Voiced	v	z	ʒ	ɣ
	Prenasalized	Voiceless	ᶬf	ⁿs	ᶮʃ
	Prenasalized	Voiced	ᶬv	ⁿz	ᶮʒ
Nasal			m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋ͡m
Rhotic				r
Approximant				l	j		w

Tones

Bamum has five tones^[3]^[4]

Tone	IPA
à	low
á	high
ā	mid
ǎ	rising
â	falling

References

^ ^a ^b Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
^ Cathy Kell (14 September 2005). "Cameroon: Claude Ndam : Committed To Culture". Retrieved 28 August 2015.
^ https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07023-bamum-report.pdf
^ Nchare (2012).

[e18-1] Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

[2] Cathy Kell (14 September 2005). "Cameroon: Claude Ndam : Committed To Culture". Retrieved 28 August 2015.

[3] ttps://www.unicode.org/L2/L2007/07023-bamum-report.pdf

[4] Nchare (2012).

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Bamum
Shüpamom
ꛀꛣꚧꚳ
Region	Cameroon, Nigeria
Ethnicity	Bamum people
Native speakers	420,000 (2005)^[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Grassfields Eastern Grassfields Mbam-Nkam Nun Bamum
Writing system	Latin script, Bamum syllabary (being revived)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`bax`
Glottolog	`bamu1253`
Page from a manuscript in the Bamum script