Bamum script
syllabic writing system, also called “shümom”, developed among the Bamoun people in Cameroon
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.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q806024. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1910, 1918 and 1931.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bamum script” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.