Towards a Multiple Language Shift in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper examines Cameroonians’ use / attitudes to French, English, Cameroon home languages, and other variables to better project the future of those languages in Cameroon. The data analysed were collected through a questionnaire administered to 349 secondary school learners of three regions of Cameroon and 943 students  of the Universities of Dschang, Douala, Buea and Maroua (N=1292). The findings show that a few young Cameroonians speak their mother tongues, but would like their future children to speak them and to be multilingual. This is a quite contradictory situation as those children will have nobody to acquire those languages from. An important number of young French-speaking Cameroonians would prefer English as language of instruction and would like to abandon French in future.