Bamum script

Bamum
A book in the sixth Bamum script, c. 1910.
Script type
Time period
c. 1896, moribund c. 1931, revived c. 2007
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesBamum
Related scripts
Child systems
Bagam?
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Bamu (435), ​Bamum
Unicode
Unicode alias
Bamum
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
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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.[1]

The Bamum script is also used to write the Shümom language, also invented by Njoya.[2]

  1. ^ "Bamum script and archives project: saving Africa's written heritage". Endangered Archives Programme. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  2. ^ Riley, Charles. "Report on work with the Bamum script in Cameroon" (PDF).