Fe'efe'e
The Bamileke language of the Haut-Nkam, which took to writing under the name Nufi
Family : Niger-Congo, Bantoid, Grassfields (Mbam-Nkam group, Eastern Bamileke languages)
Speakers : About 140,000 speakers according to Ethnologue (2005 figure).
Also called : Nufi, Fe'fe', Bamiléké-Bafang
Where and by whom it is spoken
Fe'efe'e is the Bamileke language of the Haut-Nkam division, in the West region, around the town of Bafang; the Kékem area, however, speaks Ghomálá'. It is often called Nufi, after the name given to its written form. It has a complex tone system, described in detail as early as 1972 by the American linguist Larry Hyman in his doctoral thesis.
History and writing
Catholic missionaries at the Banka-Bafang parish, founded in 1924, began studying it in order to translate the Gospel. In the 1950s Father François-Marie Tchamda took up this work, published religious texts and taught the faithful to read their language; according to the tradition reported by Wikipedia, the word "Nufi", "new thing", comes from the villagers' wonder at seeing their language written. Nufi schools and a Nufi newspaper followed. The current alphabet follows the General Alphabet of Cameroonian Languages.
Where to hear it today
- Mother tongue and everyday language in Bafang and the Haut-Nkam.
- A taught language: it was one of the four languages offered as an option at the Collège Libermann in Douala, along with Duala, Bassa and Ghomálá'.
- A language of adult literacy: the Nufi schools also taught arithmetic, history and civics in it.
A few words
- nufi
- "New thing"; the name given to the written language.
What sources disagree on
The history of written Fe'efe'e rests mainly on a single account, that of French Wikipedia, which other online sources could not corroborate in detail. The figure of 140,000 speakers dates from 2005.