A Study of Vowel Nasalization and Vowel Epenthesis Processes in Cameroon Francophone English

Unlike Cameroon English and Received Pronunciation, Cameroon Francophone English has a number of nasal and epenthetic vowels. Those nasal vowels are generally French ones, as Cameroon Francophone English is heavily influenced by that language. The epenthetic vowels found in Cameroon Francophone English as in many other non-native Englishes are difficult to explain. Part of the data analysed is drawn from past studies (Safotso 2001, 2006, 2012 & 2015; Kouega 2008). This is complemented by the oral reading of some test words by French-speaking Cameroonian undergraduate/postgraduate students and some speech gathered from debates and interventions on various national TV channels and radio stations. Results show that in Cameroon Francophone English, vowel nasalization and vowel epenthesis occur in specific positions. This paper attempts to show how they operate in that variety of English.


INTRODUCTION
In the growing world of New Englishes many studies generally limit themselves to segmental analysis (Hung 2000;Gargesh 2004;Gut 2007).Indeed, unlike other levels of analysis such as that of rhythm, intonation, grammar or vocabulary, the study of the consonants and vowels of any language is quite easy.Yet, at supra-segmental level, many languages reveal very interesting features that can be analysed for a better understanding of their functioning.Unfortunately, in the literature, there are for example very few studies on the rhythm and intonation of nonnative Englishes (Diez 2005;Vicenk & Sundara 2013;Fuchs 2016).Those features are, however, some of their salient characteristics.The segmental analysis of any non-native variety of English just has to be the foundation for its in-depth investigation.Early studies (Kouega 2008;Safotso 2001Safotso & 2015) ) on CamFE (Cameroon Francophone English) revealed that vowel nasalization and vowel epenthesis are some of its striking supra-segmental features.Those two features which hamper its intelligibility to native speakers and speakers of other New Englishes, and which are so stable, are a problem which necessitates an in-depth investigation.A close analysis of that phenomenon would better through some light on its functioning.This study therefore aims to look into the vowel nasalization and vowel epenthesis processes in Cameroon Francophone English, which are two aspects of that variety of English so far not fully explored.
Spoken by French-speaking Cameroonians, who for some two decades now have drastically changed their attitude toward English, CamFE (Cameroon Francophone English) has its stable phonological features which differentiate it from RP (Received Pronunciation), CamE (Cameroon English) and other New Englishes.Some features of CamFE have been studied by Safotso (2001Safotso ( , 2006Safotso ( , 2012Safotso ( & 2015) ) and Kouega (2008), and clearly show that it is a new variety of English in its own right.Other works on different aspects of this variety of English include Simo Bobda (2013), Atechi (2015) and Safotso (2016).Those studies respectively discuss the emergence and the standardisation of CamFE, its implication on the future of English in Cameroon, and its atypical evolution with regard to existing models.Simo Bobda remarks that, having been long denied status as a legitimate accent of English in Cameroon by scholars, CamFE pronunciation is fast emerging onto the officially English-French bilingual landscape.Its accent is introduced into the classroom by the very teachers produced in highly rated teacher training institutions (Simo Bobda 2013: 289).Atechi (2015: 25) notes that there is now a large number of CamFE speakers teaching English both as a second and a foreign language in secondary schools and at tertiary level across the country, which contributes in spreading its accent to all the corners of Cameroon.As to which variety between Cameroon Francophone English and Cameroon English will influence the other or take the lead in future, Atechi remains very cautious, because of the complex linguistic landscape of Cameroon and the changes that are taking place in it.Safotso (2016) studied the evolution process of CamFE to show that it is an atypical example to Moag's (1992) and Schneider's (2003Schneider's ( , 2007Schneider's ( & 2009) ) models.All the studies reviewed above testify to the dynamism of CamFE in Cameroon.Section 2 below looks at the method of data collection.

METHODOLOGY
The data analysed partly come from past studies (Safotso 2001(Safotso , 2006(Safotso , 2012(Safotso , 2015;;Kouega 2008) and from the oral reading of some test words by some Frenchspeaking undergraduate/ postgraduate students of the

A Study of Vowel Nasalization and Vowel Epenthesis Processes in Cameroon Francophone English 215
Departments of English and Bilingual studies of the University of Maroua (N=40).The Test words for vowel nasalization consisted in a corpus of 80 words containing the sequences -imp, -imp, -emb, -emp, -ent,-enk, etc. for / E) /; -ant, -ang, -enc, -env, etc. for /A) /, and -on, -ond, -ount,ound, etc. for /ç) /.The test words for vowel epenthesis were made up of 35 words containing the sequences -vel, -nel,ble, -dle, etc. for /E/; -ple, -ble, -gle for /ç/, and -se, -s (in medial and final positions) for /´/.This was complemented by some free speech gathered on university campus and from debates and interventions of French-speaking leaders and politicians on various TV channels and radio stations around Cameroon.The section which follows examines how vowel nasalization functions in CamFE.

VOWEL NASALIZATION PROCESSES IN CAMEROON FRANCOPHONE ENGLISH
CamFE has 12 monophthongs like RP, but with a number of different segments.Cameroon English has only eight (see Safotso 2015:448).These are CamFE monophthongs: / i, E, E) , e, a, A) , ç, o, ç) , u y, ´ /.They comprise the nasal vowels / E) , A) , ç) / which are not attested in RP (Received Pronunciation) but in French.This feature of CamFE is quite stable, and has been identified by a number of previous studies (Safotso 2001(Safotso , 2006(Safotso , 2012(Safotso , 2015;;Kouega 2008).Those studies mostly identified the feature without getting into an in-depth analysis of its working processes.Kouega (2008: 116) notes that / E) / tends to occur where RP /In/ is expected; / ã / is heard where / εn/ / is expected, usually where the letters 'en' are present, and / ç) / tends to occur where the sequence 'on' or 'oun' is present.This is a simplistic way of viewing the complex phenomena that the nasalization of / ε, A,ç / in CamFE entails.CamFE speakers nasalize /ε/ in many contexts as shown in Table 1.

VOWEL EPENTHESIS PROCESSES IN CAMEROON FRANCOPHONE ENGLISH
In RP, Roach (1991: 79-83) mentions / l, n, m,N, r / as syllabic consonants.A syllabic consonant is one which stands at the centre of the syllable in the absence of a vowel element as in pedal, sadden, history [ pεdl, sQdn, hIstrÌ ].In non-native Englishes, the epenthesized vowel is generally inserted before those consonants.Simo Bobda (1994: 25-28) reviewed a number of New Englishes in which this phenomenon occurs.They include Indian English (Platt et al. 1984), Malaysian English (Wong 1982), East African English (Hancock 1984), West African English (Todd 1984), South Asian English (Kachru 1984(Kachru & 1986)).For Example, in Indian English, glass and play are pronounced [g´las, p´lai] for RP [glA:s, pleI] (Platt et al. 1984: 43); in South Asian English, school and station are pronounced [iskul, isteSan] for RP [sku:l, steIS´n].Tables 4, 5, 6, and 7 show some contexts where vowel epenthesis occurs in CamFE.In short, vowel nasalization and vowel epenthesis are two of the salient features of CamFE.Their processes are quite complex.There are many contexts where they take place in that variety of English.Those contexts are consistent and predictable, and can give room for some generalisations.If the vowel nasalization can generally be attributed to French as all the vowels concerned are attested in it, the cause of the insertion of the epenthetic vowels is hard to find.Nevertheless, since the epenthetic vowels like the nasalized vowels do not occur haphazardly in CamFE, this paper has thrown some more light on the functioning of those aspects of that variety of New Englishes.

Table 4 .
Contexts where /E/ occurs as epenthetic vowel in CamFEIn Table4, it can be observed that /E/ generally occurs as epenthetic vowel in CamFE in the word penultimate position where RP /´/ is optionally expected followed by /l/, as in saddle, constable [sadEl, kç) stebEl ] for RP [sQdl / sQd´l , k√nst´bl / k√nst´b´l].In connected speech, it would happen where the syllabic /l/ is expected.This feature is also observable in CamE (Cameroon English).

Table 6 .
Indeed, in Cameroon French, the letter E, which normally is silent in final position of words in native French, is articulated, e.g.patate (potato), mange (eat), assiette (plate) [patatђ, mA) Z´, asiEt´]* for native French [patat, mA) Z, asiEt].So, the few cases listed above are just indicative, as the epenthetic /´/ in final position can occur with any word in CamFE.Table7looks at the contexts where /ia/ operates as epenthetic vowel.