| Also Known As: Wes Cos,Cameroon Creole English
Description:
Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole, is a linguistic entity of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok (from 'Cameroon-talk'). Five varieties are currently recognised:
Cameroonian Pidgin English is an English-based creole language. About 5% of Cameroonians are native speakers of the language, while an estimated 50% of the population speak it in some form.
The terms “Cameroonian Pidgin”, “Cameroonian Pidgin English”, “Cameroonian Creole” and “Kamtok” are synonymous appellations of what Cameroonians call Cameroon Pidgin English. It is a variety of West African Pidgin Englishes spoken along the coast from Ghana to Cameroon. It is a vehicular language that has been in active use in the country for over 500 years. It came into being in the Slave Trade Years (1400-1800). It preceded English in Cameroon: the first Baptist missionaries who arrived Cameroon in 1845 and introduced formal education in English, had to learn Pidgin. A few decades later during the German annexation period (1884-1914), Pidgin resisted a German ban. It took flight when it became a makeshift language used in German plantations and undertakings by forced labourers who were drawn from the hinterland and..... full article at Wikipedia |
