Conseils et variation stylistique en français parlé au Cameroun

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the communicative act of advice giving in Cameroon French. The data consists of examples produced by a group of Cameroonian French-speaking University students. Focusing on pragmatic and linguistic choices made by the respondents when giving advice to friends and professors, the analysis reveals that they give advice in a direct and an indirect manner, using many different strategies, which also vary according to the degree of familiarity and to the distance from the hearer. The findings also indicate that the respondents mostly prefer complex utterances, which appear to be determined by the need to repeat or ground one’s advice in order to protect the addressee’s face and the relationship between the two persons. I also discuss the use of supportive acts and address terms as mitigating strategies. The study contributes to the empirical research on pragmatic aspects of Cameroon French.

Keywords

• advice-giving
• politeness
• directness
• indirectness
• mitigation
• stylistic variation
• french in cameroon