Language practices and religious rites in the Full Gospel Mission Cameroon

Abstract

This paper deals with language practices in one Pentecostal church in Cameroon, i.e. the Full Gospel Mission Cameroon (FGMC). The data are produced by some 80 pastors, church officials, choir leaders and congregants, and the settings are some 20 churches located in two anglophone regions and two francophone regions of Cameroon. The instruments used are a questionnaire, informal discussions and interviews, and participant observation, and the framework adopted for analysis is the structural-functional model. It was found that an FGMC service contains 4–13 parts and that the languages used to realise the bulk of these parts are French and English. Occasionally, several other languages and language-like forms, like tongue-speaking, are heard in two specific parts, namely Testimonies and Ministration. French and English are used because the congregants are expected to be educated in either French or English and the translation services are systematically offered so that no group of faithful is left behind. Testimonies are made in any language chosen by the speakers and translations are usually offered in French or English, depending on the usual language of expression of the officiating pastor.

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