![]() It cannot and does not satisfy all the linguistic needs of the people using it (Todd, 1990). A Pidgin in this regard is a marginal language that arises to fulfill certain restricted communication needs among people who have a common language. The very fact that it has been argued that Pidgin English has a negative influence on learning English (see Alobwede, 1998 Ayafor, 2004), Pidgin in the real sense of the word is a simple makeshift contact language that develops when people of different linguistic backgrounds meet and must interact with one another. For example, while diphthongs and triphthongs exist in the English language, they are clearly absent in African languages and Cameroon Pidgin English (see Chambas and Tamanji, 1994 Mutaka & Tamanji 2002 Neba et al., 2004). The sound system of Cameroon Pidgin English resembles African languages more than English. Cameroon Pidgin is an African language and the English language is the lexifier of Cameroon Pidgin English, but the language has adopted the syntax of an African language as well as prosodic features like tone. Due to constant Pidgin English, Cameroonian tend to speak English wrongly. Since most Cameroonians see Pidgin as a faster means of communication, especially in the commercial area and in schools, tends to affect the students. The gradual decline of Standard English in Cameroon is due to Pidgin English. According to Kouega 2003 a and b, Pidgin is mostly spoken by the younger generation. ![]() In addition, there is Cameroon Pidgin English or what is currently referred to as Kamtok, a lingua Franca that is spoken by many Cameroonians of all works of life, irrespective of their linguistic background or level of education. ![]() These, therefore, are approximately 280 indigenous languages. Unlike most Western contexts, Cameroon displays a complex multilingual landscape, besides French and English as the country’s official languages. Many researchers’ works (see, for instance, Masango 1983 Mbangwara 1987 Bobda 1994 Anchimbe 2006 and Getac 2008) have clearly demonstrated that the English Language in post-colonial multilingual accent continues has been the preferred pronunciation model in the industry in Cameroon. Consequently, statistics have shown that would go on for a number of years and it appears there is no remedy to solve the problem.Ĭameroon is a linguistically diverse country with about 280 languages spoken (Anchimbe 2006). In the course of this study, it was discovered that Pidgin is more popular than standard English and also Pidgin does not only end in the market and on the streets but has also gone into the institution of learning. It also suggests that in an examination class you must know how to communicate well after five and seven years in secondary and high school respectively. This study is based on the hypothesis that most students use Pidgin to ease communication and understanding which have an effect on the Language they speak and write.
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