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Bamum language
Benue–Congo language spoken in Cameroon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
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Phonology
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Bamum has tone, vowel length, diphthongs and coda consonants.
Vowels
Nchare claims ten monophthongs, only eight of which (excluding /ɔ/ and /o/) have a length distinction.[3] 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.[4]
Consonants
The consonants are displayed as following:[5][4]
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]
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