Cameroonian English is an
English dialect spoken predominantly in
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...
, mostly learned as a
second language
A second language (L2) is a language spoken in addition to one's first language (L1). A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a foreign language.
A speaker's dominant language, which ...
.
[ It shares some similarities with English varieties in neighbouring ]West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
, as Cameroon lies at the west of Central Africa
Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...
. It is primarily spoken in the Northwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
and Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
regions of Cameroon.[Anchimbe, Eric A. "Multilingual backgrounds and the identity issue in Cameroon." Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca" Julio de Urquijo" 39.2 (2011): 33-48.]
It is a postcolonial
Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...
variety of English, long in use in the territory ( Southern Cameroons, now split into Northwest and Southwest). Over the years, it has developed characteristic features, particularly in lexis but also in phonology and grammar. Those characteristics were once regarded as errors but are now increasingly accepted as distinctive Cameroonian contributions to the English language.
Phonological features
The phonemes , and tend to merge to , making "cot", "caught" and "cut" homophones.white-collar worker
A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional service, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or similar setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, co ...
" sometimes becomes "white-''colour'' worker" in Cameroon.[
]
Expressions
Characteristic turns of phrase in the country or local coinages:
See also
* Languages of Cameroon
** Cameroonian French
** Cameroonian Pidgin English
Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole (, from West Coast), is a language variety of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok (from 'Cameroon-talk'). It is primarily spoken in the Northwest Region (Cameroon), North West and Southwest Regio ...
** Camfranglais (when mixed with French)
*Anglophone Cameroonian
Anglophone Cameroonians are the people of various cultural backgrounds, most of who hail from the English language, English-speaking regions of Cameroon (Northwest Region (Cameroon), Northwest and Southwest Region (Cameroon), Southwest Regions). T ...
* Anglophone problem (Cameroon)
*Commonwealth English
The use of the English language in current and former Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, countries of Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth was largely inherited from British Empire, British colonisation, with some exceptions. Eng ...
References
*https://web.archive.org/web/20060917043540/http://www2.univ-reunion.fr/~ageof/text/74c21e88-656.html
Further reading
*
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (1999). Some Major Speech Traits of Cameroon Media News in English. ''English Studies'' 80(6), 540-555
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (2000). Some Aspects of Cameroon English Prosody. ''Alizes'', 19, 137-153
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (2003). Influence of Contacts between Western and African Cultures on English in Cameroon. ''Proceedings of the Unifying Aspects of Cultures conference at Vienna'', Austria, November 7–9.
*In: TRANS. Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften. No. 15/2003, (2003). WWW: http://www.inst.at/trans/15Nr/07_2/kouega15.htm.
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (2005). The Effects of French on English L2 in Cameroon. In J. Cohen, K. T. McAlister, K. Rolstad, and J. MacSwan (Eds.) ''ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism'' (pp. 1201–1210). Somerville, MA, USA: Cascadilla Press.
*Kouega, Jean-Paul, (2006). ''Aspects of Cameroon English Usage: A Lexical Appraisal''. Muenchen, Germany: Lincom Europa.
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (2006c). Interplay of Accent and Orthography in L2 English in Cameroon. ''Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences'', University of Yaounde 1(5), 183-197
*Kouega, Jean-Paul (2007)
Forenames in Cameroon English speech
The
International Journal of Language, Society and Culture
', 23, 32–46.
*Talla Sando Ouafeu Yves (2006). Intonational meaning in Cameroon English discourse: a sociolinguistic perspective. Goettingen: Cuvillier Verlag
Dialects of English
Languages of Cameroon
{{Cameroon-stub