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Medumba language
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Medumba language
Medumba (Mə̀dʉ̂mbɑ̀, pronounced [mə̀ɟʝʉ̂ᵐbɑ̀]) is a Bamileke language of Cameroon. The people who speak it originate from the Nde division of the West Region of the country, with their main settlements in Bangangté, Bakong, Bangoulap, Bahouoc, Bagnoun and Tonga. It is a major Bamileke language, and is located in an area where sacred kingship played a pivotal role in government, justice, and diplomacy. The modern history of the Bamileke area, which was a German colony placed under French trusteeship by the League of Nations in 1919, is closely associated with the nationalist movement of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which developed primarily in the coastal hinterland (Bassa) and the western highlands (Bamileke). From 1956 to the late 1960s, this area of Cameroon experienced a period of unrest; this episode continues to shape Bamileke political culture, and has an impact on language identity and the linguistic landscape.
The Medumba-speaking area is famous for a bi-annual cultural festival — Festival des arts et de la culture medumba ('Medumba Arts and Crafts Festival') — that promotes the Medumba language, as well as dance, artwork and food styles of the fourteen different villages of the locality. The festival, which takes place over a 2-week period in early July, is hosted in Bangangte.
Medumba is part of the Eastern Group of the Bamileke Cluster, which also include Fe'fe', Ghomálá', Kwa', and Nda'nda'. The Bamileke cluster — along with Ngemba, Nkambe and Nun — is part of the Eastern Grassfields subgroup which, together with the Ring languages and the Southwest Grassfields languages, constitute the Grassfield language grouping.
Medumba figures prominently in linguistic research on the Bamileke cluster, partly because of the high quality of the work done by Jan Voorhoeve in the 1960s and 1970s, including work on (in chronological order):
This work was pursued by L. Hyman in the 1980s, on the closely related language Fe'fe' (add refs). It was re-invigorated in the early 2010s by research groups at Boston University (led by C. O'Connor) and at the University of British Columbia (led by R.-M. Déchaine). Some of these publications include:
Also notable are the scholarly contributions of Medumba speaker-linguists, including (in chronological order):
Recent work on Medumba is part of a more general push towards documenting the languages of Africa, in the face of rising levels of language endangerment. Cameroon — along with Nigeria, Sudan, and Ethiopia — is reported to have one of the highest language mortality rates in Africa.
Efforts to develop a Medumba orthography date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and are associated with the following milestones:
Hub AI
Medumba language AI simulator
(@Medumba language_simulator)
Medumba language
Medumba (Mə̀dʉ̂mbɑ̀, pronounced [mə̀ɟʝʉ̂ᵐbɑ̀]) is a Bamileke language of Cameroon. The people who speak it originate from the Nde division of the West Region of the country, with their main settlements in Bangangté, Bakong, Bangoulap, Bahouoc, Bagnoun and Tonga. It is a major Bamileke language, and is located in an area where sacred kingship played a pivotal role in government, justice, and diplomacy. The modern history of the Bamileke area, which was a German colony placed under French trusteeship by the League of Nations in 1919, is closely associated with the nationalist movement of the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), which developed primarily in the coastal hinterland (Bassa) and the western highlands (Bamileke). From 1956 to the late 1960s, this area of Cameroon experienced a period of unrest; this episode continues to shape Bamileke political culture, and has an impact on language identity and the linguistic landscape.
The Medumba-speaking area is famous for a bi-annual cultural festival — Festival des arts et de la culture medumba ('Medumba Arts and Crafts Festival') — that promotes the Medumba language, as well as dance, artwork and food styles of the fourteen different villages of the locality. The festival, which takes place over a 2-week period in early July, is hosted in Bangangte.
Medumba is part of the Eastern Group of the Bamileke Cluster, which also include Fe'fe', Ghomálá', Kwa', and Nda'nda'. The Bamileke cluster — along with Ngemba, Nkambe and Nun — is part of the Eastern Grassfields subgroup which, together with the Ring languages and the Southwest Grassfields languages, constitute the Grassfield language grouping.
Medumba figures prominently in linguistic research on the Bamileke cluster, partly because of the high quality of the work done by Jan Voorhoeve in the 1960s and 1970s, including work on (in chronological order):
This work was pursued by L. Hyman in the 1980s, on the closely related language Fe'fe' (add refs). It was re-invigorated in the early 2010s by research groups at Boston University (led by C. O'Connor) and at the University of British Columbia (led by R.-M. Déchaine). Some of these publications include:
Also notable are the scholarly contributions of Medumba speaker-linguists, including (in chronological order):
Recent work on Medumba is part of a more general push towards documenting the languages of Africa, in the face of rising levels of language endangerment. Cameroon — along with Nigeria, Sudan, and Ethiopia — is reported to have one of the highest language mortality rates in Africa.
Efforts to develop a Medumba orthography date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and are associated with the following milestones: