This study highlights and insists on the necessity to develop and use national languages mostly in education and official communication, politics, agriculture, health, and other sectors of the country. If this is done, each individual would benefit from a language policy that incorporates the language of every Cameroonian. It is noticed that the country implements and promotes the use of French and English as official languages in all sectors of the country'> This study highlights and insists on the necessity to develop and use national languages mostly in education and official communication, politics, agriculture, health, and other sectors of the country. If this is done, each individual would benefit from a language policy that incorporates the language of every Cameroonian. It is noticed that the country implements and promotes the use of French and English as official languages in all sectors of the country'> Promotion Of National Languages In Official Sectors In Cameroon: Myth Or Reality?

 

Promotion of National Languages in Official Sectors in Cameroon: Myth or Reality?


Keyword : promotion, local/national languages, Anglophone, official sector


Author(s) : Esther Phubon Chie, PhD

Abstract :   

This study highlights and insists on the necessity to develop and use national languages mostly in education and official communication, politics, agriculture, health, and other sectors of the country. If this is done, each individual would benefit from a language policy that incorporates the language of every Cameroonian. It is noticed that the country implements and promotes the use of French and English as official languages in all sectors of the country to the exclusion of its over 280 indigenous languages. The theories employed in the study are the Interactionist Sociolinguistics Theory and the Language Planning Theory. A sample population of 120 consultants, out of 150 targeted from the Anglophone regions of the country, were randomly selected for the study. There were 70 men and 50 women between the ages of 20 to 75. The questionnaire and observation were the instruments used to collect the relevant data. Both the quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in the analysis of the data collected from primary and secondary sources. This study reveals that using English and French as official languages of education, communication, politics, agriculture, health, etc., does not allow messages to reach the entire intended audience, particularly the numerous Cameroonians who are not literate in the official languages. It portrays the fact that the promotion of national languages in official sectors in Cameroon is a myth and recommends that the government’s mythical phenomenon on the development of national languages be revised significantly and instituted for implementation.

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