Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T22:15:16.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Explicating some prepositional usages in Cameroon English

Describing direction and location in Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Alain Takam
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This study investigates a number of non-interference sources of some Cameroon English (CamE) prepositional usages. It is based on the observation that the investigation of causes or sources of post-colonial Englishisms (peculiarities of newer varieties of English spoken in former English and American colonies) has so far favoured the interference factor. More clearly, post-colonial English (PCE) specificities have generally been attributed to the influence of the speakers' other tongues on their (English) production (see, for example, Platt et al., 1984; Mbangwana, 1989; Bokamba, 1992; Gramley & Pätzold, 1992; Asante, 1995). Although the interference factor is indeed easily perceptible in CamE, it is interesting to note that other factors might have played a major role in the emergence of English in Cameroon. In reality, there are several non-contrastive causes that could underlie some grammatical constructions of PCE in general and CamE in particular. Many such causes are being studied, especially at the phonological level. However, few studies have been devoted to the non-interference sources of CamE grammatical usages in general and preposition use in particular. This paper will thus examine how CamE speakers use prepositions to express direction and location. From the analysis, non-interference sources of a good number of CamE specificities such as the colonial factor, logicalization, analogy and tacit national norm seem to be some of the autonomous routes unconsciously used by CamE speakers to yield a variety of English that markedly differs from the standardized varieties of British English (StE), officially the target of national education.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 23 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anchimbe, E. 2006. Cameroon English: Authenticity, Ecology and Evolution. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Asante, M. Y. 1995. ‘Ghanaian English: Motivation for divergence from the standard in certain grammatical categories.’ Unpublished PhD thesis. Neuphilologischen Fakultät Tübingen.Google Scholar
Ayafor, M. 2011. ‘Non-standard features in English in Anglophone Cameroon new writing: dilemmas for the education system.’ English Today 107(3), 52–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bokamba, E. 1992. ‘The Africanization of English.’ In Kachru, B. (ed.), The Other Tongue: English across Culture (2nd edn). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 125–47.Google Scholar
Booth, B. F. 1994. Mill Hill Fathers in West Cameroon: Education, Health and Development, 1884–1970. Bethesda: International Scholars Publications.Google Scholar
Eliot, G. 1927. Silas Marner, the Weaver of Raveloe. London: Harrap.Google Scholar
Gramley, S. & Pätzold, K.-M. 1992. A Survey of Modern English. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. 1986. The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non-Native Englishes. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Leith, D. 1996. ‘The origins of English.’ In Graddol, D., Leith, D. & Swann, J. (eds), English: History, Diversity and Change. New York: Routledge, pp. 95–135.Google Scholar
Mbangwana, P. 1989. ‘Flexibility in lexical usage in Cameroon English.’ In Garcia, O. & Oteguy, R. (eds), English across Cultures: Cultures across English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 319–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbangwana, P. 2004. ‘Cameroon English: Morphology and syntax.’ In Kortmann, B. et al. (eds), A Handbook of Varieties of English, Vol. 2. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 898–908.Google Scholar
Mesthrie, R. & Bhatt, R. 2008. World Englishes: The Study of New Linguistic Varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngefac, A. 2005. ‘Homophones and heterophones in Cameroon English.’ ALIZÉS: Revue angliciste de la Réunion 25/26, 39–53.Google Scholar
Ngefac, A. 2008. ‘The social stratification of English in Cameroon.’ World Englishes, 27 (3/4), 407–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ojanen, A.-L. 1985. ‘Use and non-use of prepositions in spatial expressions in the dialect of Cambridgeshire.’ In Viereck, W. (ed.), Focus on: England and Wales. Amsterdam/New York: John Benjamins, pp. 178–212.Google Scholar
O'Neil, R. J. 1991. Mission to the British Cameroons. London: Mission Book Service.Google Scholar
Platt, J., Weber, H. & Lian, H. M. 1984. New Englishes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. 1972. A Grammar of Contemporary English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Schmied, J. & Nkemleke, D. 2010. ‘Prepositions in Cameroon and Kenyan English: Comparability on the basis of text corpora.’ Syllabus Review, 1(2), 31–53.Google Scholar
Schneider, E. 2007. Postcolonial English: Verities around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, E. 2011. English around the World: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Simo Bobda, A. 1997a. ‘Sociocultural constraints in EFL teaching in Cameroon.’ In Pütz, M. (ed.), The Cultural Context in Foreign Language Teaching. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 220–40.Google Scholar
Simo Bobda, A. 1997b. ‘Explicating the features of English in multilingual Cameroon: A non contrastive perspective.’ In Smieja, B. & Tasch, M. (eds), Human Contact Through Language and Linguistics. Berlin: Peter Lang, pp. 291–307.Google Scholar
Simo Bobda, A. 2001. ‘Taming the madness of English.’ Modern English Teacher, 10(2), 11–17.Google Scholar
Simo Bobda, A. 2002. Watch Your English! A Collection of Remedial Lessons on English Usage (2nd edn). Yaoundé: B&K Language Institute.Google Scholar
Simo Bobda, A. 2006. ‘Celtic presence in Cameroon and its linguistic consequences.’ In Tristram, H. L. C. (ed.), Celtic Englishes IV: The Interface between English and the Celtic Languages. Potsdam: Potsdam University Press, pp. 217–33.Google Scholar
Takam, A. F. 2000. ‘Strategies underlying some Cameroon English usages.’ Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Yaoundé I.Google Scholar
Takam, A. F. 2011. ‘Article use in Cameroon English and in non-standard British English.’ World Englishes, 30(2), 269–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, H.-G. 2001. English in Cameroon. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar