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Bamum language

Benue–Congo language spoken in Cameroon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bamum language
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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]

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Consonants

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

More information Labial, Alveolar ...
  1. allophone of /k/ in coda
  2. 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

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]

More information Diacritic, Nchare ...
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References

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Further reading

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