English Today

http://journals.cambridge.org/ENG

Additional services for English Today:

Email alerts: Click here

Subscriptions: Click here
Commercial reprints: Click here
Terms of use : Click here

Camfranglais: A novel slang in Cameroon schools

Jean-Paul Kouega

English Today / Volume null / Issue 02 / April 2003, pp 23 - 29

DOI: 10.1017/S0266078403002050, Published online: 17 April 2003

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0266078403002050

How to cite this article:

Jean-Paul Kouega (2003). Camfranglais: A novel slang in Cameroon schools. English Today, null, pp 23-29 doi:10.1017/
S0266078403002050

Request Permissions : Click here

Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/ENG, IP address: 137.219.5.13 on 16 Mar 2015

 Camfranglais: A novel slang in
Cameroon schools
J E A N - PAU L KO U E G A
An account of an intricate hybrid used by young people in
West Africa
Language in the Cameroon
educational system
EVER SINCE francophone and anglophone
Cameroon reunited in 1961, French and Eng-
lish have been the two official languages of the
country. By statute, primary schools, where
children spend a total of seven years, are either
French-medium or English-medium. At the sec-
ondary level of education, which lasts for seven
years, English becomes a compulsory subject
for all francophone pupils and French the same
for all anglophone ones. Schematically, a typi-
cal francophone secondary school pupil has at
least three languages in his/her repertoire,
namely one mother-tongue acquired in the
home (Chia, 1983), French learnt in the neigh-
bourhood and in school, and English learnt as a
school subject. Similarly, anglophone pupils
have at least four languages in their repertoire,
namely one mother-tongue acquired in the
home, Pidgin English acquired mainly in the
neighbourhood (Mbangwana 1983, Kouega
2001), English learnt in school (Kouega 2002)
and French learnt as a school subject. In addi-
tion, francophone pupils take up Spanish or
German as a subject for a period of two years,
after which they either drop it altogether or
continue with it through high school. This mul-
tilingual background prepares the ground for
the creation of a mixed language, which is
what Camfranglais is.
Camfranglais defined
Camfranglais is a composite language con-
sciously developed by secondary school pupils
who have in common a number of linguistic
codes, namely French, English, Pidgin and a
DOI: 10.1017/S0266078403002050
English Today 74, Vol. 19, No. 2 (April 2003). Printed in the United Kingdom © 2003 Cambridge University Press
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
few widespread indigenous languages. They
use this language when they want to freely
communicate among themselves in the pres-
ence of other members of the community with-
out the latter being capable of making sense of
the linguistic interactions going on. The term
seems to have been coined in 1989 by Professor
Ze Amvela, who commented in the footnote
section of a paper:
‘Camfranglais’ is used here as a cover term to
what has been called ‘Franglais’, ‘Pidgin
French’, ‘Majunga Talk’, ‘Camspeak’. The
distinctive feature is the hybrid nature of these
languages which function mainly as a lingua
franca (p. 56).
He seems to have been inspired by three older
terms, namely Kamtok, Camspeak and
Franglais. First, Kamtok, possibly coined after
Tok Pisin, the Philippine English-based creole,
was used around the eighties to refer to
Cameroon Pidgin English, a language which
started up in the years 1400–1500 when
Cameroon had its first contacts with Europeans
(Mbassi-Manga 1976). When the Germans
annexed the territory in 1884, Pidgin was
already a well-established language (Todd
1984) and it has remained so ever since then
(Kouega 2002).
JEAN-PAUL KOUEGA holds a combined French-
English Bilingual BA Hons from the University of
Yaounde I, an MA in Linguistics and Modern
English Language from the University of
Nottingham and a ‘Doctorat de 3è Cycle’ in English
Language from the University of Yaounde I,
Cameroon, where he now teaches English
Phonology and Translation.
23
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 Secondly, Camspeak, a blend of the words
‘Cameroon’ and ‘Speak’, was proposed in 1985
by Tiayon-Lekoubou (note should be taken of
its likeness to the term ‘Kamtok’ consisting of
‘Cameroon’ and ‘Talk’) as the name of a new
language that was growing among pupils in the
country and which differed from ‘Kamtok’ in
that it was spoken exclusively by francophone
pupils. Thirdly, Franglais, which blends the
words Français (French) and Anglais (English),
was an existing pejorative term for French that
contained many English loans as well as
instances of code-mixing and code-switching
among bilinguals in France and Canada. As
McArthur notes, the term was popularised by a
French writer who condemned the spread of
Anglo-Saxon culture and language since the
Second World War (OCEL, 1992:415). This
term came in handy in Cameroon when one
was needed to describe the interlanguage of
francophone learners of English1. These learn-
ers naturally produce utterances like those
below and really believe they have spoken
flawless English:
– To ask for a credit at the bank
(To ask for a loan at the bank)
– I have not yet cashed my mandat
(I have not yet cashed my money order)
– The central referee was Mr. Atangana
(The referee was Mr. Atangana
(Ze Amvela, 1989:48)
Unlike speakers of Franglais, who uncon-
sciously make mistakes when attempting to
speak a language they are still learning, users of
Camfranglais make a conscious effort to exploit
some of the features of Franglais in a secret way
so as to disguise the message they are conveying
in an act of communication. They do not use
this language to solve problems of expression in
their L2 code, as is the case in second language
learning situations. They do not use it to avoid
revealing social, regional or caste identity as is
the case with English-educated Tamil speakers,
who sprinkle their speech with English lexical
items instead of their Tamil equivalents
(Kachru, 1990:60). They do not use it to show
that they can manipulate more than one presti-
gious code, as is the case with young Germans
when they code-switch from German to English
(Koll-Strobe, 1994:206). They use it simply to
exchange information among members in such
a way that this information looks mysterious to
non-members.
24
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
Structurally, a Camfranglais utterance is a
French sentence in which one or two key words
are replaced by items drawn from Cameroon
French, English, Pidgin or a widespread indige-
nous language. Take these examples from Ze
Amvela (ibid. p. 57):
– Je vais te see tomorrow
I will see you tomorrow (I’ll see you tomorrow)
– J’ai buy l’aff-ci au bateau
I (past) buy this stuff in the market (I bought
this stuff in the market)
– Il est sorti nayo nayo
He (past) go out slowly slowly (He went out
very slowly).
It is the use of terms such as ‘see’, ‘tomorrow’,
‘buy’, ‘aff’ (stuff), ‘bateau’ (market), ‘nayo nayo’
(very slowly) which disguises the intended
meaning of each utterance and therefore shuts
out youngsters who have not attained secondary
school level as well as older people who may be
monolingual French or English speakers. It is the
use of these words which characterises Cam-
franglais and distinguishes it from related lan-
guage contact processes such as borrowing,
code-mixing, code-switching and pidgin.
Borrowing refers to ‘the incorporation of lex-
ical elements from one language in the lexicon
of another language’ (Muysken, 1995:189).
This process is attested in Camfranglais, but
the lexical items borrowed do not come from
one single code, but from several codes as can
be illustrated by the following sentence:
Ma mater est back
(My mother is back)
where words from French namely ‘ma’ (my)
and ‘est’ (is), Latin ‘mater’ (mother) and Eng-
lish ‘back’ are brought together in the same
utterance.
Code-mixing refers to the use of two or more
codes in a single utterance. The units mixed
may be a word, a phrase or a bigger linguistic
element (Dulay et al, 1982:115; Kachru
1990:70). This is precisely what obtains in
Camfranglais, except that the units mixed here
are exclusively key lexical items of an utter-
ance, as in:
Tu go ou?
You go where? (Where are you going?)
where the English verb ‘go’ is a key sentence
element.
Code-switching is said to be the use of two or
more codes in a single utterance; generally, a
ENGLISH TODAY 74 April 2003
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 complete utterance from one code is inserted at
inter-sentential level in a discourse that is con-
structed in another code, a technique that cre-
ative writers use to achieve various commu-
nicative effects. In Camfranglais, what is
inserted is not a complete utterance from one
code but one or more lexical items from one or
more codes. Lastly, Pidgin is said to be a lan-
guage that emerges in a context where people
having no common language want to talk to
each other, for trading or other reasons. Speak-
ers of Camfranglais do share a common code,
namely French, which incidentally, is their lan-
guage of instruction. In short, Camfranglais is a
new phenomenon that cannot neatly be fitted
into existing linguistic paradigms.
Typical speakers of Camfranglais are female
and male pupils aged between 11, when they
start secondary school and 20 when they move
to tertiary education. They are proficient in
French and have had one to seven years of Eng-
lish as a subject. Many of those who enter Form
One do not reach the Upper Sixth Form, as the
rate of failure and dropping out is high; in the
year 1999, for example, only 35.13% of the
39,614 candidates who sat for the Baccalaureat
(the French equivalent of the GCE A level)
passed (MINEFI, 2000:9). Pupils who drop out
halfway end up increasing the number of ped-
dlers, labourers, vagabonds, thieves, prosti-
tutes, prisoners and the like in the country.
Wherever their trade takes them, they take
along their Camfranglais language and spread
it in the new milieu. Today, this language,
which used to be heard only in big towns, is
attested in the remotest areas.
Analysis of a sample Camfranglais
text
Take this conversation between a boy (A) and a
girl (B), who meet downtown and realise that
they are neighbours. Following the passage is a
translation of each utterance.
A1. Oh! Wait moi on go!
B1. Tu back a Nsam aussi?
A2. Oui. Tu ne know pas qu’on go dans le
meme quat. Je suis juste derriere la piaule
de Franky Bago.
B2. Ah! Le jo-la! Il m’avait try et je l’ai ba-hat.
A3. Mais tu l’as ba-hat pourquoi? C’est un jo
trop clean. Tu l’as deja meet quand il com-
mot, il boc seulement les Kenzo et les
Bago.
CAMFRANGLAIS: A NOVEL SLANG IN CAMEROON SCHOOLS
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
B3. Moi, je te dis que je ne lap pas avec lui…
Here follows the literal translation of each
utterance of the conversation:
A1. Oh! Wait moi on go!
(Oh! Wait me we go = Please wait for me!)
B1. Tu back a Nsam aussi?
(You back at Nsam too? = Are you going
to Nsam too?)
A2. Oui. Tu ne know pas qu’on go dans le
meme quat. Je suis juste derriere la piaule
de Franky Bago.
(Yes. You not know that we go in the same
area? I am just behind the pad of Franky
Bago. = Don’t you know we live in the
same residential area? I am just behind
Franky Bago’s pad.)
B2. Ah! Le jo-la! Il m’avait try et je l’ai ba-hat.
(Ah! That guy! He me try and I him bad
heart. = Ah! That guy! He tried to chat me
up and I rejected his offer.)
A3. Mais tu l’as ba-hat pourquoi? C’est un jo
trop clean. Tu l’as deja meet quand il com-
mot, il boc seulement les Kenzo et les Bago.
(But you him bad heart why? It is a guy
very clean. You him have already meet
when he come out, he wear only Kenzo
and Bago. = But he is a very neat guy.
Have you ever met him when he goes for
an outing? He puts on only expensive
shoes like Kenzo and Bago.)
B3. Moi, je te dis que je ne lap pas avec lui…
(Me, I you tell that I not laugh with him =
Well, I’m telling you that I do not joke with
him.)
As the illustrations above show, Camfranglais
sentences are based on the French sentence
structure, which generally supplies almost all
the function words of an utterance; as for the
content words, they come from French, Eng-
lish, Pidgin and the indigenous languages.
Most utterances contain at least one English or
Pidgin key word like ‘wait’, ‘go’, ‘back’, ‘ba-hat’
(bad heart: to refuse, reject), ‘commot’ (come
out = go for an outing). Other terms come
from the background languages like ‘ndolo’
(noun: love; verb: to pamper a girl) or are new
creations like ‘jo’ (guy), ‘boc’ (wear), and brand
names of goods like Kenzo (a type of expensive
shoes). In short, Camfranglais is used by
youngsters to talk about everyday issues that
are of interest to them, such as entertainment,
love affairs and the like. An overview of such
issues is taken up below.
25
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 Glossary of terms cited
(English words having their standard meaning
are left out)
aah exclamation expressing disgust
aff (from French ‘affaire’) stuff
allo lying, a lie
ashia Pidgin expression of sympathy
ashuka Pidgin expression for punishment that
one deserves; it expresses the same idea as
the idiom ‘It serves you right!’
asso address term for a trader’s customer
back come back, go back, return
Bakassi any dangerous place (word coined
after the name of a Cameroonian peninsular
which Nigerians are claiming just because
they were allowed to carry out fishing and
agricultural activities in the area
baptiser steal by sneaking away with the
money for a service, like a drop by a taxi
driver
barrer ditch someone
bateau market
ba-hat Pidgin term from English ‘bad heart’
turn down an offer, reject the advances of a
male partner (same meaning conveyed by the
Nigerian slang word ‘nail’ Longe 1999)
Bazo brand of expensive shoes
beau-regard pork
beleh Pidgin term from English ‘belly’
pregnancy (unwanted)
beret derogatory term for policeman
bibliser to ape White people’s speech accent to
show that one’s partner is a White
biblos a White man, usually a European
bobi-tenap from Pidgin ‘bobi breast’ and
‘tenap stand up’; literally, the thing that
supports the breasts so that they keep an
upright position, that is, brassiere.
boc put on, wear
bondir stand someone up
bosco strongly built male person whose
strength may be needed in cinema halls and
night clubs to drive away gate-crashers and
other trouble-makers
Semantic domains
To Lillo (2001), the semantic field of drugs is
‘one of the greatest growth-areas of slang in
contemporary English’. Strangely enough,
words from this field seem to be rare in Cam-
franglais. Gorlach (2000) in addition, cites sex
and money; these ones are attested in this
novel language. The following seven domains,
which are taken up in turn below, have sup-
plied a good number of words: food and drinks
26
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
calmas loan expression drawn from the
interlanguage of learners of Spanish meaning
‘Cool down!’
chambul (from French ‘chambre’) room
champi Champagne
chango address term for male people whose
wives come from the same family
chatcher from English ‘chat’ chat a girl up,
woo/court a girl just for sex (related meaning
conveyed by the Nigerian slang word ‘sugar
rapps’ Longe 1999)
christine French forename used as a synonym
for ‘crise economique’ i.e. ‘economic crisis’
that has been affecting the country since the
90s
cinosh cinema, movies
come-no-go a type of skin disease that causes
the body to itch and does not respond to
common drugs
commot Pidgin term for ‘go out’, ‘go for an
outing’
composer dupe someone
damba football
dammer cooked food (called ‘nocks’ or ‘wacks’
in Nigeria slang Longe 1999)
debat woman with a broad waist (or buttocks)
and an overall slim body
ekie exclamation expressing surprise
foirer broke
fringueur someone who dresses well, who
does himself/herself up
gata prison
gombo bribe
hiish exclamation expressing a feeling of
repugnance, filthiness
jachere (French word for ‘fallow’) period when
a girl has no partner of the opposite sex
(related meaning conveyed by the Nigerian
slang word ‘roaster’ Longe 1999 and the
Ghanaian English word ‘chewer’ Dako 2001)
jambo gambling
jo guy
jobajo locally brewed lager beer
Johnny to pad (like the gentleman on a bottle
➸
(4.1), money (4.2), sex (4.3), physical look
(4.4), terms referring to kin and other people
(4.5), behaviour (4.6) and a ragbag category of
words (4.7).
Food and drinks
Cooked food is generally referred to as
‘dammer’; pork is known as ‘beau-regard’ and
greedy people who like to make a pig of them-
selves by ingurgitating a large quantity of food
ENGLISH TODAY 74 April 2003
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 continued
of Johnny Walker whisky brand); to tramp on
foot because one cannot afford the fare of a
drop by bus or taxi (same meaning conveyed
by the Nigerian word ‘footwagon’ Longe
1999)
juju something frightful
katika cashier in various types of gambling
Kenzo brand of expensive shoes
kick pilfer
kongolibon close-cut hair
kongossa gossip
kumbu big dish
lap Pidgin word for ‘laugh’
longo-longo tall (and usually slim/slender)
person
lourd someone financially buoyant (same
meaning conveyed by the Nigerian slang
word ‘hold’ Longe 1999)
mater mother
mbambe hard labour; someone who does hard
labour for a wage
mbengue abroad, any European country, any
foreign country
mbenguiste someone who regularly travels to
foreign countries
mbindi junior brother
mbut an idiot
metosh light-skinned person, generally of
mixed Black (Cameroonian) and White
(European) blood
mimbo Pidgin generic term for drinks
mola a common word for ‘man’
mof-me-de Pidgin expression which can be
translated as ‘move-me-there’ and which
means ‘Piss off!’
nanga dirty, filthy person
nayo slowly
nayo-nayo very slowly
ndok begging, someone who begs to survive
(same meaning conveyed by the Nigerian
slang word ‘paraboss’ Longe 1999)
ndoh money, called ‘wad’ in Nigerian slang
(Longe 1999)
are usually served in a ‘kumbu’ (big dish). The
generic term for drinks is ‘mimbo’; it includes
‘champi’ (Champagne), ‘jobajo’ (a locally
brewed lager beer) and ‘odontol’ (a home-dis-
tilled liquor).
Money
Money, which is called ‘ndoh’, is something
people work hard to earn as much of it as they
possibly can. To get money, youngsters embark
on a variety of activities. Boys, in particular, go
CAMFRANGLAIS: A NOVEL SLANG IN CAMEROON SCHOOLS
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
ndolo to pamper a girl
ndombolo fat, stout woman
ndomo hit someone in a fight, strike a blow
ndoss someone who looks responsible enough
in his community
nga a common word for ‘girl’
njohteur opportunist
odontol locally distilled liquor
piaule pad, residence, apartment
quat (from French ‘quartier’) residential area
rese a common word for ‘sister’
rythmeur male companion with whom a girl
does every other thing except love-making;
the relation generally ends immediately the
girl finds a suitable sex partner (see ‘jachere’
above)
saccager make love to the point of being
exhausted physically (this word conveys a
meaning loosely related to that of the
Nigerian slang word ‘twang’ Longe 1999)
sans-con (from Cameroon French ‘sans-
confiance’) rubber-made slippers whose
strings can get cut without a warning
sauveteur retailer of goods
statois someone who has been to the United
States
swine an abuse word
tara a common address term for ‘friend’
toum sell one’s personal belongings
try try to chat a girl up
tuyau party
vieux a common word for ‘father’
villakonkon uncivilised person
voum bragging, to brag
washer not to attend a specific class, perhaps
because the teacher is not competent (a
minor form of truancy)
weh-heh exclamation expressing pity
wolowoss professional prostitute (a related
but different meaning is conveyed by the
Nigerian slang word ‘opio’ that is ‘a girl who
flirt a lot’ Longe 1999)


in for gambling (jambo), stealing cash from
people (kick) or goods from traders (baptiser),
which paves the way to prison (gata). They
dupe credulous people (composer), sell per-
sonal belongings (toum), retail goods of vari-
ous types (sauveteur), do hard labour
(mbambe) and take part in corruption prac-
tices (gombo). Girls, especially low character
ones, have prostitution as their only source of
income (wolowoss). Some people always have
much money at their disposal and are said to be
rich (lourd); others are always broke (foirer)
27
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 because they are still affected by ‘christine’, the
economic crisis which , in 1989, hit the country
so hard that it has been promoted to the rank of
‘heavily indebted poor countries’.
Sex
Girls like to be chatted up (chatcher) and to be
pampered (ndolo) and they feel very bad when
they have no male companion. While waiting
for a partner to show interest in them, lone
girls (jachere) are entertained by a friend with
whom they do every other thing except having
sex (rythmeur). Girls who have a partner like it
when they feel exhausted after making love
(saccager), even though pregnancy may be just
round the corner (bele). When a girl realises
that her partner is an adventurer, she immedi-
ately ditches him (barrer). A serious partner is
one who takes her friend out to the movies
(cinosh) and to parties (tuyau), who escorts
her when she shops in the market (bateau) and
never stands her up (bondir).
Physical looks
One recurrent topic in youngsters’ speech is the
description of people’s appearance. They tend
to pay particular attention to features such as
height (longo-longo), haircut (kongolibon),
complexion (metosh), the general shape of
specific parts of a person’s body (debat) or the
whole of it (ndombolo), and they occasionally
focus on a person’s overall build (bosco). Other
features described include cleanliness (nanga),
items of clothing for specific parts of the body
such as the feet (sans-con), and the breasts
(bobi-tenap), and clothing in general
(fringueur). Any object that looks frightful or is
not pleasant to one’s sight is referred to as
‘juju’.
State of mind
Several words are used to convey a variety of
feelings such as joy, fear or grief. When one
happens to suffer a misfortune, one may
receive from friends a word of sympathy
(ashia) or abuse (ashuka). In reaction to cer-
tain actions or opinions, one may insult one’s
interlocutors (swine) and even utter a threat
(mof-me-de). When such a strained relation
develops between two people, their mates may
decide to calm them down (calmas) or stir
them up (ndomo). In the same vein, certain
habits or ways of doing things are looked down
upon by youngsters, top among which are gos-
28
http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015
siping (kongossa), begging (ndok), bragging
(voum), lying (allo), opportunism (njohteur)
and the adoption of certain forms of speech
(bibliser). Frequently used exclamatory words
express feelings such as surprise (ekie!), (weh-
heh!), disgust (aah!) and repugnance (hiish!).
Reference to kin and other people
Common terms referring to kin include ‘vieux’
(father), ‘mater’ (mother), ‘rese’ (sister) and
‘mbindi’ (junior brother). Distant relations
include ‘tara’ (friend), ‘chango’ (people having
the same in-laws), ‘mola’ (a man in the com-
munity), and ‘nga’ (a young girl). Responsible
people are called ‘ndoss’ while people who like
to talk about their stay in the United States of
America are called ‘statois’. Other people are
given names that refer to their race ‘biblos’
(white person), their behaviour ‘villakonkon’
(uncivilised, rustic), their reasoning capacities
‘mbut’ (idiot) and their profession, like ‘beret’
(policeman) and ‘katika’ (cashier in gambling
activities). In the context of service encounters,
regular customers are addressed as ‘asso’,
obtained from the French for ‘associate’.
Other items
In this ragbag category are brought together
words that fall in low productivity fields such
as accommodation (chambul), means of trans-
port (johnny), sports (damba), health (come-
no-go), places (bakassi, mbengue) and pupils’
studies (washer).
Conclusion
This paper has attempted to define the term
Camfranglais and to examine the situations
and events which are productive of this pupil
slanguage. The greatest growth-areas of this
slang include food and drinks, money, sex, ref-
erence to kin and other people, physical look
and people’s state of mind. While this language
functions the same as other slangs in the world,
it is unique in that it juggles elements from
French, English, Pidgin and local languages in
a way that is somewhat uncommon. 
Notes
1 Related terms used in the literature to refer to var-
ious interlanguages include: Tex-Mex, Englañol,
Hinglish, Singlish, Spanglish and the like.
ENGLISH TODAY 74 April 2003
IP address: 137.219.5.13
 References
Chia, Emmanuel, 1983, ‘Cameroon home languages’ in
Koenig, Edna L. et al, eds, pp. 19–32
Chia, Emmanuel, 1990, ‘The new speech forms of
rapidly growing city: Pidgin French and
Camfranglais in Yaounde’ in Annals of the Faculty of
Letters and Social Sciences, University of Yaounde,
6:1–2, pp. 102–127.
Dako, Kari, 2001, ‘Ghanaianisms: Towards a semantic
and formal classification.’ In English World-Wide,
22:1, pp. 23–53
Dulay, H., Burt, M., and S. Krashen. 1982. ‘Language
two.’ Oxford: University Press
Gorlach, Manfred, 2000, ‘Rhyming slang world-wide:
homegrown or imported.’ In English World-Wide,
21:1, pp. 1–24
Kachru, B. B., 1990, ‘The alchemy of English: the
spread, functions and models of non-native
Englishes.’ Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Koenig, L. E., E. Chia, and J. Povey, eds. 1983. ‘A
sociolinguistic profile of urban centers in Cameroon.’
Los Angeles: Cross Roads Press
Koll-Strobe, Amei. 1994. ‘English in code-alternations:
towards an integrated study of code-switching.’ In
World Englishes, 13:2, pp. 203–204
Kouega, Jean-Paul. 2001, ‘Pidgin facing death in
Cameroon.’ in Terralingua, web site
http://www.terralingua.org
—. 2002, ‘Uses of English in Southern British
Cameroons.’ In English World-Wide, 23:1, pp.
93–113
Lillo, Antonio. 2001. ‘The rhyming slang of the
junkie.’ In English Today, 66, 17:2, pp. 39–45
Longe, V. U. 1999. ‘Student slang from Benin,
Nigeria.’ In English World-Wide, 20:2, pp. 237–249
Mbangwana, P. N. 1983. ‘The scope and role of
Pidgin English in Cameroon.’ In Edna L. Koenig, et
al., eds., pp. 79–92
Mbassi-Manga, Francis. 1976. ‘The state of
contemporary English in Cameroon.’, In Mbassi-
Manga, Francis, ed., Cameron studies in English
and French (CASEF). Victoria, Cameroon: Press
Book
McArthur, Tom. OCEL 1992, The Oxford Companion
to the English Language.
MINEFI, 2000. Ministere de l’Economie et des
Finances (Direction de la statistique et de la
comptabilite nationale): Le Cameroun en chiffres
1999.
Muysken, Pieter. 1995. ‘Code-switching and
grammatical theory.’ In Milroy, Leslie and Pieter
Muysken, eds., ‘One speaker, two languages.’
Cambridge: University Press, pp. 177–198
Tiayon-Lekoubou. 1985. ‘Camspeak: a speech reality
in Cameroon, unpublished ‘Maitrise memoir.’
University of Yaounde
Todd, Loreto. 1982. Varieties of English around the
world, T1: Cameroon. Heidelberg: Julius Groos
Ze Amvela, Etienne. 1989. ‘Reflexions on social
implications of bilingualism in the Republic of
Cameroon.’ In Annals of the Faculty of Letters and
Social Sciences, University of Yaounde

Harry Potter
From Paul Gray, ‘The Magic of Potter’, TIME Magazine
25 Dec 00–1 Jan 01
Three and a half years ago, no one on earth had heard of Harry
Potter except J. K. Rowling, the writer who dreamed him up,
and the publisher’s readers who had rejected the manuscript of
her first book… Four Harry Potter novels later, translations into
42 languages later, 76 million copies sold worldwide later?
Strange, strange things are happening wherever on earth the
young fictional hero and his friends can be found.
● Last July the New York Times Book Review revised its best-
seller list by splitting off a separate category for children’s
books. The move came just in time to prevent Harry Potter
and the Goblet of Fire from zooming to the top of the fiction
list – and joining the three earlier Harry Potter titles formerly
ensconced among the 15 slots. By shunting the wizard books
out of its main chart, the Book Review fiddled with logic but
appeased publishers and authors who believed they had been
‘Pottered’ – denied best-selling status by the J. K. Rowling
juggernaut.

CAMFRANGLAIS: A NOVEL SLANG IN CAMEROON SCHOOLS 29

http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 16 Mar 2015 IP address: 137.219.5.13