Manuscript 1049
Official Bilingualism or the Need for a Linguistic Unification in Official Bilingualism or the Need for a Linguistic Unification in Cameroon
Cameroon
Jeff Sterline NGAMI KAMAGOUA
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Copyright © 2023 by De La Salle University RESEARCH ARTICLE
Official Bilingualism or the Need for a Linguistic Unification in Cameroon
[Bilinguisme officiel ou la nécessité d’une unification linguistique au Cameroun]
Jeff Sterline Ngami Kamagoua University of Yaoundé I [email protected]
Abstract
Cameroon inherited two languages, French and English, from France and United Kingdom administration (1916-1960) and adopted them, within the framework of reunification, as official languages, to achieve social cohesion, unity and national integration. The official bilingualism policy qualified as unequal and largely in favor of French, gave birth to a linguistic and cultural conflict. Indeed, the recognition and maintenance of Anglophone and Francophone communities, in the light of colonialism, as two communities with linguistic, historical, cultural and educational specificities generated over the years, a linguistic juxtaposition. This linguistic juxtaposition is fundamentally characterised by the predominance of official languages in each linguistic community, the dominance of French in the social network and therefore, stigmata and identity withdrawal especially for the Anglophone minority community which complain about the linguistic and cultural domination of French even in Anglophone regions. This research sets out to examine, in the light of Language Policy and Planning (LPP) theoretical approach, the impact of linguistic unification in the achievement of official bilingualism parity in Cameroon. An analysis of a corpus collected via survey and interviews with Francophone and Anglophone informants reveals the level of separation between Francophones and Anglophones, in what we are calling linguistic juxtaposition, in spite of actions taken by the government to promote official bilingualism and achieve unity and national integration. Therefore, the study recommends linguistic unification at institutional, educational levels, etc. to foster unity and national integration through official bilingualism and suggests a model for a systematic and nationwide use of official languages.
Keywords: official bilingualism, linguistic unification, national integration, English-speaking, French-speaking
Introduction and Background Information Official bilingualism in Cameroun, i.e., the constitutional and legal recognition of French and English as the two official languages of equal value seems to be a political strategy of the state, to solve the juxtaposition of French-speaking (83% of the country’s population) and English-speaking communities (17%
of the country’s population) which inherited different languages and cultures from the United Kingdom and France administration (1916-1960). In addition, this policy was considered as a lever of the achievement of unity and national integration in terms of territorial merging and social cohesion through linguistic communication. Echu (2003) talked about a ‘‘neutral’’
foreign language option as official language in order to avoid language conflict arising from the choice of an indigenous language in African countries which have thousands of local languages.
Sixty years after its implementation (1961-2021), official bilingualism policy failed to ensure equal communication in the two official languages. The same way as it failed to ensure an equal share of social functions between English and French in official domains. In this light, Takam (2007), Guimatsa (2012), and Ebinengue (2017) identified the second official language (LO2) as the main difficulty for equal or alternate use of official languages. The educational system in Cameroon lacks of consistent program in the second official language1, leading to monolingual learners. Also, communication in official languages in Cameroon is characterised by what Ebinengue called
“bilinguisme de comprehension”, i.e., speaking well the first official language and trying to understand the second. Cameroonians are not trained to personal linguistic bilingualism which involves individual efforts to achieve a working competence in English and French.
Thus, it seems to be assumed that, national authorities approved the language policy and planning of both French and British Cameroons. After colonialism, i.e., from the federation (1961) to the advent and reinforcement of unitary state (1972 and 1984), the policy of official languages has been adopted and managed the same way as colonisers, French being the predominant official language in French Cameroon.
Following Echu (2004) and Biloa (2012), the policy of official bilingualism in favor of French leads to disintegration among Anglophones, since it doesn’t protect and promote English language and Anglo-
Saxon culture. Considering the missions of official bilingualism in Cameroon and the challenges related to its implementation that remained relevant today, the ongoing research intends to examine the problematic of the impact of linguistic unification in the achievement of unity and national integration through official bilingualism parity. In others words, it tries to answer to the question regarding the construction of a national integration and cohesion between Francophone and Anglophone communities in Cameroon, through equal and nationwide use of official languages.
The study is organized as follow: firstly, brief information are given on the situation and challenges of bilingualism policy after 60 years of application.
Secondly, description and delimitation of bilingualism are provided, through various publications addressing different aspects of the phenomenon. In the third point, theoretical framework and research methodology are presented. Official bilingualism is an issue of language policy and planning. We indicated that language policy should be dynamic and integrative. It should be ready to integrate reforms according to the evolution of language practise in the society. In the fourth point, the results of research are shown and discussed. The study ends with orientations and recommendations regarding the implementation of linguistic unification in Cameroon.
State of the Art
The phenomenon of official bilingualism has drawn interdisciplinary attention. It has been subject to various analysis and closer contributions of linguists and researchers in several platforms. Ayafor (2005) questioned the use of all these contributions in the implementation of the policy of bilingualism in Cameron, by addressing the following question:
why has bilingualism failed in Cameroon when there is so much researches in the wider context and many measures local to sustain it? He asserts that official bilingualism is limited to the use of English and French within institutional domains and formal interaction within private sector. However, the simple fact of having official status for two official languages, French and English qualifies the basic linguistic component in defining bilingualism in general. But, stopping at such a criterion would be stating the situation in over-simplified terms thereby misleading attention regarding the host of variables which render it complex and unique. Official bilingualism needs
basic clear-cut linguistic definition, description (Chumbow 1980: 288), and a systematic framework for its implementation (Tadadjeu 1983: 117).
Biloa (2012) focused on disintegration and discrimination between Francophones and Anglophones in Cameroon. He stated that official bilingualism as applied in Cameroon is a factor of disintegration and frustration, leading to what is referred to as
“Anglophone problem”. Official bilingualism conceived by the political authorities as the practical usage of English and French throughout the national territory, has been in 50 years favourable to French- speaking communities2. In a more global perspective, Echu & Ebongue (2012) edited a collective book in which the contributors present a comprehensive picture of the evolution, challenges and perspectives of English-French bilingualism instituted in 1961 in Cameroon with the prime objective of guaranteeing national unity and integration. It can be noticed from the different analysis that, after 50 years of official bilingualism, the challenge of the equal use of French and English is still real in several domains, especially public administrations, education, media. Indeed, in spite of strategies and institutions put in place by the government to teach official languages and promote bilingualism, the minority official language is still less used in English and French-speaking regions.
As for the future or what he called the survival of bilingualism in Cameroon, Ngu Nwei (2019) pointed out that, though facing significant challenges, bilingualism still stands a good chance to survive in Cameroon. Official bilingualism policy must be improved in the domains of governance, educational policy, legal reform, and administrative structure in order to face factors that are militating for its demise.
The use of official languages should be equal in official communications and documents, contrarily to the current situation of the dominance of French.
Furthermore, there should be a creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” under the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism to provide a forum for victims of marginalization from both linguistic communities and heal divisions. In addition to what has been proposed in the literature, the ongoing research suggests linguistics unification as a lever of a real achievement of national unity in terms of territorial merging and social cohesion in Cameroon. In spite of decades of research on official bilingualism, such proposition needs to be considered
in the implementation of a postcolonial bilingualism policy in Cameroon.
Theoretical Framework and Methodology This study is driven in the light of language policy and planning (LPP) theoretical approach to sociolinguistics and applied linguistics investigations, which is specifically based on field investigations.
Before describing the language policy in Cameroon since the colonial period, we find interesting to examine the linguistics significance and principles of language policy and planning.
The Linguistic Description of Language Policy and Planning
The language regulation and management in a speech community referred to as language policy and planning is a complex and unique process involving a well-defined strategy and an integrative framework for languages use. Following Kathryn et al (2017)
“Language policy and planning is concerned with explicit and implicit policies that influence what languages are spoken when, how, and by whom, as well as the values and right associated to those languages”.
Thus, language policy is either explicit or implicit.
This dichotomy has been assimilated by Echu (2012) to written and oral or traditional constitution. Explicit language policy is the sum of measures included in the legislation that affect openly and directly groups of speakers and their use of languages. Implicit language policy, whose goals and rules are unofficial and not directly expressed, can be understood as a traditional regulation of languages use in a speech community.
Before its implementation according to political speculations and aspirations, language policy needs to define a systematic framework for languages use and a comprehensive planning to bring the different changes3.
Considering the central role of language in the preservation of identity and culture, we argue that the language policy should be dynamic and represent the conviction, the aspiration, the habits of populations, and the linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity, as viewed by Spolsky (2003)4 “The language policy of a speech community may be revealed in its practices, its beliefs, or in explicit language management”. In most of African countries, the challenge is the implementation
of postcolonial language policies based on linguistic integration in a multilingual context. Following Echu (2012), language policies in African countries have been either assimilation or modification of colonial languages policies5. However, with the nationalism claims arising from the progressive extinction of languages and cultures of indigenous peoples, many African countries have adopted after independences, some of their codified indigenous languages as national or co-official languages and introduced them in educational system6.
A language policy should be implemented through language planning. Following Fishmann (1987) and Cooper (1989), language planning is the implementation of policy decisions, in order to deal with linguistic and/
or extra-linguistic problems at community, national or international level. It implies the allocation of resources by the authorities to bring changes in the structure (corpus) and functions (status) of language and/or language varieties. Therefore, two fundamental levels of language planning are language status planning and corpus planning. Language status planning involves the language in relation with others (Echu, 2003).
It is deeply concerned by the allocation of functions (political, economic, religious, educational, etc.) among languages. The corpus planning is related to aspects of language planning which are primarily linguistic and hence internal to language (Haugen 1983). As a process, it requires intense linguistic activities which can be regrouped into two categories: the establishment of norms (standardization and codification) and the extension of the linguistic function of language (functional development of language).
Language Policy in Cameroon
Language policy in Cameroon has been implemented in four stages, corresponding to four fundamental periods of the history of Cameroon, namely the colonial period with German protectorate (1884-1916) and United Kingdom and France administration (1916- 1960). The postcolonial or post-independence period with federalism (1961-1972) and the advent and reinforcement of the unitary state (1972-1984).
In German administration, the language policy put in place was characterised by a linguistic persecution of indigenous languages and a promotion of the colonial language. Indeed, at their arrival start, German administration encouraged the use of German for functional communication throughout the colonial
territory and accepted the teaching of some vernacular languages in school7, while waiting to implement progressively language policy germane to their rule. In 1987, Governor Von Puttkammer insisted on the sole use of German as medium of instruction and communication. He signed a protectorate act (Schutzgebietgesetz) to limit the use of local languages by missionaries for evangelization (See Nana, 2016 p. 6).
In French administration8, the language policy was rigid toward local languages. The colonial authorities took series of decisions (decision rendered public on 1st October and 28th of December 1920) and measures to institute progressively the sole usage of French in the territory. At educational level, they prohibited the use of local languages as medium of instruction as well as means of expression. They created colonial schools, closed down several local schools, namely 47 schools opened by Sultan Njoya in the Bamun region and authorized mission’s schools only to provide instruction in the French language and therefore developed sentiments of loyalty to France (cf. Nana, 2016 p. 180).
The British administration implemented an indirect and decentralized-type system of administration with English as the official language and the common law as the system of governance. The colonial administrators were assisted by local traditional authorities who had the latitude to rule their populations according to their cultures and using their languages9. In the domain of education, the British system of education started by vernacular schools where learners were set to study local languages before being admitted to higher classes in British schools and obtaining the First School Leaving Certificate10. English as medium of education gained prominence under the impulsion of Cameroonian political authorities of both Northern and Southern Cameroon in 1958.
At independence, the French Cameroon renamed
“Republic of Cameroon” adopted French as the official language. British Southern Cameroon gained its independence once choosing to join the Republic of Cameroon after the plebiscite of 11 February 1961, thereby forming a Federal Republic strengthen and legitimated by the political conference between the leaders of both parts of Cameroon11. Concerning language policy, French and English were adopted respectively as official languages of French and English Cameroon. Soon after reunification, government took
unprecedented actions for the promotion of French and English in education. Many bilingual secondary schools were created and several existent became bilingual in the sense that French and English have been recognised as official languages and have been compulsory in schools (Ayafor 2005, p. 136)12. The first bilingual institution named “The bilingual Grammar School” was opened in Buea during an historical and memorial ceremony presided by the President Ahmadou Ahidjo who stated that “By bilingualism we mean the practical usage of our two official languages, English and French, throughout the national territory”.
The advent of unitary state by means of Referendum in 1972 and its consolidation from 1984 to present- day may be considered as a political attempt of homogeneity in terms of integration, political and territorial union that federalism failed to achieve.
Within the frame of unification, the political autonomy of each federated state has been cancelled for the profit of a unified Cameroon, favourable to the living together, unity and national integration between French and English-speaking communities. As for the language policy, official bilingualism was adopted to ensure a linguistic communication between the two communities throughout the national territory and an equal use of French and English in official domains.
But in the practice, official languages use was unequal during the period of federalism, unification and it is still the case today. French language is actually the most influent superstrate in Cameroon. This can be observed through the overwhelming dominance of French in the linguistic communication and the production of official texts. Following Meutem Kamtchueng & Ebéhédi King (2017) a great number of administrative documents and communications are not systematically translated to English, while translation helps to break the barriers of misunderstanding and ensure an effective communication in a bilingualism context. The predominance of communication in the domains of public administration and education is separately carried by English and French in their respective regions. In education domain, the sub- systems in vigour in the country are Anglophone and Francophone13. Even in bilingual schools, the two different systems are coexisting side-by-side in one premise without real integrative measures.
Improving the Policy of Official Bilingualism in Cameroon
More than sixty (60) years after the implementation of official bilingualism as the language policy, the state of Cameroon still looks for an equitable and nationwide use of French and English. It is worthy to recognise that the continuation of the colonial language policy after the independence breached the vision of national unity achievement through official bilingualism.
This research suggests the improvement of official bilingualism at the scientific and operational levels. The challenge is a clear linguistic description of the policy, at the level of science and a practical and alternate use of official languages nationwide at the operational level. The core points of operational bilingualism are linguistic bilingualism and territorial bilingualism.
Personal linguistic bilingualism or what is termed by (Mackey, p. 1970: 555)14 “individual bilingualism”, is from a basic stance, the alternate use of two or more languages by the same individual. In Cameroon the achievement of individual bilingualism is breached by the linguistic competence in the second official language (LO2). The educational system program, inconsistent in the LO2, trains learners more in the comprehension of the second official language than in the expression. The majority of Cameroonians speaks the first official language and understand the second, while the minority neither understand nor speak the second official language 15. Therefore, the educational system needs to be ameliorated in the second official language teaching for a comprehensive preparation in alternate official languages use. The improvement of the second official language teaching is prior to the acquisition of the linguistic competence in the LO2 and it is a fundamental step in the elaboration of the policy.
Territorial bilingualism refers to the coexistence of two or more languages in a same territory. It involves in the Cameroonian context, territorial merging though the equal use of French and English in French and English speaking regions.
Methodology
This research has been driven between 2021 and 2023, basing of informational resources collected from Francophone and Anglophone speakers, primarily in Yaoundé, but also from other localities in Cameroon.
Interviews and survey, which represent the main data collection techniques, were conducted at the
different stages of the research. They were designed to collect new information or to invalidate certain ideas that had been formulated, in order to arrive at results that were essentially drawn from the field investigations. The participants were asked to answer a questionnaire online and in person. It should be noted that, the questionnaires we developed online is the same one that were addressed to informants in person. Furthermore, the study is accompanied by a flood of publications related to the implementation of the policy of official bilingualism in Cameroon, which helped to have an overview of the state of the research and examine the relevance of the problematic.
Let us notice that, we consulted political documents, namely the constitution of January 18, 1996, the laws N0 2019/019 of December 24, related to the promotion of official bilingualism in Cameroon and others administrative acts on the same issue. The aim was to carry out an informative documentary research in order to understand the policy of official bilingualism and the gap in practice. The data collected consisted of oral and written information on both the practice of official languages and the evaluation of the official bilingualism policy in Cameroon. Oral information were language productions and epilinguistic discourses obtained during online and physical interviews with some French and English speakers in 2021.
Written information were obtained through a survey administered to some French and English Speakers in 2021. The data in general have been collected in a comparative manner, with a view to examine deeply and critically the promotion, learning, teaching and use of the second official language in the French and English speaking regions of Cameroon. Following the empirical-inductive approach, we favor the interpretation of the phenomenon under study from the point of view of the informants. As for the participants of the study, we have solicited 100 Francophones and 100 Anglophones, the majority through social media.
We conducted a semi-structured interview with 50 of them, of which 25 were Francophones and 25 were Anglophones, and we solicited 150, of which 75 were Francophones and 75 were Anglophones, through a questionnaire. Given the nature of the analysis, the data collected was informational in nature. The study does not conduct a discourse analysis, but draws from the information provided the resources necessary for the analysis.
Results and Discussions
The results of this research are presented and discussed in each thematic of this section. Ils incluent les informations tirées des entretiens et des questionnaires d’enquête.
The Minority Official Language
Official bilingualism in Cameroon is deeply concerned with the notion of minority official language which refers to the official language less used in a particular geographical area. After a clear explanation of the notion of minority official language to the informants, we questioned them on its existence in Cameroon, through the following questions:
1. Does the minority official language exist in Cameroon?
Answers Number Percentage
Yes 180 90 %
No 20 10 %
2. Why ?
A. French is predominant in French speaking regions while English is less used.
B. English is predominant in English speaking regions while French is less used
C. Both English and French are used in English and French speaking regions of Cameroon D. Both English and French are equally used
in English and French-speaking regions of Cameroon
Answers Number Percentage
A 90 45 %
B 90 45 %
C 20 10 %
D 0 0 %
As indicated by the first table above, the great majority of informants believed that minority official language is a reality in Cameroon, basing on the predominance of French and English languages, respectively in French and English-speaking regions, as shown by answers of Question 2 recorded in the second table. If the minority of informants does not believe in the existence of the minority or the less diffused official
language since French and English are promoted and used nationwide in Cameroon, they all agree when we talked about the equality in official languages use.
Notice that when the term minority official language is used, there is such confusion among informants. Some think as expected in the question that minority official language refers to the language less used while others think about the official language less considered, which justify the negative answers to the first question.
Moreover, the minority official language is a linguistic reality which finds its roots in the history and later, the socio-cultural composition of Cameroon. In between 1916 to 1960, the entire territory of the country was leaded by different colonial administrations with different languages and cultures. France occupied 4/5 of the territory and Great Britain, 1/5 approximately.
Within the framework of reunification, colonial languages have been adopted to foster national integration between the Francophone and Anglophone communities. It is worthy to recognize that national integration in terms of territorial merging of the two official languages is not yet accomplished to break down the linguistic and cultural juxtaposition of Francophones and Anglophones, which has been a reality since 1916, and achieve a holistic, equal, or homogeneous communication in the two official languages. In the next section, we will focus on linguistic juxtaposition in Cameroon, thereby presenting the reactions of informants about its reality and discussing the different levels in which it can be observable.
The Linguistic Juxtaposition
Linguistic juxtaposition is a term used to indicate the side by side co-occurrence of French and English in Cameroon without a deep relation, an equitable or a rightful share of social communication functions and an alternate use in official domains. In this section, we question and discuss its reality in Cameroon. Let us consider the reactions of informants to the questions addressed in the following tables:
3. Is linguistic juxtaposition a reality in Cameroon?
Answers Number Percentage
Yes 113 56.5 %
No 87 43. 5 %
After a clear description of the notion, we first questioned informants on the existence of linguistic juxtaposition in Cameroon. As we can see from the table above, the majority of the interviewed (90 English-speaking and 23 French-speaking) gave positive answers to the question, while the minority (77 French-speaking and 10 English-speaking) gave negative answers to attest to the non-existence of linguistic juxtaposition in Cameroon; this may be due to the embryonic equitable use official languages nationwide. Elsewhere, we tried to capture the reasons of each answers through the following question which is the logical continuation of Question 3:
4. Why is linguistic juxtaposition a reality in Cameroon?
E. French and English are predominant respectively in French and English speaking regions;
F. French is predominant in official domains G. Communication functions between French
and English are unequally shared
Answers Number Percentage
E 65 57.52 %
F 21 18.58 %
G 27 23.89 %
5. Why linguistic juxtaposition doesn’t exist in Cameroon?
H. Both English and French are used in French and English speaking regions of Cameroon.
Answers Number Percentage
H 87 100 %
Following the table in Question 4, the reason for the positives answers to Question 3 is the predominance of French and English in their respective administrative territories. The majority of informants think that the main evidence of linguistic juxtaposition in Cameroon is the predominance of French and English respectively in French and English speaking regions.
Another reason is the social communication functions unequally attributed to French and English, which increase the predominance of French in social network.
Those who don’t believe in the existence of linguistic juxtaposition, are focused on official languages use
in French and English regions, as indicated by the Question 5 addressed to 87 informants through survey and interviews.
Moreover, it is well known that, within the framework of reunification in Cameroon (1961), the two linguistic communities inherited from colonialism have been adopted with their peculiarities and administratively recognized as French-Speaking and English-speaking regions. This situation leads to linguistic and cultural omnipresence of French and English in their respective administrative territories. As indicated by Ayafor (2005), cultural diversity involves the promotion in terms of recognition and maintenance, of cultural differences as in institutional traditions, and other symbols along the Francophone-Anglophone dichotomy. The most glaring example of linguistic juxtaposition is the recognition and maintenance of a Francophone-type educational system in the French- speaking region, and an Anglo-Saxon-type system of education in the English-speaking region; two separate educational systems. Talking about the domains in which linguistic juxtaposition can be observable, we looked for the reactions of informants through the following question:
6. In which domains is linguistic juxtaposition observable in Cameroon?
I. Education J. Justice
K. Public Administration L. Media
M. Health N. Bank
Answers Number Percentage
I 95 48.5 %
J 19 9 %
K 51 25 %
L 33 16.5 %
M 1 0.5 %
N 1 0.5 %
Following the table above, the majority of informants assume that education is the main evidence for linguistic juxtaposition in Cameroon. Indeed, the system of education is separated in two different sub-systems, namely a Francophone-type educational system in the French-speaking regions, and an Anglo-
Saxon-type system of education in English-speaking regions in which two different scientific cultures are learned from primary to higher education. In primary education level, a stage at which the language of socialization is chosen, schools are operating either in Anglophone or in Francophone-type model, whether they are situated in French-speaking or English- speaking regions.
In accordance with Takam (2007), the term
“bilingual” attributed to some of them is just political.
In reality, the predominance of French or English as medium of instruction is evident. Despite the efforts made by the state of Cameroon to train English and French teachers and introduce French and English as an obligatory field in the First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) and Certificat d’Etudes Primaires (CEP)16, with the aim to prepare groundwork for effective training in official languages, the teaching of French and English (the LO2) as a field is still embryonic and inconsistent17. Consequently, only elementary competences are attained in the second official languages. In secondary education level, bilingualism started with the creation of the first bilingual secondary school, the Bilingual Grammar School in Buea in 1962.
Later, many secondary schools in French and English- speaking parts of Cameroon became bilingual in the sense that French and English became recognized as official languages and have been compulsory in schools and particularly during examinations like BEPC, Probatoire and Baccalauréat for French-speaking and General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O Level), some series of General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A Level) for English-speakers. It is worthy to recognize that all these measures contributed to the promotion and teaching of official languages in secondary education in a global perspective, but the content of program and the teaching system failed to build up bilingual learners.
In higher education, ten state universities have been created in each region of Cameroon. Among the 8 actually operational, one; the University of Ngaoundéré located in the French-speaking region, operates on a Francophone-type model and two, the University of Buea and the University of Bamenda operate on an Anglo-Saxon-type model. The five others, the universities of Yaoundé 1 & 2, Douala, Maroua and Dschang operate on a harmonized model called “bilingual” Universities. The bottom-line here is that, instruction is officially allowed in English and
/or French as the language abilities of the academic staff permit (Ayafor 2005, p. 136). In addition, students are expected to be bilingual in French and English, which is reason for the alternate use of French and English during courses and examination, as explained by Chumbow (1980, p. 292).
The policy of official bilingualism is implemented in monolingual universities through French and English departments that teach especially French and English languages as well as their literatures, and bilingual training program carried by bilingual studies departments which give the fundamentals in LO2, assumed to be given in primary and secondary education levels. In addition, French-speaking students in Anglo-Saxon universities and Anglophone students in Francophone universities usually translate lessons and others documents to best understand their courses and prepare well for their various exams18. This inability in the understanding of the second official language is the logical consequence of the failure in the preparation of students to the acquisition and the alternate use of official languages. Ebongue (2014) explained that, time allocated to the teaching of the second official language by the Ministry in charge of Secondary Education, i.e., four hours per week for English courses is reduced to two hours in scientific and technical classes.
Similarly, in the Anglophone sub-system, the five hours recommended by the ministerial texts are not respected. Several secondary schools are reducing it to two hours thirty minute, due to the number of fields increased each year and volume of annual program to be covered, which consequently have negative effect on the teaching of French. The second official language teaching is quite inconsistent and not sufficient to achieve bilingual students in the higher education level. The situation is more preoccupant for English- speaking students, because, if it is rare to see French- speaking students unable to write or understand their second official language, English, it is frequent to have in universities, English-speaking students unable to understand what is said in French or say two words and therefore, effectively attain bilingual training.
Public administration is the second domain highly indicated by informants as evidence of linguistic juxtaposition, focusing on the predominance of French and English respectively in public services of French and English-speaking regions. As indicated earlier, this level of predominance leads to the achievement
of what Ebinengue (2017) termed “Bilinguisme compréhension”, i.e., an instance of residual official languages use, characterized by the understanding of the second official language and the speaking of the first official language. In French-speaking region, public services operate on this type of bilingualism.
French and English speakers usually understand each other either in French or English19, and answer each in the first official language. In Public services of English-speaking parts of Cameroon, English and pidgin-English are the topmost languages used. French occurs sporadically in oral communion and frequently in written communications, i.e., administrative documents translated in French for the public.
At the level of media, programs are in majority monolingual that is either in French or in English. The promotion of official bilingualism started in media with some pioneer initiatives like the “opération bilingue”
in 1964, which involves the implementation of two radio language programmes, namely “Le français par la radio” in the English-speaking regions, and
“L’anglais chez vous” in the French-speaking region (see Chumbow, 1980; Echu & Grundstrom, 1999 for details of these measures). Later, several initiatives like Better Your English et Bilingualism on the Move was implemented in national and provincial radio stations to improve the level of Cameroonians in the LO2, particularly those Francophones and Anglophones speakers who say respectively that “Je suis né avant le bilinguisme, alors, cela ne me concerne pas particulièrement (I do not care about bilingualism because I was born before the policy was instituted)”
and “I will not return to school anymore and will soon go on retirement thus, for what do I need French?”20. In addition, Bilingual news in national radio, television and newspapers as well as bilingual sport comments, bilingual, translation of the presidential speech and diverse others bilingual programs consecrate the progressive practice of official bilingualism in media, even though it is still at this stage, unequal.
The domain of justice which has been indicated by few of our informants as a domain of application of linguistic juxtaposition is characterized by the juxtaposition of two great juridical systems, namely the common law in Anglophone regions and the civil and public law in Francophone regions. As indicated by Sietchoua Djuitchoko (1996), this bi-juridical culture inherited from colonialism is basically unequal. Under the impulse of politically dominant Francophone
authorities of the post-colonial state, French law began predominant and went on the assault of the legal system of the Anglophones regions. Presently, the predominance of French legal system which also involves the cultural and linguistic predominance of French, tends to replace the common law, exercised in the purest English legal tradition, and is one of corporate claims at the base of what is actually called in Cameroon an “Anglophone crisis”.
Linguistic Unification as a Perspective for Official Bilingualism Achievement in Cameroon
The level of juxtaposition between the two linguistic communities of Cameroon and the current challenges in official languages usage involve an integrative and language-based strategy in the implementation of the national language policy, so-called official bilingualism. This research considers linguistic unification as a perspective for individual and territorial official bilingualism achievement and an imperative for a homogenous communication in official languages in Cameroon. The current section provides setting and orientations for the implementation of this strategy within the framework of official bilingualism policy.
The starting point is the necessity and essence of linguistic unification.
Necessity and Essence of Linguistic Unification This study shown that linguistic juxtaposition is actually a well-established reality in Cameroon, in spite of unprecedented actions taken by the government to achieve unity and national integration through official bilingualism. Linguistic unification proposed as a rightful perspective in a prospective discussion on official bilingualism, finds its root and essence in the need for a national integration and territorial merging between Francophone and Anglophone speaking communities. It is first and foremost a language-based and language-objective-oriented strategy involving practical managerial implications for individual and societal official languages usage at the micro (local) and macro (regional and national) levels, and most importantly, manifestations of the practical equal introduction of English and French at the different levels of social network.
In addition, it aims at breaking down the current perception of official bilingualism among
Cameroonians, based on linguistic minority and French ascendancy over English in public and private domains, which is a form of subjugation of Anglophones rather than a unification of the two linguistic communities.
It is obvious that the implementation of bilingualism policy within the framework of reunification has experienced stagnation in terms of appropriation of the vision of the policy, due to the impact of political considerations and the centralized system of communication and governance in favor of the French majority. The territorial representation of English and French followed the geographical and administrative division21, thereby creating a linguistic minority, English for instance, rather than building a unite nation with two official languages widely and homogeneously spoken as expected by the language policy. The expressions “Cameroon is bilingual not Cameroonian”
and “Je suis né avant le bilinguisme, alors, cela ne me concerne pas particulièrement (I do not care about bilingualism because I was born before the policy was instituted)” widely used in previous works, reveal some remarks and sentiment of Cameroonians about significance and connotations of official bilingualism.
On one hand, it attested that official bilingualism is a linguistic status of Cameroon and a political statement which does not reflect the reality of French and English languages use. The second official language (LO2) which is the core element of the oral and working competence in English and French is either inconsistent in the education program or subjected to negative representations particularly in English-speaking regions. As mentioned earlier, this situation explained the resistance of English speakers to learn French and the lack in the preparation of English speakers in French language use.
The contribution of this paper lies in the fact that it has widened the dimensions of debate over official bilingualism policy implementation in Cameroon. It expanded on the improvement of the bilingual policy through linguistic and paralinguistic considerations.
In addition, it focused on linguistic juxtaposition and minority official language, thereby presenting linguistic unification as a comprehensive strategy for the fulfillment of a homogeneous communication in French and English. The next section provides orientations for a systematic implementation of linguistic unification in Cameroon.
Orientations for the Implementation of Linguistic Unification in the Bilingual Policy
The approach to the implementation of linguistic unification in the bilingual policy may be discussed in terms of integrative orientations for practical equal use of official languages in education, public administration, media and other social institutions.
In the domain of education, the issues are building effective personal bilingualism to achieve a working competence in English and French and developing a bilingual cultural system of education in which Cameroonians can share a common heritage. Cameroon is characterized by the biculturalism of its educational system. The law N0 98/004 of April 1998 indicated that, the system of education is exclusively in Anglo- Saxon-type model for English speaking regions and Francophone-type model for French-speaking regions. Therefore, we suggest a unification of the educational system characterized by a co-occurrence and a linguistic partnership between Francophone and Anglo-Saxon culture in school environment rather than, the juxtaposition of the two cultures as observed in monolingual and bilingual schools, colleges and high schools (Takam 2007, p. 37). It is obvious that, this unification involves a progressive deletion of monolingual educational institutions or what is commonly called Anglophone or Francophone schools which encourage the predominance of French and English and train particularly monolingual learners. In addition, we advocate the introduction of the second official language at nursery level to achieve bilingual students with French and English as languages of socialization and bicultural students with a perfect knowledge of the Francophone and Anglophone cultures. In addition, we insist on the review of education program as well as time allocated to the teaching of the LO2 at all levels of the educational system, to foster effective oral and writting communication in official languages and avoid bilingualism of comprehension.
At the media level, linguistic unification implies the practice of media bilingualism characterized by promotion and marketing of official languages use, through the implementation of a systematic equal use of French and English in news programs, oral and written communications such as speeches, presidential decrees, ministerial decisions, circulars, etc. It is obvious that media represent the showcase, vitality of official bilingualism practice in Cameroon and the
externalization of the practical communication in the two official languages. Bilingual text and talk in the media reflect, in some way, bilingual practices of the society in which they are produced and consumed.
Therefore approaching bilingualism in the media from the point of view of the content of productions entails asking how each sector of media shapes and constrains the public display of bilingualism and where the potential for challenging monolingual norms lies.
Besides, media represent a great means of official languages teaching. As such, they should fulfill their mission to inform, educate and entertain citizens by broadcasting meaningful education programs that will foster or reinforce the morphological, syntactic, lexical and cultural learning of the second official language. Considering the diversity in the audience of media such as television and radio, the approach to the management of this important challenge in the learning of official languages in media must be discussed in terms of an interactive and audience-oriented deployment of linguistic resources in media discourse.
Rather than measuring them against the yardstick of face-to-face interaction, it seeks to understand how media professionals can use their linguistic resources to engage the audience in official languages learning and shape a bilingual audience (Androutsopoulos, 2007).
Linguistic unification at institutional level must be reflected in the strengthening, at micro and macro levels of the principle of linguistic mixity, which fundamentally involves coexistence between French and English speaking communities in the administrative area and equitable sharing of communication function between French and English. Linguistic unification basically implemented in Cameroon has experienced positive results, especially with the training of some public administrators in the use of each other’s second official language in order to make them bilingual professionals. Our approach to linguistic mixity in public administration focuses on public agents at micro level and public administrators at macro level. At micro level, we recommend that English and French speaking administrative staff be assigned to group offices in order to achieve progressive practical learning of the second official language at the expressive level, through code mixing and code switching, which are from a sociolinguistic point of view, assets for lexical and grammatical enhancement, as well as the development of communication and language skills.
In some public services such as the translation unit
of MINEPAT (Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development), the communication and translation unit of MINMEESA (Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts) the Direction of Networks Infrastructures of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Secretary of the Littoral Region Governor’s services, we observed that this strategy allows an alternate use of official languages and an optimal learning of the second official language through a day to day practice and correction.
At the macro level, we recommend that more French-speaking administrative staff be assigned to the English-speaking regions to increase exposure to the second official language and to fill the current gap in second language communication. This initiative has already helped train several regional governors and other bilingual civilian administrators22.
As far as social communication functions share between French and English in administrative environment is concerned, we advocate reinforcing the partnership between the two languages through translation and interpretation. As indicated by Ebinengue (2017), the role of translation shall not be denied in the achievement of official bilingualism in Cameroon. If translation is under-exploited at all levels of Cameroonian society, relegated to the background and used to serve more personal than social interests, it occupies a place of choice in the practice and consolidation of official bilingualism in the sense that, it breaks the linguistic barriers likely to hinder an effective and efficient communication.
Thus, translation can lead to a systematic use of the two official languages in oral and written communication.
It fills the void that the lack of knowledge of the second language creates in mutual comprehension, while at the same time breaking down the identity barriers that result from the virtual absence of English in communication in the public space.
Conclusion
Cameroon provided a political frame for reunification of French and British Cameroon in 1961, but the linguistic unification of French and English speaking communities does not follow that national enterprise. This study attempted an analysis of the impact of linguistic unification in the achievement of official bilingualism, in terms of territorial merging
between English and French-speaking communities in Cameroon. The analysis was based on a data collected through survey, direct observation and interview with informants. It has indicated that official bilingualism is actually an issue of territoriality or what has been referred to as linguistic juxtaposition, characterized by the predominance of French and English respectively in French and English-speaking regions. Linguistic unification is a major perspective which has experienced at institutional level positives results, especially with the training of bilingual administrators and members of public services. We recommended the reinforcement of linguistic unification at the education level which is the starting point of bilingualism in Cameroon and of course in media, public administrations and others social institutions.
The Surveys
The survey addressed to French-Speaking informants is available at this link : https://quizzory.
in/id/64417dec75824808518b9374. The survey of English-Speaking informants is available at this link:
https://quizzory.in/id/64417831f7660053500a5324 Endnotes
1 French is the second official language in English- speaking regions and English is the second official language in French-speaking regions. Takam (2007) talked about the minority official language because in each region, the second official language is less used as medium of communication and language of education.
2 This statement has been taken from the discourse of the former president of the Republic of Cameroon, His Excellency Ahmadou Ahidjo, during the opening ceremony of the Bilingual Grammar School in Buea, in 1962, date considered as the beginning of official bilingualism in Cameroon.
3 See also (1977), Chumbow (1980), Tadadjeu (1983), Simo Bobda & Tiomajou’s (1995), Ayafor (2001b, 2005) for further information on the linguistic issues and challenges of the language policy of Cameroon.
4 Cited in Ayafor (2005) with information and references of the paper.
5 These languages policies have maintained the language regulation and management of foreign and indigenous languages the same way as colonisers or modified some aspects, especially the place of indigenous languages in education and state communication.
6 A large proportion of indigenous and minority languages have been decimated during colonialism.
After their independences, many African countries revised the status of some of their indigenous languages for culture preservation and language revitalization purposes. For instance, Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania have adopted Wolof, a widespread and vehicular language as national language and language of education. In addition, Hausa has been chosen as language of the home in Niger, Nigeria, as well as Arabic has been chosen as language of the home, co- official language, and language of religion throughout most of North African and Middle Eastern territories conquered by the armies of Islam.
7 Nana (2016, p. 6) explained that, Germans started by using English and some vernaculars languages taught in 24 vernacular and five English medium schools founded by the English Baptist, and the American Presbyterian, although German missionaries and Presbyterian preferred indigenous languages, like Bassàá, Bulu, Ewondo, Mungaka, for evangelization.
8 It is preferable to use the terminology French and English administration because Cameroon has never been colonised by France and Great Britain. After the capitulation of Germany at the end of the First World War (1914-1918), the German protectorate of
“Kamerun” was partitioned to Britain and France first as a Mandated Territory of the League of Nations and later as a Trusteeship Territory of the United Nations (Nguh Wei, 2019).
9 The indirect rule of administration and education applied in British Cameroon was an attempt to avoid uprooting Cameroonians from their culture (see Mercado, 2013).
10 Echu (2003) explained that local languages were used as means of instruction during the first four years of primary education while English was used during the last four years.
11 President Ahmadou Ahidjo of the Republic of Cameroon and Prime Minister John Ngu Foncha of British Southern Cameroon and their accompanying delegations in July 1961 in Foumban.
12 These schools include “Man-O-War Bay” Secondary School which became later the Government Bilingual High School in 1963; the “Collège Bilingue d’Application” of Yaoundé in 1965, the Government Bilingual High School of Yaoundé, etc.
13 Anglophone and Francophone schools was created throughout the nation territory in favour of unification.
Echu (2005, p. 646) explained that after 1972 Francophone schools has been created in English- speaking regions as well as Anglophones schools in French counterparts.
14 Cited also in Ayafor (2005)
15 Generally, those who have never been in Anglophone or bilingual schools or never been in English-speaking
regions.
16 Since the Arrêté No66/C/13/MINEDUC/CAB of the 16th of February 2001 of the Ministry of National Education.
17 Let us remind that the implementation of official bilingualism in primary education in Cameroon, started in 1965 with the creation of the first bilingual primary schools in Yaoundé and Douala and, continued with the creation of Francophone primary schools in English-speaking regions in 1972 and, at the same period, the institution of English as a field in the last three years of primary studies (Echu 2005, p. 646).
Takam (2007) indicated that official bilingualism has been reinforced in Cameroon with the training of English teachers in French-speaking regions and French teachers in English-speaking regions.
18 This is the reality particularly described by one of informant who is an Anglophone new student in the University of Yaoundé II.
19 For English speakers who have spent a certain time in a French Speaking region or have acquired French language at school.
20 These expressions have been also cited in Ayafor (2005, p.128).
21 This correspond to the pre-independence period (protectorate) with the creation of French and British Cameroons and post-independence period, precisely in 1983 with the advent of Francophone and Anglophone provinces and 2008 with the implementation of French and English-speaking regions.
22 These administrators include Mr Awa Fonka Augustin, the Governor of West region; Mr Adolph Lele L’Afrique, the Governor of North-West region; Mr Naseri Paul Bea, the Governor of Center region and Mr Bernard Okalia Bilaï, the Governor of the South- West region.
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