La « langue des génies ou génisti » : Sur les pistes d’un parler jeune émergent au Cameroun

Abstract

The “language of geniuses or genisti”: On the tracks of an emerging young language in Cameroon

The technological changes that societies are currently undergoing, characterized, among other things, by ease of communication in the world of mediated electronic discourse (DEM), have direct consequences on our linguistic behaviors. As a result, sociolinguists have plenty to do because they are faced with linguistic phenomena that call into question, and render obsolete the truths of yesteryear, or that suggest new avenues of research. In sociolinguistics, this is felt more and more by the new language forms that emerge due to certain cultural and sociological changes. The present study focuses on the analysis of a new language form, in particular “the language of geniuses”, a young speech form that is budding in the city of Yaoundé. This sociolect, which arises from the desire of cloth sellers in a sector of the Mokolo market called “South Africa”, invented to distinguish themselves from others, and exclude anyone who does not belong to their sector of activity, is gaining momentum, gaining more speakers and is gradually spreading throughout the city.