Language, Religion and Cosmopolitanism: Language Use in the Catholic Church in Yaounde, Cameroon

Autor/in	Kouega, Jean-Paul
Titel	Language, Religion and Cosmopolitanism: Language Use in the Catholic Church in Yaounde, Cameroon
Quelle	In: International Journal of Multilingualism, 5 (2008) 2, S.140-153 (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1479-0718
Schlagwörter	Catholics; Language Attitudes; Official Languages; Religion; Foreign Countries; Language Usage; African Languages; Guidelines; Computational Linguistics; French; English (Second Language); Language Minorities; Singing; Churches; Cameroon + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Katholik; Sprachverhalten; Office language; Amtssprache; Ausland; Sprachgebrauch; Africa; Language; Languages; Afrika; Sprachen; Afrikanische Sprache; Richtlinien; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Französisch; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Sprachminderheit; Gesang; Church; Kirche; Kamerun
Abstract	This paper presents the beginning of an approach to the study of language use and religion, a sub-area of language and religion that has been little explored. Essential features of the approach include segmenting a religious service into its constituent parts and checking what language is used in what part and for what purpose. The proposed framework has been applied to the Catholic mass service in a cosmopolitan set-up and it will be modified as more empirical evidence is gathered. Criticisms are welcome, as they will contribute to refining the framework if it resists empirical tests. The corpus examined consisted of 60 mass services offered in 20 of the 65 parishes of Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. The analysis showed that while French and English--the country's joint official languages--and Beti and Bassa--two minority languages spoken in the Centre province of Cameroon--are liturgical languages i.e. used for the Gospel, sermons etc., the other minority languages spoken by the inhabitants of the capital city are used mainly for singing and occasionally for epistle reading. Interestingly, the choice of these minority languages is determined by various non-sociolinguistic factors including the degree of their speakers' involvement in church issues. (Contains 5 tables and 10 notes.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10