abcAlphabet & script

Alphabet, tones and script

The sounds of Shüpamom, its melody, and King Njoya's A-ka-u-ku syllabary.

graphic_eqVowels 10

Bamum distinguishes ten vowel qualities. Two of them, ɯ and ʉ, do not exist in French or English.

i i

High front tense vowel.

tɯ̀t ear

e e

Close-mid front vowel.

ɛ è

Open-mid front lax vowel.

a a

Low central vowel.

ə e

Schwa: a central support vowel, very common as a prefix (mə-, pə-).

mə- singular prefix

ɯ ù

High back UNROUNDED vowel — a sound English does not have. It can be long.

m͡bɯ́ɯ́m money

ʉ ü

High central rounded vowel — the "ü" of shüpamom.

shüpamom the Bamum language

u oo

High back rounded vowel.

o o

Close-mid back vowel.

ɔ ò

Open-mid back vowel.

hearingConsonants 27

Six places of articulation, labiovelar stops and a rich series of prenasalised consonants.

p Voiceless bilabial stop. Found in every position.
t Voiceless alveolar stop. Found in every position.
k Voiceless velar stop.
m Bilabial nasal. Found in every position.
n Alveolar nasal. Found in every position.
ŋ Velar nasal (as in "sing").
f Voiceless labiodental fricative — word-initial only.
v Voiced labiodental fricative — word-initial only.
s Voiceless alveolar fricative.
ʃ Voiceless postalveolar fricative — the "sh" of shüpamom.
ʒ Voiced postalveolar fricative — the "s" of "measure".
l Alveolar lateral.
r Alveolar trill.
j Palatal glide — the "y" of "yes".
w Labiovelar glide — the "w" of "we".
ʔ Glottal stop, written with an apostrophe in the Latin orthography (mo', vü').
k͡p Voiceless labiovelar stop: k and p pronounced simultaneously.
g͡b Voiced labiovelar stop — word-initial only.
m͡b Voiced prenasalised bilabial stop (m͡bɯ̀ɯ̀ "rain").
n͡d Voiced prenasalised alveolar stop (n͡dɯ̀ɯ̀ "necklace").
n͡ʒ Prenasalised affricate (n͡ʒɯ̀t "goat").
ŋ͡g Voiced prenasalised velar stop.
n͡z Prenasalised fricative — word-initial only, rare.
ns Voiceless prenasalised fricative.
nt Voiceless prenasalised stop — rare, word-initial.
mf Prenasalised labiodental fricative — word-initial.
mv Voiced prenasalised labiodental fricative — word-initial.