English in AfricaProf. R. HickeyWS 2010/11

English in Cameroon

Funda Er, Luisa Busemann and Svitlana Sabadash

Our contentp Introduction to Cameroonp Languages of Cameroonp Cameroonian Culture

English in AfricaProf. R. HickeyWS 2010/2011

Cameroon

Luisa Busemann(3 Cr.,Kulturwirt)

Modul VI/2

Agenda

1. Symbolism

2. Geography

3. Vegetation

4. Historical Background

5. Situation Today

Cameroon

- hope, rain forest

- unity, independence, laterite

soils

- prosperity, sand,

sun - happiness

Geography

- area: 475,000 km²

- capital: Jaunde (Yaoundé)

- highest mountain: Mount

Cameroon 4,095 m

- climate: equatorial climate zone

tropical zone

- vegetation: 4 zones

Vegetation

4 major zones

-Swamp land, mangrove forest

- Rain forest

- savannah, trees (Adamawa plateau)

- tall grass

→ banana, cocoa, coffee, cotton,

pineapple, rubber, tea, timber,

tobacco

→ crude oil, minerals

Historical Background

- British in practice since the end of the 16th ct- German colonial era (1884-1916)- First World War, defeat of Germany→ French, English colony- Independent since 1960

Situation Today

- Republic of Cameroon or République du Cameroun

- population: <17,000,000- major ethnic groups: Bantu, Semi-Bantu,

Fulani, Sudanese- President: Paul Biya- official languages: English, French

References

Anchimbe, Eric A. 2006. Cameroon English Authenticity, Ecology and Evolution. Band 45. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften

Commonwealth Secretariat 2008. Cameroon. http://www.thecommonwealth.org. London: Commonwealth Secretariat

Hickey, Raymond 2003. English Linguistics in Essen.www.uni-essen.de/ELE. Essen: Department of English.

Kouega, Jean-Paul. 2007. A Dictionary of Cameroon English Usage. Vol. 10. Bern: Peter Lang AG European Academic Publishers

Mapsofworld.com 2010. Cameroon Flag. www.mapsofworld.com. San Jose: MapXL Inc.

Languages of Cameroon

Svitlana Sabadash(Lehramt)

LN-Modul IX

Contentp Introduction to Cameroonian languagesp Languages of Cameroonp Kamtokp Some linguistics aspects of Kamtokp Language policy

Introduction to Cameroonian LanguagesFang Language

p Tsa mina mina eh ehp Waka waka eh ehp Tsa mina mina zangalewap Ana wam ah ah

p Zambo eh ehp Zambo eh ehp Tsa mina mina zangalewap Wana wa ah ah

Introduction to Cameroonian Languages Fang in southern Cameroon

p Tsaminamina means Come.p Waka waka means Do it - as in perform

a task. Waka comes from the Pidgin English and means walk while working.

p Tsaminamina zangalewa means Where do you come from?.

p Wana means It's mine.p Zambo means Wait.

Languages of Cameroonp Bamilekep Doualop Fangp Fulanip Hausa

p Kamtok Pidgin

p „Cameroonian Talk“p Pidgin based on Englishp Has English, French and Indigenous lexical

featuresp Simplified morphology (reduced sounds)p WAPE grammar and pronunciation

features

Linguistic aspects of Kamtokp Vowelsp Kamtok has just a half of all English

vowels soundsp English /m n/ - Kamtok /man/ for ‘man’p English /b :d/ - Kamtok /bet/ for ‘bird’p English /meik/ - Kamtok /mek/ for ‘make’

p English / / - Kamtok /go/ for ‘go’

Linguistic aspects of Kamtok p Consonantsp Kamtok reduces clusters at initial, and sometimes

final, position through vowel epenthesisp English /sli:p/ - Kamtok /silip/ for ‘sleep’p English /teibl/ - Kamtok /tebul/ for ‘table’

p WAPE grammarp “go” for future tenses and “bin” for past tenses,

like in:p “A go big” – I’ll be bigp “Merin bin lef” – Mary left or Mary had left

Linguistic aspects of Kamtok p Idiomatic expressionsp Man no run! – ‘Don’t give up or abandon at the

last minute’p Du mi a du yu – ‘Tit for tat’p Woman rapa – ‘A male flirt’

p Proverbsp Bele no get Sonday – ‘The stomach never rests’p Tori bi fain sote tifman laf fo banda - ‘A cheerful

attitude can win over enemies’

Language policyp Native language for those who live in

urban areasp Official language of the government and

legislativesp Widely used in mediap Means of communication

Referencesp McArthur, Tom 2002. The Oxford Guide to World

English. Oxford: University Press.p Kortmann, Bernd et al. (eds) 2004. Handbook of

varieties of English. Vol. 1: Phonology, Vol. 2: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

à Cameroon English: phonologyp Augustin Simo BobdaàCameroon Pidgin English (Kamtok): phonologyp Thaddeus Menang

English in Africa Prof. R. HickeyWS 2010/2011

Culture of Cameroon

Funda Er (Lehramt)LN - Modul VI

Culture of Cameroon - Content

- Holidays

- The Arts and Humanities

- Gender Roles and Statuses

- Urbanism and Architecture

- Food

Holidays

Date English Name

January 1 New Year's Day

February 11 National Youth Day

May 1 Labor Day

May 20 National Day

August 15 Assumption

December 25 Christmas

The Arts and Humanities

Literature:

-The Fulani: oral literature, including poetry, history, stories, legends, proverbs, magic formulas and riddles

-Since the colonial period, written literature has had a strong history in the southern areas

-Ewondo and Douala: contributed classics to modern African literature

-Major writers: Louis-Marie Pouka, Sanki Maimo, Mongo Beti, Ferdinand Oyono

The Arts and Humanities

Graphic Arts:- Potterly, textiles and sculptures- Grassfielders (incl. The Bamiléké and

Bamoun): noted for blue and white royaldisplay cloth, sculptures

- Bamoun: known for lost-waxbronze sculptures

Gender Roles and Statuses

- Women are responsible for feeding their families

- Men have higher social statusà more rights with regard to marriage, divorce, and land tenure and more access to government bureaucracy and the courts

- Women have power within householdsà many women are prominent in higher education and government ministries

Urbanism and Architecture

Major cities includeà Douala (the shipping and industrial center)à Yaoundé (the capital)à Nkongsamba (the end point of the railroad through

the southern plantations of the colonial period)

-villages and small towns in rural areas: marketplace in a central location à separate areas for women’s products (produce and palm oil) and men’s products (livestock and bush meat)

Urbanism, Architecture and the Use of Space

- Rain forest and the Grassfields:Poto-poto and mud brick rectangular buildings roofed in palm thatch or corrugated iron common

- Traditional Grassfields architecture: constructed of „bamboo“; square or rectangular buildings with sliding doors were topped by conical thatched roofs

- Traditional architecture in the north: round mud buildings crowned in thatch

Urbanism and Architecture

The homes of the Musgum, in the Far North Region, are made of earth and grass.

Urbanism and Architecture

Njem House in Cameroon

Urbanism and Architecture

Maka house in Cameroon

Food- National dish is ndoléà consisting of bitter leaves,

nuts and fish or goat meat- Staple foods: cassava, yam,

plantain, potato, maize, beansand millet

- French introduced French breadAnd Italian pasta à are not aswidely consumed because of their prices

- Main source of protein: fish- Cameroonian specialities are brochettes, sangah and

ndolé

References

- www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Cameroon- www.wikipedia.org- www.Traveldocs.com/cm/culture.htm

ConclusionCameroon is the West African country who had been occupied by several European countries (Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Britain and France)

Now it is a Republic

It had developed its official languages (Kamtok English and Kamtok French)

and its culture

Cameroon is a great example of how the pidgin English developes around the world.

Thank you for your attention!