Cameroon Pidgin English: Kamtok
Tense
Lexicon
- Present tense uses the base verb form:
- Wi bai bif. = We buy beef.
- Simple past uses “bi” to show tense
- Wi bi bai bif. = We bought beef.
- Future tense uses “go” to show the tense
- We go bai bif. = We will buy beef.
Video Links
- Shortening occurs to create some Kamtok out of English and French words:
- dentiti = identity card
- kos = customer
- silota = slaughter house
Lexicon
- A process called inversion also occurs in Kamtok. Inversion flips the order of compound words, like the following:
- Kot-shot = short-cut
- Tron-het = head-strong
Grammar
- 3 Different Tenses-- Past, Present, Future
References
Phonetics and Phonology
- Lexical verbs (non-auxiliary verbs) do not inflect to indicate the person which means:
- I/you/he/she/we all carry the same form of the verb
- A wikop fo 8 oklock = I wake up at 8 o'clock.
- Yi wikop fo 8 oklock = He wakes up
at 8 o’clock.
Consonants
Kouega, Jean-Paul. A Dictionary of Cameroon
Pidgin English Usage: Pronunciation, Grammar and Vocabulary. MuÌnchen: Lincom Europa, 2008. Print.
Vowels
Phonological Processes of Consonants
Final consonants, such as /d, g, v, z/ are devoiced to /t, k, f, s/ when followed by a word that begins with a voiceless consonant. Eg. /bat tiŋ/ 'bad thing'
Can happen at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. Deletion of one or more consonants in words adopted from English. Eg. /graun/ instead of /graund/ 'ground'
/θ/ and /ð/ are replaced by /t/ and /d/
Four recent usages that are similar to dipthongs:
Overview
Echu, George. "Influence of Cameroon Pidgin English on the Linguistic and Cultural Development of the French Language." IULC Working Papers 3 (2003): 1-5. Indiana University. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
Lexicon
3. Mesthrie, Rajend. Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, 2008. 138-48. Print.
- Cameroon Pidgin English is also known as Kamtok
- It is the lingua franca of the country
- It is actually a creole-- it became a fully-developed
pidgin passed on through the generations
- In fact, it is often learned bilingually
by children at an early age
- Kamtok vocabulary comes from Cameroonian English & French (the two official languages of Cameroon), and from Cameroon indigenous languages.
Lexicon
History and Development
Lexicon
- Kamtok uses reduplication to emphasize things:
- fain = pretty
- fain-fain = very pretty
- brok = to break
- brok-brok = to break into tiny pieces
- kwik = fast
- kwik-kwik= very fast
- Usage similar to intensifiers such as “very”,
“super”, “extremely”, or “really”
- Originated during the slave trade (14th-18th century).
- Amalgamation of English, French, and African languages.
- Became widespread during German ownership of the colony, where it was used on large plantations.
- Diversified after British and French Cameroon combined.
- There are several recognized varieties.
- Grassland variety, of the North-West province.
- Bororo variety, spoken by the Bororo people.
- Coastal variety, of the South-West province.
- Francophone variety, spoken by Francophones.