So, lately, I have been traveling from one area to the other in Cameroon.😇
What for? Well, gathering information for a research I am currently undertaking on THE USE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE VARIETIES IN THE CAMEROON MEDIA LANDSCAPE.😍
I would like to say that, I am extremely awed at the material I am getting from the participants so far. One remarkable case is that of the Editor-In-Chief of MediaAfriq…👌🏼
To him, Cameroon uses a rough blend of British and Nigerian English, influenced by the French Language which is predominantly spoken in the country, plus pidgin, a multiplicity of mother tongues and other deviant forms as a result of increasing global interactions.😄
To others, they say Cameroon uses a blend of British English per it’s colonial background and American English mixed with pidgin, mother tongues, camfranglais and other borrowed dialects which births what they term ‘Cameroon English’ hence code switching and code mixing more rampant in the country.🤔
I remember one Editor saying Cameroon English is one of the best Englishes across Africa with its unique peculiarities that relay understanding amongst a vast group of people. They argue that when a few want to use strictly mainstream, they end up distorting understanding and communicating less effectively.🙄
PS: Just so you know, American English is a deviation of British English intentionally mapped out to assert America’s independence and within America and Britain to be more precise, just like other English speaking countries, English has sub-varieties in its use amongst high societies and the masses…yeah, from one community to the other.🧐
I’m flabbergasted and guess what? I am head over hills in love with this research. I personally think it’s really a call for concern ranging from spellings, pronunciations and word choices which is the more reason why I am here to find out.🤗
By the way oh my people, if I may ask, must we even speak just the so- called mainstream English?🤷🏼♀️
Which English variety is Cameroon supposed to use?🤷🏼♀️
Which English variety or varieties do you think Cameroon uses?
In your opinion, what can be done for Cameroonians to rather use the mainstream British English? And is this even necessary?🤷🏼♀️
“Bikonu”, please do hit the comment section below with your comments and let your voice be heard to this issue at hand. Can’t wait to understand your side of this interesting story…🤭
THE VOICE OF INSPIRATION 