The Ideological Implication of Negation in Crisis Discourse: The Case of the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis (2016-2021)

Abstract

Language has many purposes of usage which determine how a speaker or writer chooses words and plays a great role in conflict and crisis resolution.The present study analyses the types of negations used by three state personalities in Cameroon: the former Prime Minister (Philemon Yang), the current Prime Minister (Dion Ngute) and the Head of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multilingualism (Peter Mafani Musonge) in their speeches delivered from 2016-2021 and seeks to identify the ideologies behind the use of negations and how the negations contribute in solving the present Cameroon Anglophone crisis. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample fifteen speeches of the three above mentioned personalities.  Textual conceptual functions as given by Jeffries (2010) was used as the analytical tool, uncovering ideologies expressed by the different types of negations using the apparatus of negation.The findings revealed that, the three personalities make use of syntactic, lexical, morphological negations and also negative pronouns in their discourse to qualify and condemn the atrocities perpetrated in the present crisis by the fighters. However, it was observed that, negation in some instances was used in a pejorative way to qualify the fighters especially on the side of the Anglophones which somehow contribute to incite and inflame the crisis. Thus, negation was used both to promote peace and to inflame the crisis. It was further recommended that, anyone invited to make a speech on the Cameroon Anglophone crisis should avoid words that may cause people who are already angry to be to hurt and avoiding taking side. In so doing, tension may calm down and a platform for dialogue and reconciliation may be established.