{"id":1033,"date":"2026-07-10T23:23:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/?p=1033"},"modified":"2026-07-10T23:27:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T23:27:54","slug":"woungly-pauline-promes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/2026\/07\/10\/woungly-pauline-promes-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Woungly, Pauline Promes."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The phonology of Ajumbu<\/a>. MA Thesis, University of Yaound\u00e9 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EN: This study describes the sound system, the syllable structure and the phonological processes of Ajumbu, a language spoken by about 300 speakers in Fungom Subdivision, Menchum Division, in the Northwest Region of Cameroon (Di Carlo & al., 2020: 4). It also proposes an alphabet coupled with some orthographic rules. The present research originates from the fact that up to date, Ajumbu counts very few scientific works, and linguists have still not yet been able to retrace its linguistic classification despite some proposals. The data used for this work are drawn from personal fieldwork and existing unpublished corpora on Ajumbu. Qualitative methods like interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data. The content analysis method was used to read, classify and analyse data. Consulted theories for data analysis and interpretation were the classical phonemic theory, the feature theory, and the autosegmental phonology theory. The phonological analysis reveals that the sound system of this language has 27 consonant phonemes, 11 vowel phonemes and 3 underlying tones. Common syllable structures in verb and noun roots are CV and CVC whereas pronouns present V, N, and CV syllable structures. Major processes are assimilation, deletion, insertion, reduplication and tone polarity. These findings are considered altogether while designing Ajumbu orthography. A phonemic based alphabet of 33 letters is proposed in this study. It will reduce spelling and reading inconsistencies observed in available works in Ajumbu. The results of this study provide necessary materials to linguists, educators and language planners that will help in the production of didactic materials and literacy in Ajumbu. This study equally contributes to the description of Ajumbu, an endangered language, by working towards its preservation, and improving its documentation and revitalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FR: Ce m\u00e9moire d\u00e9crit le syst\u00e8me phonologique, la structure syllabique, et les processus phonologiques de l\u2019ajumbu, langue comptant environ 300 locuteurs et parl\u00e9e dans l\u2019Arrondissement de Fungom, d\u00e9partement de la Menchum, r\u00e9gion du Nord-Ouest Cameroun (Di Carlo & al., 2020: 324). Cette \u00e9tude esquisse \u00e9galement une proposition d\u2019alphabet enrichie de quelques r\u00e8gles d\u2019orthographe de la langue ajumbu. Ce travail tire sa source du constat selon lequel la langue ajumbu est tr\u00e8s peu d\u00e9crite \u00e0 ce jour. Bien qu\u2019il existe quelques travaux effectu\u00e9s sur l\u2019ajumbu, les linguistes ne sont pas encore parvenus \u00e0 retracer sa filiation g\u00e9n\u00e9alogique avec exactitude. Les donn\u00e9es utilis\u00e9es pour ce travail sont issues des travaux personnels effectu\u00e9s lors d\u2019une descente de terrain et des corpus existants non publi\u00e9s sur la langue Ajumbu. Les m\u00e9thodes qualitatives, les entretiens et les questionnaires, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 utilis\u00e9es pour recueillir les donn\u00e9es. La m\u00e9thode d\u2019analyse de contenu a permis de lire, classer et \u00e9liciter les donn\u00e9es. Il a \u00e9t\u00e9 fait recours \u00e0 une approche \u00e9clectique alliant la th\u00e9orie phon\u00e9mique classique, la th\u00e9orie des traits et la th\u00e9orie de la phonologie autosegmentale pour l\u2019analyse et l\u2019interpr\u00e9tation des donn\u00e9es. Au terme de cette \u00e9tude, il en ressort que le syst\u00e8me phonologique de l\u2019ajumbu compte 27 phon\u00e8mes consonantiques, 11 phon\u00e8mes vocaliques et 3 ton\u00e8mes. Les structures syllabiques courantes dans la langue sont V, N, CV et CVC. Les radicaux nominaux et verbaux ont la structure CV et CVC tandis que les pronoms pr\u00e9sentent les structures V, N et CV. Les processus phonologiques majeurs sont l\u2019assimilation, la suppression, l\u2019insertion, la r\u00e9duplication et la polarit\u00e9 tonale. Ces r\u00e9sultats ont \u00e9t\u00e9 pris en compte lors l\u2019\u00e9laboration de la proposition d\u2019alphabet de l\u2019ajumbu qui compte 33 lettres et signes. Cette \u00e9tude permet de r\u00e9duire les incoh\u00e9rences d\u2019orthographe et de lecture observ\u00e9es dans les productions scientifiques disponibles en ajumbu et les projets de standardisation et d\u2019alphab\u00e9tisation. Ces r\u00e9sultats fournissent \u00e9galement aux linguistes, aux \u00e9ducateurs et aux planificateurs linguistiques les ressources n\u00e9cessaires pouvant contribuer \u00e0 la production du mat\u00e9riel didactique et d\u2019alphab\u00e9tisation, et \u00e0 l\u2019enseignement de l\u2019ajumbu. En somme, cette \u00e9tude contribue \u00e9galement \u00e0 la description de l\u2019Ajumbu, langue en danger, en \u0153uvrant pour sa promotion, sa pr\u00e9servation, sa vitalit\u00e9 et en apportant une plus-value \u00e0 la qualit\u00e9 des travaux futurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The phonology of Ajumbu. MA Thesis, University of Yaound\u00e9 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thesis-summary","category-thesis2025","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1033"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1033\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/kpaamcam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}