Linguistically Redefining the Concept of Anglophone in the 21st Century in Cameroon

Abstract

Until a few decades ago, Francophone Cameroonians were not really interested in the learning of English. They had a very unfavourable attitude towards it. Such a situation could be attributed to the fact that French is a dominant language in Cameroon. Today, the situation is gradually being reversed. Francophones are flooding English-medium education. A number of studies attest to this (Echu, 2004; Pen Tamba, 1993; Safotso, 2017a). Francophone Cameroonians see in English the language of opportunities. From past studies and using new data, this paper argues that the concept of Anglophone in Cameroon should be linguistically redefined in the 21st century.