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Mfumte
Mfumte
Region	Cameroon
Ethnicity	Mfumte
Native speakers	(24,700 Mfumte dialect cited 1982); 6,000 Kwaja and Ndaktup (2000), unknown number Fum
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Grassfields Eastern Nkambe Mfumte; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; nfu – Mfumte; fum – Fum; kdz – Kwaja (East Mfumte)
Glottolog	mfum1239 Mfumteic; fumm1238 Fum

Mfumte (Nfumte) is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon. It is not clear if the four varieties spoken by ethnic Mfumte—Ndaktup, Kwaja, Fum and Mfumte proper—are mutually intelligible or distinct languages; ability to communicate may be either due to inherent intelligibility or to bilingualism, while Fum and Mfumte may simply be the Nigerian and Cameroonian names for the same language.

Orthography

The Mfumte alphabet has 40 letters, with 30 consonants and 10 vowels.^[2]

Alphabet

Mfumte alphabet^[2]
Capital	Lowercase	IPA
Capital	Lowercase	Phoneme	Allophones
A	a	/a/	[a]
B	b	/b/	[b]
Ch	ch	/t͡ʃ/	[t͡ʃ]
D	d	/d/	[d]
Dz	dz	/d͡z/	[d͡z]
E	e	/e/	[e], [ɛ]
Ə	ə	/ə/	[ə]
F	f	/f/	[f]
G	g	/g/	[g]
Gb	gb	/gb/	[gb]
Gh	gh	/ɣ/	[ɣ]
H	h	/h/	[h]
’	’	/h/	[ʔ]
I	i	/i/	[i]
Ɨ	ɨ	/ɯ/	[ɯ]
J	j	/d͡ʒ/	[d͡ʒ]
K	k	/k/	[k]
Kp	kp	/kp/	[kp]
L	l	/l/	[l]
M	m	/m/	[m]
N	n	/n/	[n]
Ny	ny	/ɲ/	[ɲ]
Ŋ	ŋ	/ŋ/	[ŋ]
O	o	/o/	[o]
Ɔ	ɔ	/ɔ/	[ɔ]
Ø	ø	/ø/	[ø]
P	p	/p/	[p]
R	r	/ɾ/	[ɾ]
S	s	/s/	[s]
Sh	sh	/ʃ/	[ʃ]
T	t	/t/	[t]
Ts	ts	/t͡s/	[t͡s]
U	u	/u/	[u]
Ʉ	ʉ	/y/	[y]
V	v	/v/	[v]
W	w	/w/	[w]
Wy	wy	/ɥ/	[ɥ]
Y	y	/j/	[j]
Z	z	/z/	[z]
Zh	zh	/ʒ/	[ʒ]

Multigraphs

In addition to the single phonemes, Mfumte has prenasalized, palatalized, labio-palatalized, labialized, and velarized consonants.

Mfumte multigraphs^[2]
Capital	Lowercase	IPA
Mp	mp	/ᵐp/
Mb	mb	/ᵐb/
Nt	nt	/ⁿt/
Nd	nd	/ⁿd/
Nk	nk	/ᵑk/
Ng	ng	/ᵑɡ/
Nkp	nkp	/ᵑᵐkp/
Ngb	ngb	/ᵑᵐgb/
Nts	nts	/ⁿt͡s/
Ndz	ndz	/ⁿd͡z/
Nj	nj	/ⁿd͡ʒ/
Mf	mf	/ᶬf/
Mv	mv	/ᶬv/
Ns	ns	/ⁿs/
Nsh	nsh	/ⁿʃ/
Ngh	ngh	/ᵑɣ/
Nh	nh	/ᵑh/
Py	py	/pʲ/
By	by	/bʲ/
Ky	ky	/kʲ/
Gy	gy	/gʲ/
Hy	hy	/hʲ/
Mpy	mpy	/ᵐpʲ/
Mby	mby	/ᵐbʲ/
Nky	nky	/ᵑkʲ/
Ngy	ngy	/ᵑgʲ/
Mfy	mfy	/ᶬfʲ/
Nghy	nghy	/ᵑɣʲ/
Nhy	nhy	/ᵑhʲ/
Hwy	hwy	/hᶣ/
Nhwy	nhwy	/ᵑhᶣ/
Nghwy	nghwy	/ᵑɣᶣ/
Pw	pw	/pʷ/
Kw	kw	/kʷ/
Gw	gw	/gʷ/
Fw	fw	/fʷ/
Hw	hw	/hʷ/
Nyw	nyw	/ɲʷ/
Nw	nw	/nʷ/
Nkw	nkw	/ᵑkʷ/
Ngw	ngw	/ᵑgʷ/
Nghw	nghw	/ᵑɣʷ/
Nhw	nhw	/ᵑhʷ/
Bw	bw	/bᶭ/
Mbw	mbw	/ᵐbᶭ/

References

^ Mfumte at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Fum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kwaja (East Mfumte) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c Eyoh, Julius A.; Hedinger, Robert (June 2008). "Mfumte Orthography Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-16. Retrieved March 15, 2018.

External links

A Sketch Grammar of the Central Mfumte Language An introduction to the Mfumte language and a description of its grammar rules
Conflict Resolution Systems in Wulí’ Culture A description of language conflict including the Mfumte language