Open AccessTowards a Multiple Language Shift in Cameroon
Author(s) -
Gilbert Tagne Safotso
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
english linguistics research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1927-6036
pISSN - 1927-6028
DOI - 10.5430/elr.v10n4p22
Subject(s) - nobody , mathematics education , geography , linguistics , history , political science , sociology , psychology , computer science , computer security , philosophy
This paper examines Cameroonians’ use / attitudes to French, English, Cameroon home languages, and other variables to better project the future of those languages in Cameroon. The data analysed were collected through a questionnaire administered to 349 secondary school learners of three regions of Cameroon and 943 students of the Universities of Dschang, Douala, Buea and Maroua (N=1292). The findings show that a few young Cameroonians speak their mother tongues, but would like their future children to speak them and to be multilingual. This is a quite contradictory situation as those children will have nobody to acquire those languages from. An important number of young French-speaking Cameroonians would prefer English as language of instruction and would like to abandon French in future.