Formes de « mise à distance » de l’altérité ethnique au Cameroun

Abstract: Interethnic communication in Cameroon is sometimes characterized by a derogatory discourse on the ethnicity of others. This discourse generally appears in the form of insults, jokes, teases, etc. built into narrations, songs, fiction and telecasts, and is transported from one generation to the other. This article describes some of the strategies used to denigrate the ethnic identity of others in Cameroon. The analyses, based on data (questionnaires, participant-observations, interviews) collected in Yaoundé and other regions of the country, show how Cameroonians use borrowings, nominal compositions, metaphors, semantic shifts, metonymies, etc. to denigrate, downgrade, dehumanize, or demonize members of certain ethnic groups and/or to erase, minimize or contest the ethnicity of others and their ethnic groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]