Bamum language

Bamum
Shüpamom
Region	Cameroon, Nigeria
Native speakers	420,000 (2005)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Grassfields Eastern Grassfields (Mbam–Nkam) Nun Bamum
Writing system	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,

Front	Central	Back
i   y	ɨ	ɯ   u
e	ə
ɛ		ɔ
	a

The consonants are,

Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Labialized velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
p	t		k	kʷ	kp	ʔ
b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ	ɡb
mp	nt		ŋk	ŋkʷ	?
mb	nd		ŋɡ	ŋɡʷ	?
f	s	ʃ	x	?
v	z	ʒ	ɣ	?
ɱf	?	ɲʃ
ɱv	?	ɲʒ
m	n	?	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋm
	r   l	j		w

References

1. Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Bamun". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Cathy Kell (14 September 2005). "Cameroon: Claude Ndam : Committed To Culture". Retrieved 28 August 2015.