Analyze/According to the linguist and specialist in African languages Henry Tourneux (1900-2021), “In a highly multilingual region, the necessities of common life give rise to a particular vernacular language which will be profoundly transformed to allow intercommunication." If in fact we are all characterized by a mother tongue, depending on the context in which we find ourselves which can also be linked to socio-historical facts, we may be led to have a vehicular or trans ethnic language which is in fact a vernacular language that we have in common. If specialists clearly establish a difference between vehicular language and vernacular language, in a multilingual context which has its social realities very often at the basis of ethnic conflicts, the vehicular language is a vernacular language in the same way as the other mother tongues of the village’s surroundings. It is therefore a unifying factor that should not be neglected when looking for a better quality unit.
History tells us that the advent of Jihad (holy war) at the beginning of the 19th century in the Northern part of Cameroonian Territory constituted the starting point in the region not only of the Muslim religion but also of the language of the Fulani conquerors. Indeed, the Peulhs also called Fulanis, Fulbés, Pular, or even Fellata depending on the country, are a traditionally Pastoral people established throughout West Africa and beyond the Sahelo-Saharan strip, i.e. a total of around fifteen from different countries including Cameroon.
The conquest of territories has always been a means of expansion of cultures coming from elsewhere and which over the years and depending on the contexts can no longer be perceived in the same way because if before we could speak of dominant power and dominated territories with a few exceptions, today in a dynamic of federation or unity, we put more emphasis on what can allow us to understand each other better and live in peace despite our differences which themselves are the consequences of a set of socio-historical facts which have resulted in migratory movements which testify to the fact that, strictly speaking, no one is truly indigenous. We are all, or almost all, the consequence of a history that began elsewhere and ended where we are in a set of well-defined and listed spaces and ethnic groups which are part of a common heritage to be further valued.
Also read: The vernacular language: A vector of national unity and peaceful coexistence in Cameroun
Even if the department of Logone and Chari is known as an area where Choa Arabic is spoken more, there are no areas in the Far North of Cameroon where Fulfulde is not spoken and understood. Like all other languages spoken in Cameroon, it is a unifying vernacular language. The language, as a consequence of a historical conquest of the past which has succeeded in imposing itself in several regions, is no longer only a vehicular or inter-ethnic language, but a vernacular language which brings together a set of communities which certainly have their specificities but which are called to live together despite everything to contribute more to the national unity of a Territory where each vernacular language is intended to be or become not only that of a particular community, but that of a larger one called the Nation. Indeed, if Men is basically a social being, it is because he always comes from a family which belongs to a community or a village which, before having one or more specificities, is first of all a full member of the national Territory as well as the characteristic features of its culture including the language, are part of the national heritage of a Territory because each singularity or local community has the vocation of becoming one with the others to the smooth running of the unity of a country which needs the participation of each of its members to promote an inclusive multiculturalism where the other is also a member of the same family as us even if they come Besides.
If speaking French and English means highlighting what we have in common, highlighting a vernacular language that we all understand despite the fact that we all have mother tongues is recognizing that we are One despite our differences which are in fact common wealth enriched further by what we have in common and which we must enhance, in particular through mutual respect which allows peaceful coexistence and a rejection of stigmatizing remarks towards those who do not speak the same language as us or who come from elsewhere. Hence the need for the teaching of vernacular languages in a multilingual environment to enable everyone to have at least one second vernacular language apart from the official languages and other foreign second languages taught in our schools and universities. Men is the environment. Depending on the environment in which he lives, he adapts. He learns the habits, customs and even languages of the environment in which he lives; it is not primarily a question of knowing how to speak one's original language or that of the context in which one finds oneself but rather of being aware of the fact of being in an inclusive framework where no barrier is erected to prevent those who have the desire to better understand the context in which they find themselves in order to participate in their own way in the implementation or preservation of a unity that can be manifested in several ways and by particularly making the effort to learn at least one unifying vernacular language.
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