Language Management in ��International�� Pentecostal Churches in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper considers Pentecostal churches whose names include such globalising terms as “all nations”, “global”, “international”, “universal” and “world”, with a view to uncovering the nature of their language management, as it has not been made explicit in any document. The data come from some 35 churches located in various residential areas of the city of Yaounde. In each church, five members were contacted i.e. one pastor, one church official, one choir leader and one male and one female congregants. The instruments used were a questionnaire, informal discussions, interviews and participant observation. A total of 40 highly motivated research assistants were involved in the data collection process, which took place in January and February 2016. The framework used for the analysis was the structural-functional model. The analysis revealed that the services of these churches contained four to 13 parts and that the languages used to realise these parts were French and English, with translation from one language to the other being systematic. When tongue speaking was used, translation was not done. During Testimonies, congregants not sufficiently competent in French or English occasionally switched to Pidgin or a few Cameroonian languages. Most of these churches were found not to be represented in other countries outside Cameroon and those that were said to use English singly or in combination with other languages, not with French.