Bamum language

Bamum
Shüpamom
ꚶꛉ꛰꛲ꚫꛦꚳ[citation needed]
RegionCameroon, Nigeria
EthnicityBamum people
Native speakers
420,000 (2005)[1]
Dialects
  • Bapi
Latin script, Bamum syllabary (being revived)
Language codes
ISO 639-3bax
Glottologbamu1253
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

[edit]

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

Vowels

[edit]

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

[edit]

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]
Voiced b ⟨b⟩[b] d ⟨d⟩[c] ɡ ⟨g⟩[d] g͡b ⟨gb⟩
Prenasal Voiceless ᵐp ⟨mp⟩ ⁿt ⟨nt⟩ ᵑk ⟨ŋk⟩ ᵑ͡ᵐk͡p ⟨ŋkp⟩
Voiced ᵐb ⟨mb⟩ ⁿd ⟨nd⟩ ᵑɡ ⟨ŋg⟩ ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b ⟨ŋgb⟩
Fricative Plain Voiceless f ⟨f⟩ s ⟨s⟩ ʃ ⟨sh⟩
Voiced β[b] ⟨ɓ⟩[e] v ⟨v⟩ z ⟨z⟩[f] ʒ ⟨j⟩[g] ɣ ⟨gh⟩
Prenasal Voiceless ᶬf ⟨mf⟩ ⁿs ⟨ns⟩ ᶮʃ ⟨nsh⟩
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⟩
Prenasal ⁿj ⟨nj⟩ ⁿw ⟨nw⟩
  1. ^ allophone of /k/ in coda
  2. ^ a b allophone of /p/
  3. ^ allophone of /l/
  4. ^ allophone of /ɣ/
  5. ^ Matateyou uses the letter for implosive /ɓ/
  6. ^ allophone of /r/
  7. ^ allophone of /j/

Tones

[edit]

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

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Bamum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Nchare 2012, pp. 39–40.
  4. ^ a b Matateyou 2002, pp. 37–38.
  5. ^ Nchare 2012, pp. 44, 46.
  6. ^ a b Nchare 2012, p. 63.
  7. ^ Matateyou 2002, p. 38.
  8. ^ Nchare 2012, p. 64.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • 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.
  • Pawou Molu, Solange (2018). Problèmes de morphophonologie nominale en Bamun-Shüpamom (PhD dissertation). Paris Cité University.

Further reading

[edit]
Bamum language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator


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