Cameroon English accent: Issues of standardization, attitudes and pedagogic concerns

Abstract

The twists and turns that the English language has undergone in Cameroon, as a result of the ecological, sociolinguistic and cultural realities of this postcolonial multilingual setting, make this New English, like other New Englishes, significantly different from older or traditional native Englishes, such as British and American Englishes. In spite of efforts made so far to describe Cameroon English at all linguistic levels as one of the World Englishes (Masanga, 1983; Mbangwana, 1987; Bobda, 1994; Sala, 2005; Kouega, 1991; Anchimbe, 2006; Ngefac, 2008), no concrete effort has been made to place its phonological features at different levels of the continuum to indicate which of the features should be included in the linguistic spectrum of what can be called standard and substandard Cameroon English. No effort has equally been made to elect the Cameroon English pronunciation model for educational practices. This study describes Cameroon English phonological features in terms of a continuum, proposes what should constitute standard Cameroon pronunciation, the model for educational practices, and investigates attitudes towards the different varieties that make up the continuum of Cameroon English pronunciation. Key words: English, continuum, Cameroon