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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
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