Cameroonian Students’ Complaint Letters and Job Applications
Formal letter writing such as students’ complaint letters and job applications constitutes a genre of its own. Taking genre analysis to be the study of how language is used in a particular context, this category of non-literary genre falls within a growing body of written texts exhibiting much of what may be considered Cameroonian peculiarities in English usage. The idea that genres would relate to specific socio-cultural contexts within which they are written is, however, not new. Braj Kachru (1988) maintains that ‘there is bound to be a fair amount of variation in the use of non fictional genres in a number of nativized contexts particularly where dominant regional socio-cultural factors operate differently’ (p.207). Students’ complaint letters on various academic and administrative problems and job applications in Cameroon are very interesting in that a lot of what is written is superfluous and in some cases unduly formal. This superfluity, especially as seen in both opening and closing sentences of these letters, is a spill over effect of the Anglophones exposure to French. Many Cameroonian linguists have observed that the dominant position of French as an official language in Cameroon has influenced both written and spoken English in a number of ways (Mbangwana, pp.319‑325; Simo Bobda, pp.177‑178).
Theoretical Premise
According to Braj Kachru (1985), the spread of English around the world has given rise to different kinds of Englishes (pp.12‑13). The transportation of English into new contexts of use and its various functions in non-native settings have brought with it new challenges of description and interpretation. Kachru (1992) argues ...
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Throughout the novel “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende the reader sees many instances that exemplify the antagonistic nature of man verses woman. Through Esteban Trueba’s raping of many of the women at Tres Marias, his marriage with Clara, his relationship with his daughter Blanca and her with her lover Pedro Tercero Garcia and with Alba Trueba’s relationship with her lover Miguel and her Grandfather Esteban, much of what Allende wants the reader to know about the nature of man verses woman is exposed. Nature pits man against woman, in marriage, love, sex, work, and war. Women can choose their battles and fight them subtly, without really seeming to, because all women know that the men like to think they are in charge when they really aren’t, and that men will fight every battle just to prove that they are men. Triumph over a weaker opponent does not make men stronger. It only makes them feel powerful. Allende writes about women who are able to quietly persevere, always managing to get their own way, without seeming too, because they know the only way to keep men happy is to let them feel powerful and in charge.
The initial spark of the crisis was Ukraine’s moves toward Europeanization. This was a major turning point in the crisis. The March 16th referendum is contested, in light of the absence of international monitors. While the West paints Russia’s soft annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law, the Russians posit that Crimea wanted to break from a country they considered hostile. The Ukrainian central government considers this a violation of international law. In the end, with the help of a Russian military intervention, Crimea successfully severed ties.
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...e was not being abused, she was still in great pain and going through a large amount of sorrow after the loss of her family. The author of this story relates to women being discriminated because she was born in the 40’s and came from chili. In her biography she wrote “I was not supposed to be in any way a liberated person. I was a female born in the ‘40s in a patriarchal family; I was supposed to marry and make everyone around me happy.” –Isabel Allende (pg 1224)
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Maria Alejandrina Cervantes is a rare dominant female in the novel who by society’s standard should be marginalized due to her career and gender but she refuses to conform and chooses to go against her society. She is shown to be headstrong and fiercely protective of her friends and always accepting others. Through his use of situational irony and characterization, Gabriel Garcia Marquez portrays the town’s madam, Maria Alejandrina Cervantes, as a contradictory character and her fight against her society’s restricting beliefs.
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Many reviews have been written on Julia Alvarez since she is a Dominican Diaspora, a Jew who lived outside of Israel, who wrote in a Latina perspective in the country of Uni...
Isabel Allende’s novel, Eva Luna, amalgamates many of the techniques and conventions associated with the picaresque tradition, magical realism and bildungsroman in order to present a critique of dominant Eurocentric ideologies of the patriarchy and oligarchy in 20th century Latin America and to valorize the voices and experiences of the marginalized and oppressed. A prominent aspect of Eva Luna which acts as a vehicle for the novels critique of the patriarchal oligarchy are the numerous motifs and symbols utilized throughout the novel. The manner in which Allende introduces and develops symbols and motifs throughout the novel functions to set up a number of oppositions which portray a sense of loss of freedom and expression under the oppression of the colonizing oligarchy, illustrate the superficiality of oligarchic power and align the reader with expression over silence and transgression above oppression.
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In a Post soviet environment World has evovled around a unipolar system with united states having a preponderance in international matters. The remanants of the cold war still haunting europe. Most of the Eastern European nations formally allied with soviet union are now turing away from russia towards European union. The Reasons for this paradigm shift owes a lot to the democratic ways of the liberal western world and the economic ties and stability being offered to its allies. Hitherto Ukraine was in a dilemma whether to join the western block or to to under the patronage and shadow of Russia. The Multi ethnic population of Ukraine has different opinions. Some favour Russia and others favour European union. Their choices seems to be motivated by geographic and cultural proximity. The Immediate cause of the current crisis traces its origin to the Ukrainian presidents descision to forfeit an agreement with the european union. And Endorsing the russian aid in terms of a bail out plan and an added gas price reduction. So the current crisis has far reaching political and economic ramifications. If russia pulls out of the economic bail out package there needs to be an alternative. European union has a responsibility to ensure the regional peace. A military action in Ukraine would further deteriorate the situation and may escalate it to a multiparty conflict.
People live in the world of communication. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Moore, 1997), communication is defined as, “The activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information”. The significance of communication can be found within the context of a human existing as a social being. As a human being manages his or her life in the course of the interaction between other members of the entire society, communication is inevitable. Communication occurs through the medium of a language and it is presented in two different forms which are written and spoken (Brown & Yule, 1983: 1-10). The importance of spoken performance of a language is becoming more prominent over the written performance capability. It is because the ability to speak a language reflects a person’s personality, self image, knowledge of the world, ability to reason, skill to express thoughts in real-time (Luoma, 2004: ix). These days, due to the global trend of internationalisation, the ability to communicate in English is needed as an essential skill. Whenever the international exchange happens, the use of spoken English entails. However, it is not always an easy task for people who use English as a second language to be able to speak to the level of a native speaker. They have to perfectly understand the sound system of English, have almost instant access to proper vocabulary and be able to place words together intelligibly without hesitation. Moreover, they also have to perceive what is being said to them and need to be able to respond appropriately to acquire amiable relations or to accomplish their communicative goals (Luoma, 2004: ix). Therefore, non-native English speakers encounter these barriers and they are subject to make mistakes often. In relation to this matter, this essay argues that there are socio-cultural factors as well as linguistic factors that affect non-native speakers’ communication in English. It provides analysis of several different situations when the use of spoken English has generated miscommunication problems in regards to author’s personal experience.
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