Cultural innovations in Cameroon’s linguistic Tower of Babel

Stephen Ambe Mforteh (Department of English, University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon)
[BIO]

1. Introduction

The sociolinguistic and, to some extent, political evolution of Cameroon has had several outcomes on the languages spoken in the country. It led to the extensive promotion of the so-called official languages in education and national life and to the redefinition of the functions of the indigenous languages. Above anything else, it resulted in French gaining the status of a lingua franca in the French speaking part and Cameroon Pidgin English in the English speaking part of the country. English on the other hand remained, until lately, a normal official language while the over 240 native Cameroonian languages (Breton and Fohtung 1991) continued to exist basically as home languages. The major linguistic outcomes of European colonialism in Africa was the introduction of new and foreign languages and the reallocation of functions for the indigenous languages (Makoni and Meinhof 2003). These outcomes have been extensively felt in Cameroon. The question this paper seeks to answer is, what other cultural, sociolinguistic and political innovations have recently taken place in this linguistic Tower of Babel? Several developments in the relationships between the different sets of languages spoken in Cameroon have resulted in the change of attitudes especially towards English and the indigenous languages. This change of attitude has resulted in French-speaking Cameroonians flooding English-medium schools both in French-speaking and English-speaking towns, and in a strong desire to reassert the value of the indigenous languages through standardization and the derivation of writing systems for them. These two processes have had several impacts on the political, economic, cultural and linguistic landscape of the country and is challenging some of the old myths of official language identification, which Anchimbe (2005) terms anglophonism and francophonism. Before explaining this further let us first of all examine the Cameroon scene from a sociohistorical perspective.

2. Sociohistorical overview of Cameroon

The complex ethnolinguistic nature of Cameroon, generally referred to on this count as Africa in miniature, did not result exclusively from colonialism. Colonialism might have added two foreign languages to it but the complexity in ethnic groups occurred long before - through intertribal wars, the search for agricultural land, good climates, protective boundaries, the attacks of the Arab fighters especially in Northern Africa, resettlement of freed slaves, and so forth (see Mufwene 2001, Makoni and Meinhof 2003, Anchimbe 2006). So the large expanses of land that later became transformed into countries following the arbitrary boundaries of the colonialists, were already multilingual and multiethnic. However, colonialism was decisive because it made it more complex and created a functional ladder for the languages in contact. This ladder places French and English, the official languages at the top, the languages of wider communication in the middle and the indigenous languages at the bottom. The indigenous or home languages carry with them a very high number of dialects created by migration, intermarriage, and urbanisation (Koenig et al. 1983). These home languages have a functional value that is not compensated for by French and English, the colonial languages. It is this value that is currently being promoted and is at the base of the cultural innovation that this paper is partly based on. This value is founded on the ethnic identity, which above anything else, is the most profound level of group unity and in-group communication and solidarity.

The adoption of an official French and English bilingual policy as far back as 1972 gave rise, in the course of the years, to the main distinguishing linguistic markers: Francophone and Anglophone Cameroonians. As many researchers have pointed out, this distinction has rather attenuated than solved the linguistic deadlock in which many Cameroonians find themselves. This deadlock is propagated by the educational system. Even up to now (2006), English and French, the so-called official languages in which Cameroonians ought to be bilingual (see Fonlon 1969), are still taught as second languages, (L2). The policy of bilingualism has been more on paper than in practice (see Tchoungui 1983, Kouega 2001, Anchimbe 2005, etc.). For Anglophones, French and German (German, only in a few schools) are taught as foreign languages. And for the Francophones, English, Spanish and German are taught as foreign languages. Although Cameroon inherited English and French from colonialism and declared them as the official languages of the independent state, and despite being a member of both the Francophonie and the Commonwealth, some factors favour the domination of English by French in national administrative services. The first of these factors is geographical. Firstly, Cameroon shares borders mainly with French-speaking countries (Chad to the North, Central African Republic to the East, Congo and Gabon to the South) of the Communauté des Etats Membres de l’Afrique Centrale (CEMAC). It shares borders with only one English-speaking country of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigeria to the west. Secondly, the demographic distribution of Cameroonians along the lines of the official languages put in place by colonialism gives French more speakers. Since France annexed 70% of this former German territory after the First World War and Britain only 30%, French is now spoken by over 70% of Cameroonians and English by a meagre 30%. Of the ten administrative provinces, eight are francophone and two Anglophone. Because of this unequal distribution in the number of users of these different languages, French basically became the language of power and leadership. The home languages were restricted to ethnic or tribal settings and for the transmission of the cultural heritage of their respective communities. The functions and purposes of these home languages were therefore quite specific.

Language is central to the notion of a global world adopted for this investigation. It is a cardinal consideration in a linguistic tower of Babel like Cameroon. The coexistence in varying degrees of usage and spread of several languages: Home Languages, English and French (official languages), and German, Spanish, and Latin (optionally taught as Foreign Languages) is both a wealth and a misfortune. The teaching of these languages reflects the global view of Cameroonians, who consider their acquisition a pre-requisite for studying and settling abroad (that is, away from their areas of origin), as well as for qualifying for and getting international jobs. Globalisation incorporates cultural integration and political economy. This suggests that people are invariably bound to adopt and adapt to other cultures and languages that provide them socio-economic well-being. This paper pays attention to the first movement, that is, settling away from one’s area of origin but making enormous efforts to transform it or to carry along one’s culture and customs to these new sites.

3. The current demographic trend in Cameroon

The linguistic and cultural complexity of Cameroon is a source of both wealth and misfortune (Jikong 2001). The conglomeration of multicultural communities in the main metropolitan towns like Yaoundé and Douala has created a great demand for people with highly developed language competencies in English, French and the other languages spoken by the inhabitants. This is because day to day transaction in these cities takes place in several languages. This increases the functions of bilinguals and multilinguals who function as communicative bridges between the different languages.

On the one hand, it is a tremendous handicap for national unity, national integration and a clearly defined and accepted linguistic code of behaviour. Politicians have used the linguistic and cultural differences to divide and rule the masses. Cameroonians have therefore been made to believe that Anglophones - beside the linguistic peculiarity - are fundamentally different from Francophones. As a result of this politically induced rift, English-French bilinguals only straddle the two extremes. Unfortunately, the state-of-affairs has led to official language monolingualism rather than to the individual bilingualism advocated by Bernard Fonlon (1969). The admission of students into professional schools, and appointments into the civil service on basis of ethnic and linguistic representation and regionalism rather than competence, have reinforced this feeling of difference between Anglophones and Francophones.

On the other hand, the visible economic advantage of this multicultural and multilingual context is the employment possibilities it offers to teachers of German, Spanish, English, French and Latin on the one hand, and translators (French-English and vice versa). The government, for instance, created a pool of pedagogic animators and inspectors for each of these languages in the ten provinces and the central administration in Yaoundé. Again, the Presidency, the Prime Ministry, the Ministries and most parastatal companies, have permanent translators who make texts available to the population in the official languages. For national agencies translation services are obligatory. The use of foreign languages as official media of transaction and the teaching of other foreign languages offers Cameroonians the opportunity to get funding for studies abroad: Britain, USA, France, Germany, and Spain. Recent sociolinguistic studies on language attitudes and socio-economic analysis of young Cameroonians wanting to study abroad reveal interesting results. It is the dream of many young Cameroonians to study abroad, the most common reason advanced being that the desired areas of specialisation are not offered in Cameroon, or where offered e.g. the Faculty of Medicine, the intake is too small compared to the number of applicants. Only 85 places are advertised annually and according to the 2004/2005 entrance statistics, there were over 3000 applicants. Again, linguistic multiplicity in this case is rather a misfortune because several competent students do not make it because of the regional or linguistic criteria mentioned earlier.

3.1 Anglophone-Francophone coexistence in Yaoundé

Although the coexistence of Anglophones and Francophones in Cameroon has not produced any significant sociolinguistic conflicts, it is clear that each of these communities builds identity boundaries around them that exclude the other. The current trend of cultural and ethnic awakening among the diverse ethnic groups in urban centres, which consists in the organisation of weekly or bi-weekly meetings; the formation of common initiative groups (micro financial cooperatives, schools, joint ventures); and the promotion of indigenous languages, has profound impacts on the coexistence of these groups. The weekly meetings, for instance, provide them the chance to sustain their home language, culture and identity and also the unique opportunity to improve on their economic well being. This kind of regrouping further strengthens the already fragile Anglophone-Francophone dichotomy that had for long succeeded to minimise such differences. It makes them more conscious of the differences that exist between them. The rate of migration to Yaounde and Douala (respectively the political and economic capitals) is decisively high and is caused especially by the lack of employment opportunities in the other cities, and the general economic hardship in the country and especially in the less commercially active areas. According to the application files submitted to the Yaoundé Urban Drivers Syndicate, 68 of 348 drivers of Anglophone origin had obtained at least a Bachelor’s degree from one of the state universities. The immediate result of the migratory trend is that Anglophones have infiltrated most of the social, political and economic spheres that were earlier dominated by the Francophones. For instance, of 2850 registered taxi drivers in Yaoundé, approximately 348(1) are Anglophones. In the 2002 Legislative Elections, there was an Anglophone(2) on the Parliamentary list for Mfoundi Division, Yaounde. On the streets of Yaoundé English is no longer referred to derogatorily as a "patois" (vernacular) or considered synonymous to Pidgin English, as suggested by Jikong (2002) and Tchokouako (2005) for the standing of the language in official circles. In the offices in Yaoundé and many other Francophone towns, English speakers are disadvantaged and therefore bound to speak French to get served. In professional schools like the National School for Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), the National School for Police, the Military Academy (EMIA), Advanced School for Mass Communication (ASMAC), and the International Relations Institute (IRIC) at least 80% of the courses are taught in French. These factors illustrate the reticence of the linguistic correlate in the delimitation of identities in Yaoundé.

Another significant innovation in social life is the change in the local market. In the informal sector of the economy, petit traders of English-speaking background have invaded the local markets in Yaoundé. Pidgin English has definitely become an acceptable and widespread language of trade in Yaoundé of almost the same strength as in Douala, Bamenda and other Anglophone towns. Articles (foodstuff, clothing, kitchen utensils) indigenous to the North West Province are brought in by transport companies like Amour Mezam Express, Garanti Express among others and are sold in the makeshift open-air markets of Yaoundé. As the names of the transport companies suggest, Francophone influence is creeping into the business life of the Anglophone areas.

The residential patterns in Yaoundé also show an affinity for these groups to stick together. This is not however limited to the Francophone and Anglophone divide but manifests itself further down to the individual ethnic groups. For example, Tsinga and Briquererie are predominantly occupied by Northerners i.e. people from the three Northern provinces - Adamawa, North, and Far North. Other quarters like Madagascar, Mokolo, and Nkomkana are inhabited mainly by the Bamilekes; Melen, Obili, Biyem Assi, and Mendong predominantly by Anglophones. The tendency to regroup around one of the official languages has spread among the Anglophones and spurred them to the realisation of certain religious, cultural, and educational projects. The Anglophone community has therefore constructed church houses and schools in which English is the medium of interaction. One may here cite the Presbyterian Churches of Bastos, Etoug Ebe, Nsimeyong, Ekounou, and Soa; the Roman Catholic Churches of Mvog Ada and Nsimbog; the Baptist Churches of Etoug Ebe and Nkodengui, as well as pockets of other missionary chapels. These churches have introduced social services like hospitals and schools, basically for the Anglophones. For example, the Presbyterian Eye Department, located in the premises of the Presbyterian Church in Bastos, belongs to the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. It receives an average of 350 patients a week, 60% of whom are Francophones. Schools such as the Christian Comprehensive Secondary School Etoudi, Mervick Secondary School, City Bilingual Academy, Oxford Comprehensive High School, St. Joseph’s Anglophone Nursery and Primary School, and Queensway Nursery School were established to provide the Anglophone community with avenues to promote and consolidate the commonality of the English language, which according to Wolf (2001:223) represents a new ethnic belonging: "The feeling of unity is so strong that ‘being Anglophone’ denotes a new ethnicity, transcending older ethnic ties."

4. Sociolinguistic innovations in the society

Over the years, several sociolinguistic changes have taken place in this Tower of Babel. These include the changing perspectives of the English language by the Francophones, the renewed attention to Cameroon Pidgin English as normal rather than a denigrated code, the standardization and introduction of mother tongues in primary schools at regional level, the promotion of bilingualism through several educational curricular projects, among many other things. Prominent among these aspects are the linguistic and cultural elements that align languages with both their speakers and the status associated with them. Of course language takes a prominent place because it "is often a critical attribute of group membership, an important cue for ethnic categorisation, an emotional dimension of identity, and [...] a means of facilitating in-group cohesion (Giles and Coupland 1991:96). So promoting a language, as many ethnic groups in Cameroon are doing now, is equal to promoting their cultures. It may be claimed at this point that the attachment to ethnic languages and hence identities automatically reduces attachment to the official languages and the identities built on them. However this is not the case, because, as Anchimbe (2006) says, Cameroonians, and in fact, most Africans, are caught in a constant process of identity fluctuation and opportunism, which obliges them to adopt linguistic identities according to contexts and in response to issues at stake. Sociolinguistic innovations in Cameroon in the past few years can be looked upon from two basic perspectives: the political and the linguistic.

4. 1 Political innovations

Language in Cameroon, from a political perspective, is a strong icon for political support. After the reintroduction of multiparty politics in the 1990s, regionalism and the use of a common native or official language became equally strong icons of identification. The Home Languages therefore resurfaced to become social markers of power, secrecy, pride and solidarity. With multiparty politics many political parties were created that reflected regional or ethnic specificities. The Social Democratic Front (SDF) created in Bamenda has come to be looked upon first as an Anglophone political party that counters the Francophone dominated government, and second as a North West party that serves their interests above all others. The Union Démocratique du Cameroun, (UDC) founded in Foumban is also interpreted as a weapon of self-defence or an oasis of identification for people from this region. On the basis of this, the indigenous languages or the official language that stands as linguistic symbol of these political parties serve as the key to their inner circles. Again, language rather than political ideology (since none can exist when regional and tribal interests are more important), is the prime determinant of who gets what and when. This makes one thing clear, that beyond the commonality of the official languages the so-called Anglophones and Francophones are very different and generally opposed to one another. The come-no-go issue in the South West province involved only Anglophones. Anglophones interpret the call for secession by the Southern Cameroons National Congress very differently. However, they, like the Francophones remain united by certain factors, among them the linguistic - a reason why, in spite of the startling ideological and political animosities, they still fall back to the unifying identities built on the official languages.

4.2. Linguistic innovations

Although a few Cameroonian indigenous languages were taught at the University of Yaounde between 1970 and 1977, the teaching of these languages was stopped because of its impact on the political stability of the country. (Chumbow 1980, Momo 1997, Bird 2001, etc.). It was gradually building social classes in the country between those whose languages were taught and those whose languages were not. To compensate for this policy, the government decided to unilaterally raise, of course in name, the indigenous languages to national languages. However, in the last few years, the Department of African Languages and Linguistics reintroduced the teaching of some of these languages. It extensively encourages research and studies of various kinds on these languages especially at the postgraduate level. It works in collaboration with the National Association of Cameroon Language Committees (NACALCO) in the designation of alphabets for, and the teaching of, these indigenous Cameroonian languages. (see Che 1987, Njika 2003, Mba and Chiato 2000). These research endeavours have produced seminal results, giving the speakers of these languages a certain degree of pride that their languages can be written. The wealth of knowledge hidden in these cultures is gradually being exposed (see Ntumgia 2004). NACALCO and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) are involved in ongoing research on the Home Languges. SIL facilitated the translation of the Holy Bible and other Christian documents into some Cameroonian home languages such as Bafut and Bali (see table 1). Primers are designed to introduce the alphabet and phonetic charts of various other languages that have formed committees that work in collaboration with NACALCO and SIL facilitators and researchers.

Table 1 Status of home languages in Cameroon

 

4.3. Innovations in the attachment to English

English, as mentioned above, was until recently, the less favoured and generally marginalisd of the two official languages. Administrative, political, and diplomatic transactions are normally supposed, as the Section 1.I.3 of the Constitution states, to be in both French and English. This has generally not been the case. This perhaps explains why the Prime Ministerial Circular published in the Cameroon Tribune (French version) N° 4951 of 3/08/1999, p.3 stipulates "the steps to take in order to project an image of a bilingual Cameroon". The projection of a bilingual Cameroon in other words means the use of English since French dominates in several national functions. However, in recent years, the admission of Cameroon into the Commonwealth of Nations, the sustained status of English as a world language, and globalisation, have weakened the French language monopoly. The startling effect is that it has produced an unprecedented desire by Francophones to learn English. They see in English rather than French, several opportunities that lie far beyond the boundaries of Cameroon. French, as they seem to understand, is important to their survival in Cameroon but not out of the country - a factor rendered even more crucial by the also burning desire in Cameroonians to migrate abroad for better jobs. Many French-speaking families are therefore sending their offspring to English medium schools where the children learn in English.

Ever since the prevalence of English internationally led to the ending of the discriminatory tendency of Francophone Cameroonians to link English to the post-presidential election violence of 1992, there has been a considerable change in attitudes towards the language (see Anchimbe 2005). English is no more considered as the identity marker of les anglos là or les anglofou but is that bridge to international success that everyone, irrespective official language background wants to cross. Francophone children have literally invaded English-speaking schools at all levels. Privately owned English-medium and also bilingual nursery and primary schools abound in Yaoundé. Many former French-medium schools have hurriedly added a bilingual option to their curricula, even if all they do is to include the teaching of English as a Foreign Language. An official of the Mfoundi Departmental Delegation of the Ministry of Basic Education admitted that apart from the officially recognised institutions, a plethora of other such institutions operate clandestinely. Despite this unofficial recognition, the infrastructures are still inadequate for the number of pupils seeking admission. The reports of the pedagogic inspectors revealed that 80% of these schools introduced the teaching of the English language to pupils as young as four years.

Beyond the level of the nursery and primary schools and particularly at the level of the secondary schools and the university, there is also a strong demand for English. The enrolment of Francophone children in nursery and primary schools in francophone towns like Yaoundé and Douala might be a normal procedure since the parents also live in the same city. But the recent trend among Francophone parents to send their children to English-medium secondary schools in Anglophone towns indicates how desperately they want their children to be educated in English. As Table 2 shows, there is a growing population of Francophone students in boarding schools in Bamenda, Buea, and Limbe. In the 2004/2005 academic year, for example, Francophone children constituted up to 28% of the total number of students admitted to form one of some of these schools.

Table 2 Enrolment of Francophone Students into English Medium Schools

These young Francophones who normally return to their French-speaking families during holidays, are brought up with their Anglophone classmates in the English-medium institutions where they prepare for the General Certificate of Examination. One foreseeable outcome of this is that, at one point, there would be the disappearance of the official language distinction, that is, anglophonism and francophonism (Anchimbe 2005). These children, especially those who attend English education from nursery school, would not be able to clearly identify themselves as either Anglophones or Francophones.

The rush for English and English-based degrees and certificates equally determines Francophones’ choice of postgraduate studies. In the universities of Yaoundé 1, Dschang and Ngaoundere, where French-English Bilingual Degree programmes are offered, there are far more Francophones enrolled in these programmes than Anglophones (see Table 3). The University of Buea, the only English-medium state owned university is highly solicited by Francophone students. This may normally be the effect of the population imbalance since Anglophones make up just 30% of the total population. However, at the postgraduate level, many more Francophones are going in for an MA degree in the English departments than Anglophones in the French Department. Although the department of French also exists and offers postgraduate degrees, many graduates of bilingual departments prefer English to French - since the bilingual departments offer only Bachelor degrees, they are forced to continue with one of the two languages.

Table 3. Enrolment into the Bilingual Degree Programme, University of Yaoundé 1

BF- Bilingual Francophone; BA- Bilingual Anglophone
Source: Admissions office, Faculty of Arts. N.B The figures cannot be exact because the modular system enables students to straddle two levels. In the third year, the two are merged.

Beside the nursery, primary and secondary schools, there are language centres that teach English to adults: the American Language Center, the British Council, Pilot Linguistic Centres, and the B&K Language Institute. Whereas the enrolment into these institutions is constantly on the rise, the basic reason for learning English is the same: studying, living and working abroad. As Table 4 shows, several levels are offered to prepare the learners for their future projects in English.

Table 4. Enrolment into Language Centres in Yaoundé

Despite the number of levels, three main stages (Foundation, Beginner or Starter; Intermediate; and Advanced) are discernible. Each stage has several steps or classes. Generally, each stage is semi-independent as learners may enrol for each and not move up to the higher one(s). Although the fees charged are relatively high, the number of students is still on the rise. The provision of pedagogic materials, an ideal language-learning environment, and highly motivated teachers, however, compensate for the high fees. Moreover, lecture hours are often arranged to suit individual learners or groups of learners. According to the 2005 enrolment, the age range of the learners was between 10 and 65 years. Learners included students and senior administrators. The reasons advanced by the varying range of learners included the following:

• Desire to study abroad: USA, Canada, South Africa, and Britain
• Plans to play the American Immigration Lottery and to migrate to the US.
• To pursue an international profession in English (medicine, engineering, etc.)
• To qualify for international jobs: United Nations Organisation, World Bank,
• English is a mandatory requirement by some employers

It is interesting to note that none of the learners were Anglophones. This is of course because they have English as first official language. Secondly, none of the learners stated that their objective for learning English is to work in the English-speaking part of Cameroon. None also claimed they were learning English in order to communicate with the English-speaking community. This indicates at what point the Anglophone-Francophone divide is still in place in spite of the bilingualism schemes designed to reduce attachment to these official language.

7. Conclusions

The global status of English will continue to influence the high esteem that Francophones in Cameroon have for it. The rate at which Francophones are learning English predicts several changes in both the national life and the individual preferences in Cameroon in the next few years. In about 25 years the only people who would matter in Cameroon will be the French-English bilinguals. The Anglophones seem to be taking this for granted. In fact, they are quite unaware of this creeping competition and the potential threat. They seem to be interested only in the promotion of their national languages, the propagation of their cultures, and in the fight for the recognition of Pidgin English, (Alobwede 1998, Ubanako 2004). As mentioned earlier, appointments to government positions have linguistic and regional conditions attached to them and the current trends will likely affect the Anglophones who will no longer have a monopoly of the English language. The effort made by Francophones puts them in a vantage position because the bilinguals will eventually replace the monolingual Anglophone and this may result into a new socio-political set up.

At the moment, the linguistic innovations, for example, coping with poor translations even in official texts and examinations, are being accommodated under the caption of Cameroon English (see Simo Bobda 1986, 1993, 2002, 2003 and Mbangwana 2002). A noticeable trend is the creation of regional branches of Francophone Cameroon companies - e.g. Société Fokou, PMUC, and Amour Mezam Express - in the Anglophone part of Cameroon. While these companies adopt and adapt to the new (Anglophone) commercial areas, they impose their style and culture on the consumers. In the long run, the Anglophone would lose both linguistically and culturally in the face of the current encroachment of the Francophones into spheres hitherto monopolised by them.

A close look at the cultural innovations among the Anglophones per se reveals that the demographic movements highlight the differences that denote or distinguish each ethnic proclivity. The government promotes this under the slogan of celebrating Cameroon’s linguistic and cultural diversity. This is good for the politician who divides people to better rule them. It is also good because it shows the various chambers, edges and platforms of the linguistic tower. In fact, this policy makes everyone in any remote area of Cameroon feel recognised. By 2000, a total of 164 political parties had been created, and most of these along tribal and regional lines (Aletum 2001). We see this as a real handicap to notions of national unity and integration since each ethnic group fights only for its region and exercises distrust towards the others. Even though this paper does not explain the poor implementation of the policy of bilingualism in Cameroon, it has however demonstrated that this Tower of Babel holds a linguistic bomb. When it will explode, though no one knows exactly when that is going to happen, its effects will be felt beyond linguistic circles.

© Stephen Ambe Mforteh (Department of English, University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon)

NOTES

(1) The information was obtained from the urban drivers’ syndicate office in Yaoundé. Taxi drivers register with the syndicate in order to have authorisation to work in Yaoundé.

(2) He is from Awing in Mezam Division of the North West Province. Mfoundi is the administrative division in which the capital city of Yaoundé is found.

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3.2. Postcolonial innovations and transformations: Putting language in the forefront

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