Wiki: Bamum script - upcScavenger

The Bamum scripts are an evolutionary series of six scripts created for the Bamum language by Ibrahim Njoya, King of Bamum (now western Cameroon). They are notable for evolving from a pictographic system to a semi-syllabary in the space of fourteen years, from 1896 to 1910. Bamum type was cast in 1918, but the script fell into disuse around 1931. A project began around 2007 to revive the Bamum script.

The Bamum script is also used to write the Shümom language, also invented by Njoya.

History

In its initial form, Bamum script was a pictographic mnemonic aid (proto-writing) of 500 to 600 characters. As Njoya revised the script, he introduced logograms (word symbols). The sixth version, completed by 1910, is a syllabary with 80 characters. It is also called a-ka-u-ku after its first four characters. The version in use by 1906 was called mbima.

9780226907284, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226907284

The script was further refined in 1918, when Njoya had copper sorts cast for printing. The script fell into disuse in 1931 with the exile of Njoya to Yaoundé, Cameroon. The End of King Njoya and the Bamum Script

At present, Bamum script is not in any significant use. However, the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project is attempting to modernize and revive the script. The project is based in the old Bamum capital of Foumban.Unseth, Peter. 2011. Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization. In The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts, ed. by Joshua A. Fishman and Ofelia García, pp. 23-32. New York: Oxford University Press.

Phase A

The initial form of Bamum script, called Lewa ("book"), was developed in 1896–1897. It consisted of 465 pictograms (511 according to some sources) and 10 characters for the digits 1–10. The writing direction could be top-to-bottom, left-to-right, or bottom-to-top. (Right-to-left was avoided because that was the direction of the Arabic script used by the neighboring Hausa people.)

Phase B

The second system, called Mbima ("mixed"), was developed in 1899–1900. It was a simplification of the first; Njoya omitted 72 characters but added 45 new ones. The writing direction was left-to-right in this and all subsequent phases.

Phase C

The third system, called Nyi Nyi Nfa' after its first three characters, was developed around 1902. This simplification omitted 56 characters, leaving 371 and 10 digits. Njoya used this system to write his History of the Bamun People and in correspondence with his mother.

Phase D

The fourth system, called Rii Nyi Nsha Mfw' after its first four characters, was developed around 1907–1908. It has 285 characters and 10 digits and is a further simplification of the previous version.

Phase E

The fifth system, called Rii Nyi Mfw' Men, was also developed around 1907–1908. It has 195 characters and 10 digits and was used for a Bible translation. These first five systems are closely related: All were progressively simplified pictographic protowriting with logographic elements.

Phase F

The sixth system, called A Ka U Ku after its first four characters, was developed around 1910. It has 82 characters and 10 digits. This phase marks a shift to a full syllabic writing system able to distinguish 160 syllables. It was used to record births, marriages, deaths, and court rulings.

Phase G

The seventh and final system, called Mfemfe ("new") or A Ka U Ku Mfemfe, was developed around 1918. It has only 80 characters, ten of which double as both syllables and digits. Like the previous system, missing syllables are written using combinations of similar syllables plus the desired vowel, or with a diacritic.

Description

The 80 glyphs of modern Bamum are not enough to represent all of the consonant-vowel syllables (C V syllables) of the language. This deficiency is made up for with a diacritic or by combining glyphs having CV₁ and V₂ values, for CV₂. This makes the script alphabetic for syllables not directly covered by the syllabary. Adding the inherent vowel of the syllable voiced consonant a consonant: + = , + = , + = , + = , + = , + = .

The two diacritics are a circumflex ( ko'ndon) that may be added to any of the 80 glyphs, and a macron ( tukwentis) that is restricted to a dozen. The circumflex generally has the effect of adding a glottal stop to the syllable, for instance is read , though the vowel is shortened and any final consonant is dropped in the process, as in and . Prenasalization is also lost: , , . Sometimes, however, the circumflex nasalizes the vowel: , , , , , (loss of NC as with glottal stop). Others are idiosyncratic: (simple loss of NC), (vowel change), , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The macron is a 'killer stroke' that deletes the vowel from a syllable and so forms consonants and NC clusters () that can be used for . Consonantal is used both as a coda and to prenasalize an initial consonant. The two irregularities with the macron are , read as , and , read as .

The script has distinctive punctuation, including a 'capitalization' mark ( ), visually similar to an inverted question mark, for proper names, and a decimal system of ten digits; the old glyph for ten has been refashioned as a zero.

Modern syllabary (phase G)

+ Bamum syllabary (diacritics in gray)

mee

meʔ

		ə

yɔʔ

yɔʔ

	y

ni

nɛn

kɔ

kɔʔ

k

ɣɔm 0

ŋgɔm

			m

Punctuation

+ Bamum punctuation

(2017). 9781936213160, Unicode, Inc. ISBN 9781936213160

?
question mark

Numerals

The last ten base characters in the syllabary are used for both letters and numerals:

+ Bamum digits
ꛯ
ɣɔm 0	vü 9

Historically, was used for ten but was changed to zero when the numeral system became a decimal one.

All versions (phases A–G)

+

mɔɔmɯt

ʃum

lɔmmə

fir'i

rɔm

kpɔʔ

sɔʔ

map piet

ʃirə

ntap

ʃɔʔ nʃut yum

nyit mɔŋkɯəʔ

paarə

nkaarə

(unknown)

kɛt

ndaaŋgɯət

kuɔʔ

+

mɯʔ

ŋguɔʔ ("small termite")

ŋguɔʔ ("large termite")

mfiyaʔ

sü

mbɯri

mɔntien

nyəmə

puŋaam

mɯt ŋget

fɯx

mbuɔʔ

fe

kɯəm

ma nʒɯəna

sakɯə

taam

+

nsuɔt ŋɔm

nʒee

kɛt

ŋgu

məsi

mbuəm

lu

kut

nʒam

ŋɔm

wup

ŋguet

nsɔm

ntɛn

kuɔp nkaarə

nsun

ndam

ma nsie

yaa

ndap

ʃüʔ

ʃɛtfɔn

mbi

məmba

mbanyi

kɯsɯx

mbɯx

kɯm

+
mbuɔ	mfo
wap	lum
nʒi	nsiep
mfɔn	mbaa
nʒie	kwət
lie	nyɛt
nʒɯt	tɯən
nʃe	sɔt
ŋgaamə	yuwɔʔ
nyam	kɯm
wuən	rəm
ŋkun	tee
ʃe	ŋkɯəʔ
ŋkap	mfɯə
kɯətmɯn	nsiet
tɯt	kɯp
ʃɯə	pip
nʒap	pɯtə
sü	nyü
kɛt	lɛt
yəmmə	ŋgaam
kuɔm	mfie
sap	ŋgwən
mfɯt	yuɔm
ndɯx	pap
maleri	yuɔp
mɯt	ndam
sɯəʔ	ntɯm
yɛn	suə
nʒɯəm	kun
kɯɔt mbuə	ŋgɯx
ŋkɯri	ŋkie
tu	tuɔt
ɣaa	mɯn
ŋkye	kuʔ
fɯfɯət	nsum
nde	tɯn
mgbɔfum	mənʒɛt
lɯəp	ŋgap
ndɔn	lɯm
mɔni	ŋguɔm
mgbɯn	nʃut
puut	nʒüʔ
mgbie

+
ndap	vɯə
tɔɔn	wɯx
mbɯm	laam
lap	pu
vɔm	taaʔ
lɔn	ɣaamə
paa	ŋɯrɯt
sɔm	ʃɯəʔ
raʔ	mgbɛn
nʃuɔp	mbe
ndun	nzaʔ
puə	nkɔm
tam	gbɛt
ŋka	tum
kpɯx	küt
wuɔ	yap
se	nyi
ŋgɯət	yit
paam	mfɯʔ
tɔɔ	ndiaʔ
kuɔp	pieʔ
lɔm	yüʔ
nʃie	lɯəm
ŋgɔp	fü
məm	gbɯx
ŋkɯx	ŋkup
ŋɔʔ	kɛt
nʃü	mə
rimgba	ŋkaami
nʒɯx	ɣɛt
nsɛn	fa
pem	ntum
saa	pɯt
ŋgurə	yɯm
mgba	ŋgɯə
ɣɯx	nyi
ŋkɯəm	nzuʔ
nʒəmli	pɔɔn
map	mie
lɔɔt	füt
ŋgee	nə
ndiʔ	muə
tən ntɯm	ɣɯə
sɛt	fu i
pum	mvi
ndaa	puaʔ
ŋguəʃə nyam	ŋkum
yie	kut
ɣɯn	piɛt
tuə	ntap
yɯə	yɯət
pɔ	ŋgup
tumə	pa
kɯə	fu
suən	fɔm
tɯəʔ	nʒe

+
a	wü
a	üʔ
ka	pe
kaʔ	peʔ
u	fe
wuʔ	ve
ku	feʔ
kuʔ
e	ru
eʔ	ruʔ
re	lu
rɛn	luʔ
tə	mi
tɔʔ	miʔ
ɔ	n'i
ɔʔ	nɛn
nyi	rɯx
nye	rɯʔ
i	rə
iʔ	rɔ
la	kɛn
laʔ	kɛn ''(with high tone)''
pa	ŋkwən
paʔ	ŋuət
rii	ŋga
riʔ	ŋgaʔ
rie	ŋa
z	ŋaʔ
lee	ʃɔ
leʔ	ʃɔʔ
mee	puə
meʔ	puʔ
taa	fu
taʔ	fuʔ
ndaa	fɔm
ndaʔ	mvɔp
nʒəm	wa
yəm	waʔ
m	na
n	naʔ
suu	li
suʔ	liʔ
mu	pi
muʔ	pin
ʃii	lɔʔ
ʃiʔ	lɔʔ
si	kɔ
siʔ	kɔʔ
ʃɯx	mbɛn
yɯx	pɛn
sɯx	rɛn
sɯʔ	rɛn
kye	mɛn
kyeʔ	mɛn
kɛt	ma
keʔ	maʔ
nuə	ti
ŋuə	tɯ
nu	ki
nuʔ	kiʔ
nʒuə	mɔ
yuən	mɔn
yɔʔ ("swimming")	mbaa
yɔʔ ("cover")	mbaʔ
ʃu	tɛt
ʃuʔ	tɛt ''(with high tone)''
yuʔ	kpa
yun	ŋma
ya	tɛn
yaʔ	tɛn
nʃa	ntuu
ʃaʔ	tuʔ
kɯx	samba
ɣɯ	saʔ
pɯx	faamə
pɯʔ	faʔ
nʒe	kɔvü
nʒeʔ	fü
nte	ɣɔm
teʔ	ŋgɔm
pü
püʔ

Unicode

Bamum's 88 characters were added to the Unicode standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2. Bamum Unicode character names are based on the International Phonetic Alphabet forms given in L’écriture des Bamum (1950) by Idelette Dugast and M.D.W. Jeffreys:

ɔ

O

o

ʔ

Q

’

The Unicode block for Bamum is U+A6A0–U+A6FF:

Historical stages of Bamum script were added to Unicode in October, 2010 with the release of version 6.0. These are encoded in the Bamum Supplement block as U+16800–U+16A3F. The various stages of script development are dubbed "Phase-A" to "Phase-E". The character names note the last phase in which they appear. For example, is attested through Phase C but not in Phase D.

Bamum Scripts and Archives Project

The Bamum Scripts and Archives Project at the Bamum Palace is engaged in a variety of initiatives concerning the Bamum script, including collecting and photographing threatened documents, translating and in some cases hand-copying documents, creating a fully usable Bamum computer font for the inventory of documents, and creating a safe environment for the preservation and storage of documents.

In 2006, the Bamum Scripts and Archives Project embarked on a project to create the first usable Bamum computer font. In order to do this, the Project examined hundreds of important documents transcribed in the current and most widely employed variant of the Bamum script: A-ka-u-ku (after its first four characters). The goal of the project team was to identify the most prominent forms of the various Bamum characters, as there have been many different styles employed by literates over the years. In particular, the Project examined documents in the script known to have been written by the three most famous Bamum script literates: King Njoya and his colleagues, Nji Mama and Njoya Ibrahimou (younger brother of Nji Mama, also a well known Bamum artist).

Bamum script

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Bamum script

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