Cover not available
Part of
It’s not all about you: New perspectives on address research
Edited by Bettina Kluge and María Irene Moyna
[Topics in Address Research 1] 2019
► pp. 335–354

Nominal address strategies in Cameroon French

Between lexical creativity and pragmatics

Previous studies have established some differences in the use of nominal address terms in Cameroon French and in Western-based varieties of French. For instance, the use of kinship terms and social titles in Cameroon French diverges in many ways from their use in Hexagonal French. Also, Cameroon French speakers tend to use a wide range of lexical strategies (e.g., semantic shift, derivation, conversion, compounding, lexical borrowing) to generate address terms that take into account their communicative needs, interpersonal relationships involved, and sociocultural exigencies and norms. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the creativity involved in the emergence of a system of nominal forms of address original to Cameroon French and to show the pragmatic intents behind the emergence of these forms. Taking a postcolonial pragmatic perspective, I look at some innovative processes in the use of nominal address terms and discuss contexts in which they are employed. I also examine how some address terms are used in the realization of different types of speech acts by highlighting the sociocultural constraints and illocutionary intents behind the choices of Cameroon French speakers.

Keywords: nominal address terms, linguistic creativity, politeness and respect, Cameroon French, postcolonial pragmatics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.Data
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Categories, patterns and functions of nominal address terms
      • 4.1.1Kinship terms
      • 4.1.2Honorific titles
      • 4.1.3Occupation and rank titles
      • 4.1.4Friendship and endearment terms
      • 4.1.5Social titles
    • 4.2Nominal address terms in service encounters
    • 4.3Nominal address terms in speech acts
      • 4.3.1Nominal address terms in invitations
      • 4.3.2Nominal address terms in invitation refusals
      • 4.3.3Nominal address terms in expressions of condolences
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tar.1.13far
References
Ameka, Felix
2009 Access rituals in West African communities: An ethnopragmatic perspective. In Gunter Senft & Ellen B. Basso (eds.), Ritual Communication, 127–151. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Anchimbe, Eric & Richard, Janney
2011 Postcolonial pragmatics: An introduction. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6). 1451–1459. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anchimbe, Eric
2016a Greetings in Cameroon English. In Mulo Farenkia, Bernard (ed.), Im/politesse et rituels interactionnels en contextes plurilingues et multiculturels. Situations, Stratégies, Enjeux, 246–268. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2016b Invoking kinship in offers and refusals: A postcolonial pragmatics perspective. In Christoph Schubert & Laurenz Volkmann (eds.), Pragmatic perspectives on postcolonial discourse: Linguistics and Literature, 1–23. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
2015 Code-switching: Between identity and exclusion. In Stell, Gerald & Yakpo, Kofi (eds.), Code-switching between structural and sociolinguistic perspectives, 139–161. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
2011a “Take a beer” – “Thanks, sorry, I prefer another day”: A postcolonial pragmatic perspective on offers and offer refusals. In Joachim Frenk & Lena Steveker (eds.), Anglistentag 2010 Saarbrücken Proceedings, 421–431. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag.Google Scholar
2011b On not calling people by their names: Pragmatic undertones of sociocultural relationships in a postcolony. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6). 1472–1483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bella, Spyridoula
2009 Invitations and politeness in Greek: The age variable. Journal of Politeness Research 5 (2). 243–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biloa, Edmond
2003 La langue française au Cameroun. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Boukari, Oumarou
2016 ‘Toi-même merci!’ : Entre politesse et impolitesse dans les interactions en Côte d’Ivoire. In Bernard Mulo Farenkia (ed.), Im/politesse et rituels interactionnels en contextes plurilingues et multiculturels. Situations, stratégies, enjeux, 35–57. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Chen, Xing, Lei Ye & Zhang Yanyin
1995 Refusing in Chinese. In Gabriele Kasper (ed.), Pragmatics of Chinese as a native and target language, 119–163. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael
(ed.) 1992 Pluricentric languages. Different norms in different nations. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael, Norrby Catrin & Warren Jane
2009 Language and human relations. Styles of address in contemporary language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dassi, Étienne
2008 De la sémantique à la morphosyntaxe. De l’intégration des socioculturèmes bamiléké de politesse dans l’expression française contemporaine : Cas du Le Crane de Gilbert Doho. In Bernard Mulo Farenkia (ed.), De la politesse linguistique au Cameroun, 121–137. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Ebokolo Bema-Nemedeu, Carine
2010 Pratiques linguistiques, statut des langues et interactions entre locuteurs sur les marchés de Douala (Cameroun). Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Université de Franche-Comté.Google Scholar
Egner, Inge
2006 Intercultural aspects of the speech act of promising: Western and African practices. Intercultural Pragmatics 3 (4). 443–464. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elwood, Kate
2004 “I am sorry”: A cross cultural analysis of expression of condolence. The Cultural Review 24. 251–276.Google Scholar
Félix-Brasdefer, J. César
2015 The language of service encounters: A pragmatic-discursive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
García, Carmen
2010 ‘Cuente conmigo’: The expression of sympathy by Peruvian speakers. Journal of Pragmatics 42 (2). 408–425. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Janney, Richard
2009 Pragmatics in postcolonial contexts: For Paul Mbangwana. Annals of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Yaoundé I (Special edition in Honor of Professor Paul N. Mbangwana), 101–108.Google Scholar
Janney, Richard W.
2006 Postcolonial pragmatics. Plenary paper presented at the International Conference on Pragmatics, Pune, India, 15–17 December, 2006.
Kasanga, Luanga A.
2006 Requests in a South African variety of English. World Englishes 25 (1). 65–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kasanga, Luanga A. & Lwanga-Lumu, Joy Christine
2007 Cross-cultural linguistic realization of politeness: A study of apologies in English and Setswana. Journal of Politeness Research 3 (1). 65–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine
(ed.) 2014 S’adresser à autrui : les formes nominales d’adresse dans une perspective comparative interculturelle. Chambéry: Université de Savoie, Laboratoire LLSETI.Google Scholar
2009 Les interactions en site commercial : des interactions « polies ». In Catherine Kerbrat-Orecchioni & Véronique Traverso (eds.), Les interactions en site commercial: invariants et variations, 105–137. Lyons: ENS Éditions.Google Scholar
2005 Politeness in France: How to buy bread politely. In Leo Hickey & Miranda Steward (eds.), Politeness in Europe, 29–44. Clevedon/Buffalo/Toronto: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992 Les interactions verbales. Tome 2. Paris: Armand Colin.Google Scholar
Mboudjeke, Jean Guy
2010 Linguistic politeness in job applications in Cameroon. Journal of Pragmatics 42 (9). 2519–2530. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meiners, Jocelly G.
2013 Sympathy and compassion in Spanish and English: Cross-cultural and interlanguage perspectives on emotional expression. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Mendo Ze, Gervais
1999 Le français, langue africaine: Enjeux et atouts pour la francophonie: éléments de stratégies. Paris: PubliSud.Google Scholar
Mühleisen, Susanne
2011 Forms of address and ambiguity in Caribbean English-lexicon creoles: Strategic interactions in a postcolonial language setting. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6). 1460–1471. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mulo Farenkia, Bernard
2015 La politesse verbale à l’écran: Analyse de quelques feuilletons télévisés camerounais. In Martina Drescher (ed.), Médias et dynamique du français en Afrique sub-saharienne, 165–182. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
2014 Speech acts and politeness in French as a pluricentric language. Illustrations from Cameroon and Canada. Münster: LIT Verlag.Google Scholar
2011 Formes d’adresse et argumentation: Analyse d’un corpus camerounais. Le Français en Afrique 26. 243–262.Google Scholar
2010a Pragmatique de la néologie appellative en situation plurilingue: Le cas camerounais. Journal of Pragmatics 42 (2). 477–500. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010b Exploitations argumentatives des termes de parenté au Cameroun. Philologie im Netz 53. 17–32.Google Scholar
2008a De DOCTEUR à DOCTA: créativité lexicale et adresse nominale en français camerounais. Linguistica Atlantica 29. 25–49.Google Scholar
2008b Du vocatif au relationnel. Typologie des fonctions pragmatiques des formes de l’adresse au Cameroun. In Bernard Mulo Farenkia (ed.), De la politesse linguistique au Cameroun, 85–107. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Nkwain, Joseph
2014 Address strategies in Cameroon Pidgin English: A socio-pragmatic perspective. In Eric Anchimbe (ed.), Structural and sociolinguistic perspectives on indigenisation: On multilingualism and language evolution, 189–205. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrby, Catrin & Wide, Camilla
(eds.) 2015 Address practice as social action. European perspectives. Basingstoke/London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nzesse, Ladislas
2015 Inventaire des particularités lexicales du français au Cameroun (1990–2015) (Numéro spécial), Le français en Afrique 29. Nice: Institut de Linguistique Française.Google Scholar
Salifu, Nantogma Alhassan
2010 Signaling politeness, power and solidarity through terms of address in Dagbanli. Nordic Journal of African Studies 19 (4). 274–292.Google Scholar
Schneider, Klaus P. & Barron, Anne
(eds.) 2008 Variational pragmatics. A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric languages. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tandia Mouafou, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
2016 Impolitesse sur le campus: Virulence verbale et théorie des faces. In Bernard Mulo Farenkia (ed.), Im/politesse et rituels interactionnels en contextes plurilingues et multiculturels. Situations, stratégies, enjeux, 21–33. Frankfurt (Main): Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Tessonneau, Alex-Louise
2011 De la politesse et des usages dans les interactions en Haiti. Journal of Pragmatics 43 (6). 1512–1524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ventola, Eija
2005 Revisiting service encounters genre: Some reflections. Folia Linguistica 39 (1/2). 19–43.Google Scholar
Williams, Tracy R.
2006 Linguistic politeness in expressing condolences: A case study. RASK: International Journal of Languages and Linguistics 24. 45–62.Google Scholar
Zang Zang, Paul
1998 Le français en Afrique. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar