Bamum (Shü Pamom "language of the Bamum", or ''Shümom'' "Mum language"), also spelled Bamun or in its
French spelling Bamoun, is an
Eastern Grassfields language
The Eastern Grassfields languages, spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon, are a branch of the Grassfields languages including Bamun, Yamba and Bamileke.
There are four or five branches to the family:
* Nkambe languages (north)
* Mb ...
of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, with approximately 420,000 speakers.
The language is well known for its
original script
Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion ...
developed by
King Njoya and his palace circle in the
Kingdom of Bamum
The Kingdom of Bamoun (also spelled Bamoum, Bamun, Bamoun, or Mum) (1394–c. 1916) is a pre-colonial Central African state in what is now northwest Cameroon. It was founded by the Bamun, an ethnic group from northeast Cameroon. Its capital was th ...
around 1895. Cameroonian musician
Claude Ndam
Claude Ndam (27 May 1955 – 12 June 2020) was a Cameroonian singer-songwriter.
Biography
Ndam was born in Foumban in the west of the country. He became famous in the 1980s for his discography.
Claude Ndam died in Yaoundé
Yaoundé (; , ) i ...
was a native speaker of the language and sang it in his music.
Phonology
Bamum has
tone, vowel length, diphthongs and
coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
consonants.
Vowels
The simple vowels are:
Bamum vowels can be normal or half-long /ˑ/.
Consonants
The consonants are:
Tones
Bamum has five tones
[Nchare (2012).]
References
Languages of Cameroon
Languages of Nigeria
Nun languages
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