Kenyang is a language spoken in the Manyu Division in the
South-West Region of the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa. It has
an increasing population of over 65.000 speakers spread out across three
sub-divisions in two divisions of the South-West Region; Manyu division,
in Upper and Central parts; and Koupe Muanegouba, at the west part of
Nguti sub-division. The language is developing and has a written code
(Latin script) but dominated by English graphemes for popular readability.
Neighbouring languages result to three dialects; Upper Kenyang (“Kɛnyaŋ
mfay” or Haut Kenyang); Lower Kenyang (“Kɛnyaŋ Ntɛn” or BasKenyang), Lower Kenyang is the reference dialect. Its developing status is
endangered by the presence of the strong and influential spread of the
dominant world language (English). The concern of this paper is on
reconsidering the appellation of Kenyang proper names in view to revitalize
their connotations in the language. Considering the fact that naming in
Kenyang is a socio-cultural-bound phenomenon, these proper names have not only lost their
morphophonetic representation, but have lost its semantic properties. The proper or personal names
considered are randomly selected names of persons, and places in the central, lower and upper Banyang
in Manyu Division. What, and how are these names pronounced, written, and what do they signify given
these are not arbitrarily assigned names? Interviews of 10 elderly people and 6 young adults native
speakers in three villages of Upper, Central, and Lower Banyang and in three towns of Southwest;
Mamfe, Kumba, and Buea were conducted. An ethnogpraphic method through participant observation
and vox pops provided the data that is explained using the Quan-qualitative approaches. The result shows
that Kenyang proper names have been devalorised. Thus revitalisation is imperative since the language
is undergoing linguistic development.
The Sociolinguistics of Kenyang Names: Phase One