Pidgin, Cameroon

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A language of Cameroon

ISO 639-3
wes
Alternate Names
Cameroon Creole English, Wes Cos
Location

Primarily South West and North West regions; Littoral Region, Douala; Center Region, Yaounde; South West and North West regions, urban centers.

Language Status

3 (Wider communication).

Classification
Creole, English based, Atlantic, Krio
Dialects

Similar to Krio [kri] of Sierra Leone and Pidgin English of various West African countries; probably an offshoot of 19th century Krio. Also similar to Sranan [srn] (Todd and Mühlhäusler 1978). There are dialect variations.

Language Use

2,000,000 mainly L2 users (1989 UBS). Growing number of L1 speakers. Since 1884 used by police, prisons, urban school children at play. Now the most widespread lingua franca in Cameroon, used by about half the population (Todd and Mühlhäusler 1977).

Language Development
Very negative attitudes towards its possible use in schools. Dictionary. NT: 2002.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Pidgin, Cameroon
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Christian, Muslim, traditional religion.