Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 2, 2026

Bambalang language

The Bambalang language, also called Chrambo or Mbawyakum (Mboyakum), is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Last revised
Aug 2, 2026
Read time
≈ 3 min
Length
610 w
Citations
16
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Bambalang
Chrambo
RegionCameroon
EthnicityBamileke
Native speakers
29,000 (2008)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3bmo
Glottologbamb1265

The Bambalang language, also called Chrambo (Chirambo, Tshirambo) or Mbawyakum (Mboyakum),2 is a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon.

Phonology

Consonants

These phones and phonemes were enumerated by Grove in 2007 and refined by Wright in 2012.3

Phonemes
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop/Affricate Voiceless /p/ /pː/ /t/ /tː/ /t͡ʃ/ /t͡ʃː/ /k/ /kː/
Voiced /d͡ʒː/ /gː/
Fricative Voiceless /f/ /fː/ /ʃ/ /ʃː/ /h/
Voiced /v/ /vː/ /ɣ/
Nasal /m/ /mː/ /n/ /nː/ /ɲ/ /ŋ/
Approximant /l/ /lː/ /j/ /w/


Phones
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop/Affricate Voiceless [p] [pʰ] [t] [tʰ] [t͡ʃ] [t͡ʃː] [k] [kʰ] [ʔ]a
Voiced [b]b [bʰ] [d]c [dʰ] [d͡ʒ]d [d͡ʒː] [g]e [gː]
Fricative Voiceless [f] [fː] [ʃ] [ʃː] [h]
Voiced [v] [vː] [ɣ]
Tap [ɾ]f
Nasal [m]~[ɱ]g [mː] [n] [nː] [ɲ] [ŋ]
Approximant [l] [lː] [j]~[ʒ] [ɥ]h~[w]
  1. [ʔ] is the allophone of /k/ in a CVCV structure.
  2. [b] is an always prenasalized allophone of /p/.
  3. [d] is an always prenasalized allophone of /l/.
  4. [d͡ʒ] is an allophone of /j/ before /n/.
  5. [g] is an allophone of /ɣ/ after a nasal.
  6. [ɾ] is an allophone of /l/ in a consonant cluster or a CVCV structure.
  7. [ɱ] is an allophone of /m/ before labiodental consonants.
  8. [ɥ] is an allophone of /w/ before /i/.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close /i/ /ĩ/ /ɨ/ /ɨ̃/ /u/ /ũ/
Close-mid /e/ /o/ /õ/
Mid /ə/ /ə̃/
Open-mid /ɛ/ /ɛ̃/ /ɔ/
Open /a/ /ã/

Diphthongs

In addition to simple oral and nasal vowels, Bambalang also has oral and nasal diphthongs and vowel sequences.4 Grove and Wright do not specify whether nasal diphthongs are truly diphthongs or vowel sequences.

Orthographic Phonemic Phonetic
ei /ei/ [ei̯]
ou /ou/ [ou̯]
ao /ao/ [ao̯]
əɨ /əɨ/ [ə.ɨ]
ie /ie/ [i.e]
ia /ia/ [i.a]
ua /ua/ [u.a]
uo /uo/ [u.o]
aoŋ /aõ/
ɛiŋ /ɛĩ/
ieŋ /iẽ/
iɛŋ /iɛ̃/
iaŋ /iã/
uoŋ /uõ/

Tone

In addition, Bambalang has both lexical and grammatical tone.5

Tones in Bambalang

Tone High (H) Low (L)* Rising (LH) Falling (HL)
Diacritic á à ā ǎ a

*ā for verbs; à for other types of words5

Orthography

A segmental orthography was created for Bambalang in 2007 and revised in 2012.6

Orthography7
Upper Lower Phone
A a [a]
B b [b]
Ch ch [t͡ʃ]
D d [d]
E e [e]
Ɛ ɛ [ɛ]
Ə ə [ə]
F f [f]
G g [g]
Gh gh [ɣ]
H h [h]
I i [i]
Ɨ ɨ [ɨ]
J j [d͡ʒ]
K k [k]
L l [l]
M m [m], [ɱ]
N n [n]
Ŋ ŋ [ŋ], [◌̃]
O o [ɔ]
Ɔ ɔ [ɔ]
P p [p]
R r [ɾ]
Sh sh [ʃ]
T t [t]
U u [u], [y]
V v [v]
W w [w], [y]
Y y [ʒ]~[j]
’ [ʔ]
References

References

Works cited

Works cited

  • Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.
  • Grove, Dan; Wright, Jennifer (June 2012). "Bambalang (Chrambo) Orthography Guide" (PDF) (Revised ed.). SIL.
Further reading

Further reading