Cameroon Pidgin English

Abstract

Cameroon Pidgin English (CPE) is an English-lexified Atlantic expanded pidgin/creole spoken in some form by an estimated 50% of Cameroon’s population, primarily in the anglophone west regions, but also in urban centres throughout the country. Primarily a spoken language, CPE enjoys a vigorous oral presence in Cameroon, and the linguistic examples illustrating this description are drawn from a spoken corpus consisting of a range of text types, including oral narratives, radio broadcasts and spontaneous conversation. The authors’ typologically-framed investigation of the features of the language, from its phonetics, phonology and lexicon to its syntax and discourse structure, allows the reader a clear view of the linguistic character of CPE, offering a comprehensive description of the language that will be of interest to creolists as well as linguists interested in African languages, contact linguistics and comparative linguistics.

The indigenization of Ghanaian Pidgin English

“…(32) below). In other WAPs this is also the case for dé but not for the nominal copula (Ayafor & Green, 2017;Mazzoli, 2013;Yakpo, 2022).…”

“…The clause featuring bì ‘ cop’ in (17) and the clause in (18) featuring dé ‘be at’ are both specified for −factative by the potential mood marker gò ‘ pot.’ Both forms are freely combinable with TAM markers and the negative particle nó , contrary to equivalent forms in Akan (see (31) and (32) below). In other WAPs this is also the case for dé but not for the nominal copula (Ayafor & Green, 2017; Mazzoli, 2013; Yakpo, 2022). À (nó) gò bì lɔ́yà. 1sg.sbj neg pot cop lawyer‘One day, I'll (not) be a lawyer.’ (Ghanaian Pidgin) À (nó) gò dé Hǒ mòró. 1sg.sbj neg pot be.at place tomorrow‘I'll (not) be in Ho tomorrow.’ (Ghanaian Pidgin) Ghanaian Pidgin is an aspect and mood‐prominent language like Akan and the other Kwa languages of Ghana (Ameka & Kropp Dakubu, 2008) as well as all WAP and Krio varieties (Faraclas, 1987; Yakpo, 2019, pp.…”

Sociolinguistic characteristics of the English-lexifier contact languages of West Africa

“…This notwithstanding, an institutional recognition of Cameroon Pidgin as a language in its own right and a suitable subject of language policy is not on the horizon. There is a relatively large body of descriptive work on Cameroon Pidgin (among which major works like Kouega 2008;Nkengasong 2016;Ngefac 2016;Ayafor & Green 2017), as well as Christian missionary initiatives, e.g. the Cameroon Pidgin New Testament (Molindo 1996).…”

The spoken corpus of Cameroon Pidgin English

“…While Ayafor () suggests the use of accents for the representation of different vowel qualities, we did not adopt this proposal for the current project, since accents are conventionally used in linguistics publications to mark tone. The orthography adopted for this project is based on that developed by Ayafor () (Appendix 1). The orthographic system was kept under review during the transcription stage of the project, and a regularly updated spelling guide was produced.…”

“…However, the most significant challenge encountered during the compilation stage was ensuring a consistent orthographic representation of CPE. Given the absence of a standardised orthography, the research assistants were trained in the orthographic system developed by Ayafor (), but the spelling system necessarily had to be fully developed alongside the transcription, which required constant revision of the transcriptions as the spelling guide was developed.…”