La dynamique langagière dans les publicités d’orange et mtn Cameroun : formes et valeurs

Abstract

The multilingualism nature of advertising in Cameroon today raises a number of questions. These questions led us to formulate our research topic as follows: "Language dynamics in MTN and Orange Cameroon advertisements: forms and values". This research topic stems from the observation that the linguistic diversity of Cameroon has a strong impact on the linguistic practices of MTN and Orange advertisers. In other words, given that Cameroon is a country that recognises only French and English as official languages, advertisers should follow this law. It turns out that, in addition to these two languages, the two mobile phone companies advertise in other languages (which are not officially recognized), without always taking into account the texts and laws in force. They therefore construct their advertising on the basis of multilingualism. Our study highlights the linguistic practices and issues involved in these different linguistic forms. Our objective is to analyse and describe in order to understand and justify the aims of these uses. To carry out our analysis, we have drawn on the theories of language dynamics and verbal interaction, the qualitative method and the empirical-inductive approach. Using these tools, we came to the conclusion that advertisers use multilingualism in their practices in order to reach all the social strata concerned by the promotion of products and to achieve commercial profitability, even if these uses do not comply with advertising laws.