Premium
Lexical innovation processes in Cameroon English
Author(s) -
BOBDA AUGUSTIN SIMO
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1994.tb00310.x
Subject(s) - pidgin , reduplication , lexis , linguistics , lexical item , clipping (morphology) , semantic change , indigenous , lexical semantics , grammaticalization , computer science , creole language , sociology , philosophy , ecology , biology
Cameroon English (CamE) acquires new lexical items through diverse processes. It uses various kinds of loans from French, Pidgin English and indigenous languages, whose full incorporation into CamE has been established by earlier availability and acceptability tests. Internal processes responsible for lexical innovation include semantic extension, semantic shift, derivation by prefixation, suffixation, conversion and back derivation, compounding, clipping and reduplication. French does not only donate direct loans, but also permeates every other lexical innovation process. CamE lexis derived from the multiple processes described seems quite unique, so that generalization to or from other Englishes regarding these lexical innovation processes is rather unrealistic.