Akum language

Akum
Native to	Cameroon, Nigeria
Region	Taraba State
Ethnicity	Anyar
Native speakers	1,400 in Cameroon (2002) [1] few in Nigeria (no date), three villages [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Plateau Yukubenic Akum–Beezen Akum
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aku
Glottolog	akum1238
ELP	Akum

Akum is a Plateau language of Cameroon and across the border in Nigeria.

Phonology

Consonants

Akum Consonants ^[2]

	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋm
Plosive	b	t d	c ɟ	k g	kp gb
Prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Affricate		ts dz
Fricative	f	s ʃ
Trill		r
Approximant		l	j		w

Many consonants also have palatalized and labialized variants, but due to a lack of documentation it is unknown whether or not these are phonemic. Only /r/, /b/, /g/, /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ occur at the end of a syllable, and /ŋ/ only occurs in this position.

Vowels

Akum Vowels ^[2]

	Front	Central	Back
High-mid	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Low		a

/ə/ and /ɛ/ may be allophones.

Tone

Akum has three tones: high, mid, and low.

References

1. Akum at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Kempf, Viktoria; Prischnegg, Tamara (2020). "A sketch of Akum (Southern Jukunoid)". Afrika und Übersee. 93: 299–326. doi: 10.15460/auue.2020.93.1.215 . S2CID   239965594.