Bamum language

Bamum ( Template:Gloss, or Template:Gloss), also known as Shupamem, Bamun, or 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 in the Kingdom of Bamum around 1895. Cameroonian musician Claude Ndam was a native speaker of the language and sang it in his music.

Phonology

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

Vowels

Nchare claims ten monophthongs, only eight of which (excluding Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink) have a length distinction.Template:Sfn Matateyou shows short and long examples of all ten vowel qualities. The orthography in angle brackets is based on the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages as used by Matateyou.Template:Sfn

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
Mid	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
Open-mid	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr				Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
Open			Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr

Consonants

The consonants are displayed as following:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

			Labial		Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
Plosive	Plain	Voiceless	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn
		Voiced	Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn		Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn		Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
	Prenasal	Voiceless	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
		Voiced	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Fricative	Plain	Voiceless	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
		Voiced	Template:IPAlinkTemplate:Efn Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
	Prenasal	Voiceless	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
		Voiced	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Nasal			Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
Rhotic					Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
Approximant	Plain				Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr	Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr
	Prenasal					Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr		Template:IPAlink Template:Angbr

Tones

Bamum has fourTemplate:Sfn or five tones.Template:Sfn Mateteyou's analysis includes a mid tone, while Nchare's analysis includes downstep.Template:Sfn Bamum distinguishes between lexical and grammatical tone.Template:Sfn

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

Bibliography

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis

Further reading

• Template:Cite report