Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature

Wuteh Vakunta

Description

This study raises awareness to the emergence of a new genre in world literature—hybridized literature. It rejects the assumption according to which literatures written in less commonly taught languages should be subsumed into one universally accessible global idiom. Instead, Vakunta challenges literary scholars and readers of literature to regard untranslatability as the key to cross-cultural engagement. The book’s multiple approaches and innumerable sources generate complex interdisciplinary connections and provide an excellent introduction to a complex literary phenomenon alien to literati resident outside the officially bilingual multicultural and multilingual Republic of Cameroon.

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 17 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• EAN13: 9789956792276
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CAMFNGLAIS e Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature Peter Wuteh Vakunta

CAMFRANGLAIS: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literature

Peter Wuteh Vakunta Langaa Research & Publishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookcollective.com ISBN: 9956-792-96-9 ©Peter Wuteh Vakunta 2014

DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

Dedication To victims of linguicide in the Republic of Ongola

Table of Contents Acknowledgement……………………………………….vii

Preface………………………………………………….. ix

Chapter 1: The Post-colony writes back………………… 1 Chapter 2: Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroon………………………………………………. 59 Chapter 3: The Signifying Monkey: Le Camfranglais, quelle parlure?........................................................................................ 71 Chapter 4: Literary Camfranglais in Mercédès Fouda’sJe parle camerounais: pour un renouveau francofaune…………………..81 Chapter 5: Fictionalizing Camfranglais in Fonkou’sMoi taximan…………………………………………………..97 Chapter 6: Streetwise French in Nganang’s Temps de chien……………………………………………..111 Chapter 7: Camfranglais and the Question of Orality in Cameroonian Literature………………………………….133 Chapter 8: Conclusion…………………………………. 157 Works cited…………………………………………….. 165 Glossary/Glossaire……………………………………... 183 Index…………………………………………………….215

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Acknowledgement A work of this calibre is, undoubtedly, the end-product of sustained perusal and critiquing of works by peers in the field. This book was inspired by interest in the seminal works of language scholars and linguists in Cameroon, namely André- Marie Ntsobé (2008); E. Biloa (1999); E. Chia (1983, 1992); Jean-Paul Kouega (2013, 2008, 2007); Paul Mbangwana (983, 1987); Simo Bobda, (1994,1999) and Ze Amvela (1989). I owe these genuine intellectuals a debt of gratitude. Portions of several chapters of this book appeared in the following journals: Translation Review73(2007),Meta54.4 (2008),Midwest Modern Language Association Journal 44.2(2011),Journal of African Literature Association 6.2(2012) andPambazuka 574(2012). For permission to republish, I thank the editors and journals.

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Preface Camfranglais: The Making of a New Language in Cameroonian Literatureaddresses the emergence of a hybrid code in Cameroon and its usage as a narrative canon in francophone literature. In order to transpose the speech patterns and idiolects of Cameroonians into fictional writing, creative writers consciously deconstruct the French language in an attempt to reflect socio-cultural realities. Linguistic manipulation engenders a third code that poses enormous problems for readers and translators not acquainted with Cameroonianisms. When creative writers resort to linguistic miscegenation as a narrative device they do so in a bid to superimpose the speech particularisms and value systems of indigenes upon a foreign tongue—in our case French. By resorting to the domestication of French the writers whose works constitute the corpus analysed in this book give leverage not just to indigenous languages but also to the kind of streetwise French spoken by the Cameroonian rank and file. The first chapter of this book theorizes postcoloniality; it delves into theories of post-colonialism and their ramifications for fictional writing after colonization. Chapter Two is a review of Kouega’s extensive research on the emergence of a new code in Cameroon—Camfranglais. It dwells on the sociolinguistic and morphological structures of this emerging language. Chapter Three explores the trope of signifying(or linguistic tricksterism)a literary canon in as Cameroonian literature. It provides readers with an inventory of words and expressions that have come to be accepted as the functional vocabulary of Camfranglophones. Chapter

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