Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors

Francois Baïmada Gigla

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors

Francois Baïmada Gigla

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 8, Issue 4)

Received: 29 June 2020 Accepted: 13 July 2020 Published: 4 August 2020

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Abstract

This paper looks into language management and factors affecting language use in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the city of Maroua. The methodology consists of observation followed by a pre-prepared questionnaire supplemented with personal interviews with church faithful and rulers. The approach used to analyse the data is the structural-functional approach propounded by Kouega (2008) and successfully applied to some Christian Churches and to Islam. The findings show that, contrary to previous works, this Seventh-Day Adventist Church adopts only a default language policy as its religious language management strategy. The use of Fulfulde and French as the two default languages was found to be motivated by the wish to follow a neutral policy due to cosmopolitanism of the polity but also to keep the historical tradition. This policy is in total contradiction with what obtains in Catholic masses whose language policies were deeply influenced by the resolutions Council Vatican II authorizing the use of vernaculars in religious services and in Protestant churches where the sociolinguistic identities of the worshipers matter in the choice of the language in which some activities should be conducted.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
Page(s)	158-163
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Language Management, Fulfulde, French, Seventh - Day Adventist, Maroua

References

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[2]	Fishman, Joshua A. (2006). ‘A Decalogue of Basic Theoretical Perspectives for a Sociology of Language and Religion’, in Tope Omoniyi and Joshua A. Fishman (eds), Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 13–25.
[3]	Spolsky, B. (2004) (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]	Spolsky, B. (2009). Language management. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
[5]	Omoniyi, Tope and Fishman, Joshua A. (Eds.) (2006): Explorations in the sociology of language and religion. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
[6]	Spolsky, Bernard (2006): Introduction. Part II. In: Omoniyi/ Fishman (Eds.), Explorations in the sociology of language and religion. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 4-9.
[7]	Kouega J. P. (2008). Language, religion and cosmopolitanism: language use in the Catholic Church in Yaoundé – Cameroon. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5 (2), pp. 140-153.
[8]	Kouega, J. P., and Ndzotom Mbakop A W. (2011a). Multilingual practices in Presbyterian churches in Cameroon. International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research Issue 1 Dec 2011, pp 44-58.
[9]	Kouega, J. P., and Ndzotom Mbakop A W. (2011b). Language use in multi-ethnic Christian congregations: The case of the Evangelical Church of Cameroon. Annals of the Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, University of Yaoundé 13 (1), 67-86.
[10]	Kouega J. P., and Emaleu, C. (2013). Language choice in multilingual socio religious settings in southwest Cameroon. World Englishes 32 (3), pp. 403-416.
[11]	Kouega, J. P., and Baimada Gigla F. (2011). Language use in the Islamic faith in Cameroon: The case of a mosque in the city of Maroua. Journal of Language and Culture, 3 (1), pp. 10-19.
[12]	Baimada Gigla F. (2013). Language use in the Islamic Faith in the three northern regions of Cameroon, A PhD research project, University of Yaoundé I.
[13]	Baimada Gigla F. (2018b). Language Practice in Multilingual Islamic Northern Cameroon. In Martha Moore (Ed.), Exploring Religious Beliefs and Practices from around the World. Pp. 85-128. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
[14]	Baimada Gigla F. (2020a). Current Approaches to Religious Language Management in Multilingual Africa; In Clément Dili Palai Patrimoine (s) Mémoire (s) et Identité (s) en Afrique. Yaoundé: Denimber and Larimber Pp 102-116.
[15]	Ndzotom Mbakop, Antoine Willy (2011). Multilingualism and religion. Language use in Protestant churches in Cameroon: the case of the city of Yaoundé. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The University of Yaoundé 1.
[16]	Ndzotom Mbakop, Antoine Willy (2016). Language choice in multilingual religious settings: The historical factor. Pragmatics and Society, 7 (3), 413-435.
[17]	Seignobos, C. and Iyebi-Mandjeck O (2004). Atlas de la Province de l’Extrême-Nord Cameroun. Paris: IRD.
[18]	Maud Lasseur (2005). Cameroun: les nouveaux territoires de Dieu. In Afrique Contemporaine, (3), 125, pp. 93-116.

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Francois Baïmada Gigla. (2020). Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 8(4), 158-163. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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Francois Baïmada Gigla. Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2020, 8(4), 158-163. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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Francois Baïmada Gigla. Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. Int J Lang Linguist. 2020;8(4):158-163. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16,
  author = {Francois Baïmada Gigla},
  title = {Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {158-163},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20200804.16},
  abstract = {This paper looks into language management and factors affecting language use in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the city of Maroua. The methodology consists of observation followed by a pre-prepared questionnaire supplemented with personal interviews with church faithful and rulers. The approach used to analyse the data is the structural-functional approach propounded by Kouega (2008) and successfully applied to some Christian Churches and to Islam. The findings show that, contrary to previous works, this Seventh-Day Adventist Church adopts only a default language policy as its religious language management strategy. The use of Fulfulde and French as the two default languages was found to be motivated by the wish to follow a neutral policy due to cosmopolitanism of the polity but also to keep the historical tradition. This policy is in total contradiction with what obtains in Catholic masses whose language policies were deeply influenced by the resolutions Council Vatican II authorizing the use of vernaculars in religious services and in Protestant churches where the sociolinguistic identities of the worshipers matter in the choice of the language in which some activities should be conducted.},
 year = {2020}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors
AU  - Francois Baïmada Gigla
Y1  - 2020/08/04
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 158
EP  - 163
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
AB  - This paper looks into language management and factors affecting language use in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the city of Maroua. The methodology consists of observation followed by a pre-prepared questionnaire supplemented with personal interviews with church faithful and rulers. The approach used to analyse the data is the structural-functional approach propounded by Kouega (2008) and successfully applied to some Christian Churches and to Islam. The findings show that, contrary to previous works, this Seventh-Day Adventist Church adopts only a default language policy as its religious language management strategy. The use of Fulfulde and French as the two default languages was found to be motivated by the wish to follow a neutral policy due to cosmopolitanism of the polity but also to keep the historical tradition. This policy is in total contradiction with what obtains in Catholic masses whose language policies were deeply influenced by the resolutions Council Vatican II authorizing the use of vernaculars in religious services and in Protestant churches where the sociolinguistic identities of the worshipers matter in the choice of the language in which some activities should be conducted.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
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Francois Baïmada Gigla

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Francois Baïmada Gigla. (2020). Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 8(4), 158-163. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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ACS Style

Francois Baïmada Gigla. Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2020, 8(4), 158-163. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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AMA Style

Francois Baïmada Gigla. Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors. Int J Lang Linguist. 2020;8(4):158-163. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16,
  author = {Francois Baïmada Gigla},
  title = {Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {158-163},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20200804.16},
  abstract = {This paper looks into language management and factors affecting language use in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the city of Maroua. The methodology consists of observation followed by a pre-prepared questionnaire supplemented with personal interviews with church faithful and rulers. The approach used to analyse the data is the structural-functional approach propounded by Kouega (2008) and successfully applied to some Christian Churches and to Islam. The findings show that, contrary to previous works, this Seventh-Day Adventist Church adopts only a default language policy as its religious language management strategy. The use of Fulfulde and French as the two default languages was found to be motivated by the wish to follow a neutral policy due to cosmopolitanism of the polity but also to keep the historical tradition. This policy is in total contradiction with what obtains in Catholic masses whose language policies were deeply influenced by the resolutions Council Vatican II authorizing the use of vernaculars in religious services and in Protestant churches where the sociolinguistic identities of the worshipers matter in the choice of the language in which some activities should be conducted.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Language Management in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the City of Maroua: Default Language Policy and Historical Factors
AU  - Francois Baïmada Gigla
Y1  - 2020/08/04
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 158
EP  - 163
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20200804.16
AB  - This paper looks into language management and factors affecting language use in a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the city of Maroua. The methodology consists of observation followed by a pre-prepared questionnaire supplemented with personal interviews with church faithful and rulers. The approach used to analyse the data is the structural-functional approach propounded by Kouega (2008) and successfully applied to some Christian Churches and to Islam. The findings show that, contrary to previous works, this Seventh-Day Adventist Church adopts only a default language policy as its religious language management strategy. The use of Fulfulde and French as the two default languages was found to be motivated by the wish to follow a neutral policy due to cosmopolitanism of the polity but also to keep the historical tradition. This policy is in total contradiction with what obtains in Catholic masses whose language policies were deeply influenced by the resolutions Council Vatican II authorizing the use of vernaculars in religious services and in Protestant churches where the sociolinguistic identities of the worshipers matter in the choice of the language in which some activities should be conducted.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download