Bamum language

Bamum
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; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Bapi;
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 (Shü Pamom [ʃŷpǎˑmə̀m] 'language of the Bamum', or Shümom 'Mum language'), also known as Shupamem, Bamun, or 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 in the Kingdom of Bamum 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

Nchare claims ten diphthongs, only eight of which (excluding /ɔ/ and /o/) have a length distinction.^[3] Matateyou shows normal and long examples of all ten vowel qualities. The orthography in angle brackets was based on the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages as used by Matateyou.^[4]

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i ⟨i⟩ iː ⟨ii⟩	y ⟨ü⟩ yː ⟨üü⟩		ɯ ⟨ʉ⟩ ɯː ⟨ʉʉ⟩	u ⟨u⟩ uː ⟨uu⟩
Mid	e ⟨e⟩ eː ⟨ee⟩		ə ⟨ə⟩ əː ⟨əə⟩		o ⟨o⟩ oː ⟨oo⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨ɛ⟩ ɛː ⟨ɛɛ⟩				ɔ ⟨ɔ⟩ ɔː ⟨ɔɔ⟩
Open			a ⟨a⟩ a ⟨aa⟩

Consonants

The consonants are displayed as following:^[5]^[4]

			Labial		Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
Plosive	Plain	Voiceless	p ⟨p⟩		t ⟨t⟩		k ⟨k⟩	k͡p ⟨kp⟩	ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩^[a]
	Plain	Voiced	b ⟨b⟩^[b]		d ⟨d⟩^[c]		ɡ ⟨g⟩^[d]	g͡b ⟨gb⟩
	Prenasal	Voiceless	ᵐp ⟨mp⟩		ⁿt ⟨nt⟩		ᵑk ⟨ŋk⟩	ᵑ͡ᵐk͡p ⟨ŋkp⟩
	Prenasal	Voiced	ᵐb ⟨mb⟩		ⁿd ⟨nd⟩		ᵑɡ ⟨ŋg⟩	ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b ⟨ŋgb⟩
Fricative	Plain	Voiceless	f ⟨f⟩		s ⟨s⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩
	Plain	Voiced	β^[b] ⟨ɓ⟩^[e]	v ⟨v⟩	z ⟨z⟩^[f]	ʒ ⟨j⟩^[g]	ɣ ⟨gh⟩
	Prenasal	Voiceless	ᶬf ⟨mf⟩		ⁿs ⟨ns⟩	ᶮʃ ⟨nsh⟩
	Prenasal	Voiced	ᶬv ⟨mv⟩		ⁿz ⟨nz⟩	ᶮʒ ⟨nzh⟩
Nasal			m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩	ŋ͡m ⟨ŋm⟩
Rhotic					r ⟨r⟩
Approximant	Plain				l ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y⟩		w ⟨w⟩
Approximant	Prenasal					ⁿj ⟨nj⟩		ⁿw ⟨nw⟩

^ allophone of /k/ in coda
^ ^a ^b allophone of /p/
^ allophone of /l/
^ allophone of /ɣ/
^ Matateyou uses the letter for implosive /ɓ/
^ allophone of /r/
^ allophone of /j/

Tones

Bamum has four^[6] or five tones.^[7] Mateteyou's analysis includes a mid tone, while Nchare's analysis includes downstep.^[6] Bamum distinguishes between lexical and grammatical tone.^[8]

Diacritic	Nchare	Matateyou
à	low	low
á	high	high
ā	―	mid
ǎ	rising	rising
â	falling	falling
ꜜ	downstep	―

References

^ ^a ^b Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Kell, Cathy (14 September 2005). "Cameroon: Claude Ndam : Committed To Culture". Cameroon Tribune. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 28 August 2015 – via AllAfrica.
^ Nchare 2012, pp. 39–40.
^ ^a ^b Matateyou 2002, pp. 37–38.
^ Nchare 2012, pp. 44, 46.
^ ^a ^b Nchare 2012, p. 63.
^ Matateyou 2002, p. 38.
^ Nchare 2012, p. 64.

Bibliography

Matateyou, Emmanuel (2002). Parlons Bamoun. Paris: L'Harmattan. p. 38.
Nchare, Abdoulaye Laziz (2012). The Grammar of Shupamem (PhD dissertation). New York University. ProQuest 996252918.