Joseph Ngwa Mfonyam (born February 7, 1948, in
Bafut in the North West Province 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 ...
) works with the
Bafut Language
The Bafut language, ''Fut'', is an Eastern Grassfields language of the Niger–Congo languages, and related to Bamum. Oral tradition traces dynastic origins to the Ndobo or Tikari areas. It is spoken by people of Bafut Subdivision, Tuba, in ...
Association as an
SIL International consultant.
Life
Mfonyam studied linguistics at the
University of Yaoundé
The University of Yaoundé (french: Université de Yaoundé) was a university in Cameroon, located in Yaoundé, the country's capital.
It was built with the help of France and opened in 1962 as the Federal University of Yaoundé, dropping the "Fe ...
, getting his PhD in 1982. His work dealt with creating an alphabet for the Bafut language. Currently he lives in Bafut with his wife and two of his 5 children.
Work
Mfonyam published several books on the Bafut Language and was the head of the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
translation Project in Bafut, which was finished in the year 2000. Since then he has been working as Linguistics and Translation consultant for SIL Cameroon. He has been involved in training and checking Scripture translation of other language groups. He has written a number of books covering, anthropology, theological education and Christian Education. He has written and published a number of Linguistic articles.
References
*SIL International Bibliograph
Mfonyam*PhD Dissertation Université de YaoundÃ
Niger–Congo languages
Cameroonian translators
1948 births
Living people
{{Cameroon-bio-stub