Pragmastylistic Naming and Describing in Two Cameroonian Plays: What God Has Put Asunder by Victor Epie’ngome and Family Saga by Bole Butake

Abstract

In pragmatics, language is understood in context, taking into consideration the speaker, the addressee, their interaction, background information and the situation of communication. Therefore the speakers make utterances taking account of the context of communication and the cognitive environment between them and the audience. The perspective of the Relevance Theory is that the speaker gives a clue to the audience on their intention which will help the audience infer into the message with the consideration of the context. This study is based on the assumption that in naming and describing in two Cameroonian plays, What God has Put Asunder by Victor Epie’Ngome and Family Saga by Bole Butake, the intention of the playwrights go beyond  what is literally communicated. The plays can only be interpreted with contextual knowledge and historical clues that tell the story of Southern Cameroons from colonisation to the present. Cameroon is a country that was colonised by both Britain and France and today is bilingual with both English and French as official languages. Britain colonised just a small portion, so out of the 10 Regions of the country only 2 Regions, North West and South West, are English Speaking. Epie’Ngome and Butake are English speaking Cameroonians and in their plays protest against the marginalisation of Anglophones by the Francophone dominated government in Cameroon. The study uncovers data from the plays, revealing historical connection of the plays to Cameroon, especially issues related to the Anglophone Problem.