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 (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. 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.

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
		Voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ	g͡b
	Prenasalized	Voiceless	ᵐp	ⁿt		ᵑk	ᵑkʷ	ᵑ͡ᵐk͡p
		Voiced	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ	ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b
Fricative	Plain	Voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x	xʷ
		Voiced	v	z	ʒ	ɣ	ɣʷ
	Prenasalized	Voiceless	ᶬf	ⁿs	ᶮʃ
		Voiced	ᶬv	ⁿz	ᶮʒ
Nasal			m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋ͡m
Rhotic				r	ɹ̠
Approximant				l	j		w

Tones

Bamum has five tones

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