Hybridity and Identity in Chamtok (Cameroon): An Acoustic Analysis
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Abstract
This paper aims to not only establish the existence of Chamtok, a hybridized communicative system used in the southwest region of Cameroon, but also to structurally and acoustically analyse its relation with English and Cameroon Pidgin English. We observed that despite lacking widespread recognition, even in localities where it is spoken, it shares some structural and acoustic characteristics with English and Cameroon Pidgin English, which warrant further investigation. Data were collected through participant observation, interviews and expert elicitation. The study involved 10 female participants, with data collected via recorded telephone communications, segmented, annotated, and phonetically transcribed using the ELAN software. A structural and acoustic analysis in PRAAT, guided by the descriptive linguistic approach, revealed that Chamtok adheres to the preferred CV syllable structure of English, with hyper-syllable amplifications through consonant insertion and vowel reduplication. This similarity extends to Cameroon Pidgin English, with which Chamtok interacts to form its hybrid identity. Acoustically, the analysis showed that the series of insertions and vowel reduplications harmonize Chamtok’s stress and intonation patterns with those of the English language. Unlike English, where primary stress typically falls on a single syllable, Chamtok often assigns similar stress patterns to adjacent syllables. Whilst it is apparent that the language is inspired by the quest for mutual exclusivity in linguistic expression, the unique linguistic phenomenon it reveals is meritorious of linguistic attention.
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