DS Journal of Language, Linguistics and Literature (DS-LLL)

Research Article | Open Access | Download Full Text

Volume 3 | Issue 2 | Year 2025 | Article Id: LLL-V3I2P104 DOI: https://doi.org/10.59232/LLL-V3I2P104

Advertising Posters in Cameroon Englishes: Perspectives from Construction Grammar and the Dynamic Model

Wenslus Asongu

ReceivedRevisedAcceptedPublished
10 Mar 202508 Apr 202511 May 202530 May 2025

Citation

Wenslus Asongu. “Advertising Posters in Cameroon Englishes: Perspectives from Construction Grammar and the Dynamic Model.” DS Journal of Language, Linguistics and Literature, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 34-52, 2025.

Abstract

This study set out to explore Cameroon Englishes on advertising posters (AP) in the country from the perspectives of Construction Grammar (see, for example, Hoffmann and Trousdale 2013, Hoffmann 2015, and Hoffmann 2017) and the Dynamic Model (see Shneider 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2011). The investigation, therefore, reveals that Cameroon Englishes, such as Cameroon English, Cameroon Francophone English, and Cameroon Pidgin English, are characterized by contextual entrenched linguistic constructions on AP in Cameroon. The Englishes occupy a unique evolutionary trajectory, and they have different places, functions, and cultural and identity implications exposed by advertisements in the country.

Keywords

Advertising posters, Cameroon englishes, Construction grammar, Dynamic model.

References

[1] Eric A. Achimbe, “Functional Seclusion and the Future of Indigenous Languages in Africa: the Case of Cameroon,” Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, pp. 94-103, 2006.

[Google Scholar]

[2] Samuel Atechi, and Julius Angwah, “The Attitudes of Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians towards Cameroon English as a Model of English Language Teaching and Learning in Cameroon,” Journal of Education and Practice, vol. 7, no. 13, pp. 109-115, 2016.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[3] Miriam Ayafor, Cameroon Pidgin English (Kamtok): Morphology and Syntax, De Gruyter Brill, pp. 428-450, 2008.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[4] Bernd Kortmann, and Edger W. Schneider, A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool, De Gruyter Brill, 2004.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[5] Peter Backhaus, Linguistic Landscape: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo, De Gruyter Brill, 2006.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[6] Liora Bigon, Introduction: Place Names in Africa: Colonial Urban Legacies, Entangled Histories, Place Names in Africa, Springer Nature, 2016.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[7] Jan Blommaert, The Sociolinguistics of Globalization, Cambridge University Press, New York, United States of America, 2010.

[Google Scholar]

[8] David Crystal, English as a Global Language, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

[9] David Crystal, English as a Global Language, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2003.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[10] Charles Forceville, “Educating the Eye? Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (1996),” Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 163-178, 1999.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[11] Carmen Fought, Language and Ethnicity, Cambridge, NY, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

[Google Scholar]

[12] Thomas Hoffman, “Multimodal Construction Grammar: from Multimodal Constructs to Multimodal Constructions,” The Routledge  Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, 1st ed., Routledge, 2021.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[13] Thomas Hoffman, “Marginal Argument Structure Constructions: The [V the Ntaboo-word out of]-Constructions in Postcolonial Englishes,” Linguistics Vanguard, vol. 6, no. 1, 2020.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[14] Thomas Hoffman, “Construction Grammar and Creativity: Evolution, Psychology m and Cognitive Science,” Cognitive Semiotics, vol. 13, no. 1, 2020.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[15] Thomas Brunner, and Thomas Hoffmann, “The Way Construction in World Englishes,” English Worldwide, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 1-32, 2020.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[16] Thomas Hoffmann, From Construction to Construction Grammar, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

[17] Thomas Hoffmann, Construction Grammar: The Struvture of English, Cambridge University Press, 2022.

[Google Scholar]

[18] Thomas Hoffmann, “Multimodal Constructs-Multimodal Constructions? The Role of Construction in the Working Memory,” Linguistics Vanguard, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[19] Thomas Hoffmann, “Cognitive Sociolinguistic Aspects of Football Chants: The Role of Social and Physical Context in Usage-Based Construction Grammar,” Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 273-294, 2015.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[20] Thomas Hoffmann,  The Cognitive Evolution of Englishes: The Role of Construction in the Dynamic Model, The Evolution of Englishes, The John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 160-180, 2014.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[21] Thomas Hoffmann, and Graeme Trousdale, The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar, Oxford University Press, New York, 2013.

[Google Scholar]

[22] Duck Gorter, Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism, Multilingual Matters Ltd., 2006.

[Google Scholar]

[23] Jibril Munzali M., “Phonological Variation in Nigeria English,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Lancaster, 1982.

[Google Scholar]

[24] Serges Moïse Essossomo, “The Fallacy of Promoting Non Native Varieties of English in Postcolonial Multilingual Settings: The Case of Cameroon English (CamE) in Cameroon,” Journal of Education and Practice, vol. 6, no. 31, pp. 95-101, 2015.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[25] Braj B. Kachru, World Englishes and Culture Wars, 2nd ed., The Handbook of World Englishes, 2019.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[26] Jean-Paul Kouega, and Francois G. Baimada, “Language Use in Islamic Faith in Cameroon: The Case of a Mosque in the City of Maroua,” Journal of Language and Culture, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 10-19, 2012.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[27] Jean-Paul Kouega, “Loans from Some Indigenous Languages in Cameroon English,” Alizies : Revue Anglais de la Reunion, pp. 100-111, 1998.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[28] Jean-Paul Kouega, “Some Major Speech Traits of Cameroon Media News in English,” English Studies, vol. 80, no. 6, pp. 540-55, 1999.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[29] Rodrigue Landry, and Richard Y. Bourhis, “Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic Vitality: An Empirical Study,” Journal of Language and Social Psychology, vol. 1, no. 16, pp. 23-49, 1997.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[30] Stephen C. Levison, Pragmatics, Cambridge University Press, 1983.

[Google Scholar]

[31] Van Mensel, Luk, Mieke Vandenbroucke, and Robert Blackwood, “Linguistic Landscapes,” Oxford Handbook of Language and Society, pp. 423-449, 2016.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[32] Paul Mbangwana, Cameroon English: Morphology and Syntax, A Handbook of Varieties of English, New York, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 2090-2100, 2020.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

[33] Ronald K.S. Macaulay, and Trevelyan G.D.,  Language, Social Class and Education: A GLASGOW Study, Edinburgh University Press, 1977.

[Google Scholar]

[34] Christian Mair, “Migration, Media, and the Emergence of Pidgin-and Creole-Based Informal Epicentres,” World Englishes, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 414-428, 2022.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[35] Salikoko S. Mufwene, The Ecology of Language Evolution, Cambridge University Press, 2001.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[36] Mushing W. Tamfu, “The Spoken English of Some Educated Wimbum People: A Study in Vowel Variation,” Master’s Dissertation, The University of Yaounde, 1989.

[Google Scholar]

[37] Paul Nepapleh Nkamta, and Themba Lancelot Ngwenya, “Linguistic Inequality in Cameroon: The Case of Advertising in Douala,” South Africa Journal of African Languages, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 137-147, 2017.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[38] Aloysius Ngefac, and Loreto Todd, Is Kamtok a Variety of English or a Language in its Own Right?, HAL-Open Science, 2019.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[39] Aloysius Ngefac, “Linguistic Choices in Postcolonial Multilingual Cameroon,” Nordic Journal of African Studies, vol. 19, no. 3, 2010.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[40] Aloysius Ngefac, Linguistic Variants as Signals of Social Hierarchy: The Ambiguous Situation of Cameroon, Yaounde/Cameroon, no. 35, 2006.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[41] Aloysius Ngefac, Social Differentiation in Camaroon English: Evidence from Sociolinguistic Fieldwork, Peter Lang, New York, 2008.

[Google Scholar]

[42] Aloysius Ngefac, “The Social Stratification of English in Cameroon,” World Englishes, vol. 27, no. 3/4, pp. 407-418, 2008.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[43] Gilbert Tagne Safotso, “Aspects of Cameroon Francophone English (CamFE) Phonology,” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 2471-2477, 2012.

[CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[44] Gilbert Tagne Safotso, A Study of the Phonological Features of Cameroon Francophone English, Scholars Press, 2015.

[Google Scholar]

[45] Gilbert Tagne Safotso, “Cameroon Francophone English: An Atypical Example to Moag’s and Schneider’s Models,” British Journal of English Linguistics, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 1-10, 2016.

[Google Scholar] [Publisher Link]

[46] Bonaventure Sala, “Aspects of Cameroon English Sentence,” Ph.D. Thesis, University of Yaounde 1, Camaroon, 2003.

[Google Scholar]

[47] Edgar W. Schneider, Cambridge Introduction to English Language: English Around the World, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, UK, 2011.

[Publisher Link]

[48] Edgar W. Schneider, Towards Endonormativity? African Englishes and the Dynamic Model of the evolution of Postcolonial Englishes, Language, Literature and Education in Multicultural Societies: Collaborative Research on Africa, vol. 283, 2009.

[Google Scholar]

[49] Edgar W. Schneider, “The Dynamics of New Englishes: From Identity Construction to Dialect Birth,” Language, vol. 79, no. 2, pp. 233-281, 2003.

[Google Scholar]

[50] Edgar W. Schneider, Postcolonial English: Varieties around the World, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

[Google Scholar]

[51] Augustin Simo Bobda, and P.N. Mbangwana, An Introduction to Spoken English, Akoka: University of Ibadan, pp. 21-58, 1993.

[Google Scholar]

 

Advertising Posters in Cameroon Englishes: Perspectives from Construction Grammar and the Dynamic Model