Volume: 9  Number: 5  Page: 625–642  doi:10.2167/beb384.0

Language Development and Social Uses of Literacy: A Study of Literacy Practices in Cameroonian Minority Language Communities

Barbara Trudell SIL International, Africa Area, Nairobi, Kenya

In Northwest Cameroon, the emergence of literacy in the mother tongue is providing minority language communities with new alternatives for learning and communication. To some extent, these alternatives are shaped by existing literacy practices in English, as English is the language of formal education. However, new spaces are also emerging in society for the use of literacy in the mother tongue. This paper examines the impact of mother-tongue literacy on attitudes towards, and uses of, written text in the Bafut, Kom and Nso' language communities of North-west Cameroon. The paper is based on qualitative case study research conducted in these communities in 2002–2003. The paper concludes with a discussion of the future of mother-tongue literacy in the Bafut, Kom and Nso’ language communities.

Keywords: Cameroon, language development, literacy, minority language

© 2006 B. Trudell

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