A Comparative Study of Intensification in Camfranglais and Cameroon Pidgin English

This work examines the various strategies used by speakers of Camfranglais and Cameroon Pidgin English (henceforth CPE) to mark intensification, so as to come out with the similarities and discrepancies that exist between the two hybrid languages in relation to this linguistic phenomenon. To achieve this goal, the data was gathered from literary pieces of work, participant observation, movies, musical tracts, TV broadcasts, Facebook commentaries and data gathered by previous researchers. Quirk and Greenbaum’s 1973 model of structural grammar was used as theoretical framework to analyse these data. A scrutiny of the said data revealed that, in relation to intensification, Camfranglais and CPE have much to share. This is notably because the following patterns of intensification are opted for by their respective speakers: one-word intensification, phrasal intensification, clausal intensification, reduplicative intensification, interjection-based intensification, tone-based intensification and intensification based on phonological elongation. Similarly, in both languages, intensifiers can find themselves at initial, medial or final positions in utterances or sentences. Besides, in the two composite languages, intensifiers are likely to function as pre-modifiers and post-modifiers, in the same way as coinage constitutes a major source of intensifiers in both languages. Finally, both Camfranglais and CPE intensifiers are likely to fall under the following semantic domains: quantity and size, food and nutrition, kinship, action and movement, fear and disgust, poor health condition, quality and appraisal of physical appearance....