Languages of Cameroon

Languages of Cameroon
Sign in Rumpi Hills in French and English
OfficialFrench, English
National55 Afro-Asiatic languages, 2 Nilo-Saharan languages, and 173 Niger–Congo languages
SignedAmerican Sign Language (Francophone African Sign Language)
Keyboard layout
Lingua franca(s)French, English, Camfranglais, Cameroonian Pidgin English, Fulfulde, Chadian Arabic
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Knowledge of French in Cameroon in 2005, according to the OIF.[1] In 2005 18% of the population were "real" French speakers and another 26.8% were "partial French speakers". Both figures are estimations.
Map of Cameroon's official languages. Blue: French speaking regions and countries. Red: English speaking regions and countries. Grey: Trilingual Spanish, Portuguese and French speaking country (Equatorial Guinea).
Map of the region's indigenous languages.

Cameroon is home to at least 250 languages,[2][3] with some accounts reporting around 600.[4] These include 55 Afro-Asiatic languages, two Nilo-Saharan languages, four Ubangian languages, and 169 Niger–Congo languages. This latter group comprises one Senegambian language (Fulfulde), 28 Adamawa languages, and 142 Benue–Congo languages (130 of which are Bantu languages).[5] French and English are official languages, a heritage of Cameroon's colonial past as a colony of both France and the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1961. Eight out of the ten regions of Cameroon are primarily francophone and two are anglophone. Apart from the colonial language, the language of Fulani, Fulfulde is the most wightly spoken indigenous language in Cameroon .The official percentage of French and English speakers is estimated by the Presidency of Cameroon to be 70% and 30% respectively.[6]

Cameroon is a Francophone and Anglophone country, where, as of 2024, 11.957 million (41.17%) out of 29.124 million people speak French.[7][8]

The nation strives toward bilingualism, but in reality very few (11.6%) Cameroonians are literate in both French and English, and 28.8% are literate in neither.[9] The government has established several bilingual schools in an effort to teach both languages more evenly; however, in reality most of these schools separate the anglophone and francophone sections and therefore do not provide a true bilingual experience.[10] Cameroon is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. German, the country's official language during the German colonial period until World War I, has nowadays almost entirely yielded to its two successors. However, as a foreign language subject German still enjoys huge popularity among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010. Today, Cameroon is one of the African countries with the highest number of people with knowledge of German.[11]

Most people in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest provinces speak Cameroonian Pidgin English, also called Kamtok, as a lingua franca.[12] Fulfulde serves the same function in the north, and Ewondo in much of the Center, South, and East provinces.[13] Camfranglais (or Frananglais) is a relatively new pidgin communication form emerging in urban areas and other locations where Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians meet and interact. Popular singers have used the hybrid language and added to its popularity.[14]

Education for the deaf in Cameroon uses American Sign Language, introduced by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster.[citation needed]

There is little literature, radio, or television programming in native Cameroonian languages. Nevertheless, many Cameroonian languages have alphabets or other writing systems, many developed by the Christian missionary group SIL International, who have translated the Bible, Christian hymns, and other materials. The General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages was developed in the late 1970s as an orthographic system for all Cameroonian languages.

In the late 19th century, the Bamum script was developed by Sultan Ibrahim Njoya to write the Bamum (Shüpamom) language.[15]

  1. ^ Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Estimation du nombre de francophones dans le monde [Estimation of number of French speakers worldwide] (PDF) (in French). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-20.
  2. ^ "Ethnologue: Languages of the World".
  3. ^ Kouega, Jean-Paul (2007). "The Language Situation in Cameroon". Current Issues in Language Planning. 8 (1): 3–94. doi:10.2167/cilp110.0. S2CID 143923073.
  4. ^ "What Languages are Spoken in Cameroon?". CETRA. 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  5. ^ Neba (1999:65)
  6. ^ "Presentation of Cameroon". Presidency of the Republic: Republic of Cameroon. Retrieved 29 March 2023..
  7. ^ "Accueil-Francoscope". ODSEF (Observatoire démographique et statistique de l'espace francophone de l'Université Laval) (in French). Laval, Québec. Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
  8. ^ "Estimation du pourcentage et des effectifs de francophones (2023-03-15)". Francoscope. ODSEF. Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  9. ^ "Troisième RGPH (2005) - Alphabétisation". Bucrep.cm (in French). p. 220. Retrieved 2017-08-26.
  10. ^ DeLancey & DeLancey (2000:51)
  11. ^ Bathe, Dirk (2010-11-29). Pape, Klaudia (ed.). "Deutsch für die Zukunft" (in German). DW.
  12. ^ DeLancey & DeLancey (2000:220)
  13. ^ DeLancey & DeLancey (2000:192)
  14. ^ DeLancey & DeLancey (2000:131)
  15. ^ DeLancey & DeLancey (2000:192)