Mainstream Mesolectal and Basilectal Cameroon English Speech: Implications for Phonological Norm Selection and Classroom Practice

The growing advocacy for Cameroon English (CamE) as a medium of instruction and pedagogical norm in the Anglophone subsystem of education continues to raise a question that has received insufficient systematic attention: which phonological features of this variety should serve as the standard for teaching? Because CamE has not been formally codified, there is a real risk that features characteristic of basilectal speech, forms shaped by limited formal education and strong substrate influence, may be misconstrued as features of mainstream CamE and, on that basis, accorded legitimacy they do not warrant. This paper addresses that risk by systematically distinguishing between the segmental features of mainstream CamE speech and those of basilectal origin and character. Drawing on field data collected from semi-educated and uneducated Anglophone Cameroonian speakers from the North West and South West Regions, the study identifies and analyses a set of vocalic and consonantal processes (including vowel replacement, vowel insertion, monophthongisation, diphthongisation, consonant substitution, final obstruent deletion and yod deletion) that deviate significantly from mainstream CamE phonological norms. The paper argues that the frequency with which these forms occur in everyday speech cannot, by itself, confer pedagogical legitimacy upon them. Codification requires norm selection, and norm selection requires carefully drawing the boundaries of the mainstream variety and defending them analytically. The findings carry direct implications for English language teaching in Cameroon, for ongoing discussions about the standardisation of CamE and for broader debates within the World Englishes literature concerning the pedagogical status of nativised varieties.