Cameroonian Pidgin English
Cameroonian Pidgin English, or Cameroonian Creole (, from West Coast), is a language variety of Cameroon. It is also known as Kamtok (from 'Cameroon-talk'). It is primarily spoken in the North West and South West English speaking regions. Five varieties are currently recognised: Cameroonian Pidgin English is an English-based creole language. About 5% of Cameroonians are native speakers of the language, while an estimated 50% of the population speak it in some form. The terms "Cameroonian Pidgin", "Cameroonian Pidgin English", "Cameroonian Creole" and "Kamtok" are synonyms for what Cameroonians call Cameroon Pidgin English. Many speakers are  unaware that this language is different from Standard English. It is a variety of West African Pidgin Englishes spoken along the coast from Ghana to Cameroon. It is a vehicular language that has been in active use in the country for over 200 years. It came into being in the Slave Trade Years (1440 to early 1800s). It preceded English in Cameroon: the first Baptist missionaries who arrived in Cameroon in 1845 and introduced formal education in English, had to learn Pidgin. A few decades later during the German annexation period (1884–1914), Pidgin resisted a German ban. It took flight  when it became a makeshift language used in German plantations and undertakings by forced labourers who were drawn from the hinterland and who spoke different indigenous languages. With time it passed into use in the market place, and was adopted by Baptist missionaries as the language of their evangelical crusade. For many years, it has been used on school playgrounds and campuses and in political campaigns, and today it is forcing its way into spoken media. (For a comprehensive description of its linguistic features and its place in the language ecology of Cameroon, see amongst others, Kouega 2007 and 2008 ). Phonology. Vowels. Like most West African languages, Kamtok has seven vowels, with two mid vowels: open and closed (Schneider 1966:14-17). Schneider spells the mid vowels as closed "ey" and "ow" vs. open "e" and "o" but Todd spells them as closed "e" and "o" vs. open "eh" and "oh". Consonants. The palatal approximate is written "y", the palatal affricates and are written "ch" and "j", and the palatal and velar nasals and are written "ny" and "ng" (Schneider 1966:12-14). Some of these consonants, such as and , are not distinguished by speakers who lack such distinctions in their local  substrate languages (1966:225-229). Word classes. Pronoun system. The basic pronoun system of Kamtok distinguishes three persons and two numbers. In most cases, the shape of the pronoun does not change to show grammatical function. Two exceptions involve the first person singular, where "a" serves as a subject clitic on verbs, as in "mi, a mos go" 'I must go', and "ma" is the possessive pronoun, as in "ma beli" 'my stomach'. The other major exception is "-am" in place of "i" or "dem" as an object suffix on verbs, except when the referent is human, as in "a go  was-am" 'I'll wash it'. (Schneider 1966:64-68). Acrolectal speakers, however, are more likely to use "dei" for "dem" in subject position and "ohs" for "wi" in object position (Todd, n.d.). Verbs. Verbs are not inflected to show grammatical tense, aspect, modality, or negation. Instead, these notions are conveyed by a small set of preverbal auxiliaries (Schneider 1966:69-72, 95-104). Examples: The rendition of a short passage from English to Cameroon Pidgin: English language: Cameroon Pidgin: Plural markers. In pidgin unlike in English, 'S' is not used at the end of nouns to mark their plural state. Instead , this is what is used: