-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Mélanie Torrent, Bilingualism and Double-Talk: Language and Diplomacy in the Cameroons (1959–1962), Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 45, Issue 4, October 2009, Pages 361–377, https://doi.org/10.1093/fmls/cqp107
- Share Icon Share
Abstract
When the Federal Republic of Cameroon came into being on 1 October 1961 as a result of the unification of a former British and a former French mandate, it portrayed itself as the embodiment of unity in diversity, and the choice of official bilingualism served to symbolise Cameroon's commitment to national cohesion and continental harmony. Yet bilingualism was essentially conceptual, a useful linguistic device supporting present national construction but only really practicable in an ideal future. Reunification meant two languages, French and English, and a double diplomatic absence, from the French Community and the British Commonwealth. Ultimately, this double absence mattered for the Federation's postcolonial international relations, but not because it established a real balance. Rather it provided a reassuring theoretical framework for the bilateral and regional relations promoted by the essentially French-speaking elite in power in Yaoundé, and for new forms of cooperation with Francophone partners in the 1960s.