**2. Background of Cameroon**

Cameroon is a low-income country. It has a population of over 25 million inhabitants, growing at an average annual rate of 2.6 percent. Cameroon is ranked 144th out of 177 countries in the 2020 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report [2]. More than 40% percent of its about 25 million people live below the poverty line. That is, on less than 1 \$US per day). Over 48 percent of this population resides in rural areas. From the map of Africa, Cameroon is located on the border between the western characterized by an English speaking zone of influence (Nigeria) and the Eastern and Southern French speaking zone (Chad, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo). The only exception is Equatorial Guinea, which has Spanish as its official language although since 1998 French has become the "second official language" (see **Figures 1** and **2**).

Cameroon has two official languages, English and French. There are eight "French speaking" regions and two "English speaking" regions. The two English regions are the Northwest and Southwest. All ten "regions" were called "provinces" before Decree No. 2008/376 of 12 November 2008. Cameroon is divided into four sociocultural ecological zones which I call linguistic ecologies. The languages all vary and interact with these zones.

The coastal sociocultural ecological zone of Cameroon corresponds largely to the Littoral and south west regions. This region has been the destination for a large number of migrants from different parts of the country. Its attractiveness is the result of its early exposure to European traders and missionaries, the existence of more relatively developed transport and communication infrastructure, numerous opportunities in international trade and in industry. The main towns here are Douala, Nkongsamba, Kumba, Edea, Limbe and Buea. Most of the inhabitants in this zone identify themselves with what is popularly called the Sawa. Sawa was initially created by the Dualas in 1996 to lay claims on some political and social

#### **Figure 1.**

*Map of Africa showing the location of Cameroon. Source: https://www.uottawa.ca/clmc/ internationalperspective/cameroon.*

*Multilingualism in Cameroon: An Expression of Many Countries in One Country DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99703*

**Figure 2.** *Linguistic ecologies of Cameroon.*

benefits that they thought they could not obtain. This concept of Sawa was later extended to other neighboring groups of people having similitude with them but not being Duala. Their invitation was extended to ethnic groups that were even unrelated to Dualas but share the Littoral and South-West physical ecology. The linguistic influence spill over westwards to coastal Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and southwards to the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the people of this socio-cultural ecology speak the Bantu languages and share cultural traits similar to those of the other Bantus living in the Gulf of Guinea. The influx of populations into this zone has largely offset the traditional social and cultural structure of the native people. The contact of these people with migrant population has also established evolving new forms of social organizations and tremendous changes in lifestyles and languages spoken. The underlying rituals peculiar to people of the zone are still performed. The population of this zone makes up 21.9% of Cameroon's population.

The Sudano-Sahelian sociocultural ecological zone is located in the three northern regions of Cameroon (Adamawa, North and Far North Regions). The Far North on its own is the most populous region in the country with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. The region is suitable for livestock farming and the cultivation of cotton, onion, millet, Irish potatoes, groundnuts and white yam. The rivers and lakes are rich in fish stocks and fishing represents a very lucrative activity in the Logone and Chari localities of the region. The North with a population of 2.0 million is the second most thickly populated region in the Sudano-Sahelian zones. Sedentary live is not a recent phenomenon in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon. The zone has come under the influence of the Arabic and Nok culture

and the civilisation of the Arabic and Kanem-Bornu empires urshering in Arabic and Haussa Languages. Even before Europeans carved out the territory known today as Cameroon, that marked the beginning of the growth of towns, such settlements already existed in Sudano-Sahelian Cameroon. Examples include Mora, Mokolo, Ngaoundere and Maroua amongst others. That may explain the dense population it harbors compared with other regions in the country. It is equally a melting pot of migrants who over the centuries have moved across the area to and from what are today referred to as Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic. This has led to the presence of a multiplicity of ethnic groups amongst which are the Fulani, Hausa, Mousgoum, Massa, Gisey and Musey, Toupuri, Mundang, Giziga, Mafa and the Matakam. Though the people here have respective languages, Haussa, Arabic and Fulani are dominantly used as lingua franca.

The next overarching ethnic category of Cameroon are the various people living in the southern part of Cameroon, in the tropical forests. The densely forested sociocultural-ecological zone covers the South, Centre and East Regions. Most of the population in the South Region are mainly the Ekang said to be of the Beti-Fang-Bulu origins. They depend on farming for subsistence. The capital city of Cameroon is located in the Centre Region. The population of the zone represents 25.8% of the population of the country. The people of this zone include the Ewondo, Eton, Fang, Bulu, Bafia, Massa and Bassa. Their languages come from the Bantu language family, and for most of their history they lived in hunter-gatherer societies that moved about the jungles. Some of these ethnic groups still maintain these traditions to this day. About 40% of people in Cameroon identify religiously as Christian, and they make up the majority of the people in the south. Some of the larger Bantu-speaking ethnic groups in the southern jungles include the Bassa, Beti, and the Baka, called Pygmies by European explorers due to a relatively small stature developed from generations living in the jungle. All in all, about 30% of people in Cameroon identify with one of these ethnic groups.

The fourth sociocultural-ecological zone is the Western High Plateau otherwise called Grassfields. It is made up of the Bamenda and Bamileke Grassfield and physically located in the Savana though overlapping into the Forest, Coastal and Sahel ecologies. Farming is the main occupation of these people. They live in mountainous areas and are commonly classified as the Semi-Bantus of Cameroon. The people of this socio-cultural ecological zone are very migratory in pursuit of better economic opportunities. The main ethnic groups here are the Bamileke, Bamoum, Ngemba, Bali, Kom, Moghamo, Ngemba, Nso, Mbum, Widikum and Yamba. Their cultures belong to the Semi-Bantu language family, a unique language group borrowing from many central African language families, and generally practice traditional religions that worship nature and ancestor spirits. About 38% of Cameroonians fall into this broad ethnic category, with the largest specific ethnic groups being the Bamileke and Bamoun.

### **3. The linguistic history of Cameroon**

Before the balkanization of African which led to the annexation of territories including Cameroon by European nations in 1884, the people of Africa were grouped differently. Africa was made up of empires with boundaries. The nation states stretched over large expanse of territory. There were fewer states and empires whose boundaries and names shifted with the ability to conquer. However, when people were conquered the entire territory including its people were converted into the new empires or states. When the territories were annexed by European countries, the annexation did not consider ethnic and linguistic boundaries. Languages

have emerged and mixed with others. Some of these languages were acquired through colonization, trade and missionary activities.
