Analyse du conflit linguistique : représentations des déplacés des régions du Nord et Sud-ouest Cameroun

Abstract

The northern and southwestern regions of Cameroon, mainly called the English-speaking regions or English-speaking zones as they are known today, have been plagued by social, political and linguistic conflicts for a little over six years. Aspects that implicitly induce a questioning that has the merit of promoting research and proposing some solutions; hence the title of this subject: Analysis of the linguistic conflict: representations of displaced persons from the North-West and South-West Cameroon. The grievance being between English and French, the two official languages of the country, the subject raises the problem of diglossia and linguistic planning within Cameroonian society. As a result, what are the social and linguistic springs that testify to the linguistic conflict in the North and South-West Cameroon? The objective is to understand the conflict through the image that English-speaking displaced persons have of the official languages. Derogatory and appreciative opinions that vary and depend on the environmental situation: either physical or socio-economic interests at the time of the crisis and after. Thus, this work is underpinned by the work of Henri Boyer on the role of representations in the Occitan and Catalan conflict with the outcome of normalization and substitution. A research work that, without pretension, attempts to study the linguistic conflict on the diachronic axis. Thus, sociolinguistics, the theory of linguistic representations and the empirical-inductive approach have made it possible to sprinkle this work in four chapters which, once after analysis and interpretations have demonstrated that no matter the degree of attachment that a speaker has to a language, it is enough just that external factors come to graft themselves onto these ideals and their interests for them to immediately change their racehorse for the benefit of their own security. In addition, the lack of effective solutions to this conflict favors its sustainability and the progressive and continuous francization of English speakers.