The Anglophone Crisis and Emerging Bilingualism Trends on State-Owned Mass Media in Cameroon. Get the full PDF Victor Ngu Cheo……………………………………………………………………..……..13-29
ABSTRACT

One of the major causes of the Anglophone Crisis which started in 2016 was the dominant use of the French language to the detriment of Anglophones in a country that is dubbed bilingual and whose constitution confers an equal status to both the English and French languages. In a bid to mitigate this situation, the government embarked on a series of measures amongst which the creation of a Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Commission to oversee the implementation of official bilingualism in the country. This new wave of bilingualism also seems to have actuated a ray of change in the practice of bilingualism in the state media in Cameroon. Using the methodological approaches of observation and content analysis, this paper appraises the emerging trends of bilingualism on the state media; Cameroun Tribune, the national radio and television, CRTV. Underpinned by the Knowledge Gap Theory, the analysis revealed that the anglophone crisis has ushered in some positive changes as far as the practice of bilingualism on the media is concerned. In trying to increase the level of bilingualism practice in the state media, the information gap between the Anglophones and Francophones has been narrowed. This notwithstanding, there is still quite a lot to do to improve on the status of bilingualism on the official media so as to be a good pace-setter in the media landscape in Cameroon. On this basis, this paper recommends that during bilingual newscasts it could be better to report one story in the French language and then the same story follows immediately in the English language. This will also promote the learning of French and English as the audience can put words in context easily.


Key words: Anglophone Crisis, Bilingualism, Trends, State-owned Media, Cameroon
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