Bulu language

Bulu is a Bantu language of the Bulu people of Cameroon. The language had 174,000 native speakers in 1982, with some 800,000 second language speakers in 1991. Its dialects include Bene, Yelinda, Yembana, Yengono, and Zaman. Bulu was formerly used by colonial and missionary groups as a lingua franca in the region for commercial, educational, and religious purposes, though it is today becoming less frequent in those spheres.

Bulu
Bulu-Bene
Bulu (Nkobô Bulu)
Region	Cameroon
Ethnicity	Bulu people
Native speakers	860,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone A) Beti Bulu
Dialects	Bulu Bene
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bum
Glottolog	bulu1251
Guthrie code	A.74[2]

Bulu speakers are concentrated primarily in Cameroon's South Province, with the largest number at Ebolowa and Sangmélima. Some speakers live in the Nyong-et-Mfoumou division of the Centre and the Haut-Nyong division of the East.

Bulu belongs to the group of Beti languages and is intelligible with Eton, Ewondo, and Fang.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
						plain	lab.
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	c	k		ʔ
	voiced	b		d	ɟ	ɡ
	prenasal	mb		nd		ŋɡ
Fricative	voiceless		f	s				h
	voiced		v	z
	prenasal		ɱv
Affricate	voiceless					kp	kpʷ
	voiced					ɡb	ɡbʷ
	prenasal-vl.					ŋkp	ŋkpʷ
	prenasal-vd.					ŋɡb	ŋɡbʷ
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral				l
Approximant					j		w

Vowels/Nasals

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ		u ũ
Close-mid	e ẽ		o
Mid		ə
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã

[3][4]

References

1. Bulu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. "Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines d'après Alphabets des langues africaines Unesco-SIL 1993". Alphabets des langues africaines. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
4. Abomo-Maurin, Marie-Rose (2006). Parlons boulou: Langue bantou du Cameroun. L'Harmattan.