Bamum language


Bamum, also known as Shupamem, Bamun, or Bamoun, is an Eastern Grassfields language of Cameroon, with approximately 600,000-700,000 speakers in 2025. 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 have a length distinction. 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.

Consonants

The consonants are displayed as following:

Tones

Bamum has four or five tones. Mateteyou's analysis includes a mid tone, while Nchare's analysis includes downstep. Bamum distinguishes between lexical and grammatical tone.
DiacriticNchareMatateyou
àlowlow
áhighhigh
ā―mid
ǎrisingrising
âfallingfalling
ꜜdownstep―