**7. Concept of country in languages spoken in Cameroon**

However, whether these are languages or varieties, their reference to and expression of belonging to a country point to the meaning of a country in the respective languages. Mercado [1] concludes that at every level of groups of people, Cameroon tends toward being a multinational state, rather than a multiethnic nation. She dismisses the idea of Cameroon being made up of multiethnic groups. She thinks that Cameroon is made up of multinations as illustrated by some selected languages.

## **7.1 Some examples of village/country naming**

Below are some selected languages to illustrate the concept of naming village the same as the people will name a country.

According to **Table 1** above, people refer to their villages as countries. For many, a village is a country when referring to it in mother tongue. The table reveals that people assign the same name to their villages by calling it "country" in their local languages and assign the same or similar name to their "country". The word village in a given language means the same as country. **Table 2** provides details on how people say in their local languages that they are going to the village while referring to going to a country.
