Dr Nyindem Nancy Sirih-Nagang

Short Bio

Dr Nyindem Nancy Sirih-Nagang holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Buea, Cameroon. From 2006 to 2008, she worked on describing Cameroon Bantu Languages. In 2010, in the context of her PhD thesis, she documented the folk knowledge of plants and animals in two endangered Coastal Bantu A languages of Cameroon, Isubu and Wovia, as part of a multi-media documentation project funded by DOBES. As a principal investigator in Isubu, she received language documentation training at the Max Plank Institute in Njimegen, Netherlands. Dr Nyindem Nancy's main domains of interest are documentary linguistics, language description and language discourse. She participated in various national and international conferences: The 7th and 10th World Congress of African Linguistics, the 1st and 2nd conferences on Bantoid languages and Linguistics, etc. She has benefited from some postgraduate fellowships, such as the Alexandra von Humboldt junior research grant and the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence fellowship. She is also a member of the Cameroon Professional Research Oriented Women Network (CaPROWN).

As a member of staff of the University, she is involved in various activities of the University both at the departmental and Institutional levels. She is currently the Head of the Division for Teaching and Programs at the Higher Institute of Commerce and management of the University of Bamenda.

Selected Publications

• Nyindem S. N. (2019). Ethnobotany and Language Revitalisation. Journal of Literature, Language and Linguistics, Vol. 62 p. 39-49. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/62-05.
• Nyindem S. N. (2024). Language of coercion of the Separatist fighters in the Anglophone crisis of Cameroon. International Journal of African Languages and Media Studies, Vol 3 (2).
• Tabe, N. A. & Nyindem S. N. (2023). Game Education versus the Grammar Translation Method in Vocabulary Mastery of the Mendankwe Language in Government Bilingual High School (GBHS) Bamendankwe-Nkwen, Bamenda-Cameroon. International Journal of African Languages and Media Studies, Vol 3 (2).
• Nyindem S. N. (2023). The Role of Ecolinguistics in life Sustainability in Cameroon during the COVID-19 Era. In Evelyn Fogwe Chibaka, Samba E. N., Ngounoue M. D., Makoge V. F. & Wiysahnyuy L. F. (co-eds.) COVID-19 Era: A Transdisciplinary Perspective by Cameroon Professional Women in Sciences-CaPROWN (series 2).
• Nyindem S. N. (2019). Linguistic Salvage: Isubu and Wovea (Bantu A231) Phytonyms and Zoonyms. Grammatical Analyses of African Languages, Vol 62, Köln, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

Project Description

The research on the politics of labelling in crises: the case of the two Anglophone regions of Cameroon delves into the intricate linguistic dynamics of a complex crisis. It exposes the creation of new lexemes and describes the linguistics and non-linguistic techniques employed in communicating through the labelling of concepts, individuals, or situations by the ruling government and the secessionist fighters or activists of the two Anglophone regions. In the context, “crisis” refers to the political and social disorders in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, which are characterised by violence, threats, military attacks and mass shootings. The civil war in the two Regions has resulted in several deaths, with many injured and displaced. Thus, considering that language is a social behaviour that relates to social events and situations in a particular way, the language used is conditioned by the social context that propagates it. Language is used according to its relevance to the socio-political and cultural situations. This study examines the factors that influenced the process of labelling during the crisis in the two English-speaking regions in Cameroon. It will be structured into two main sections. One provides a historical background to the Anglophone crisis; the second section discusses the culture of naming/labelling in general, and focuses on the linguistic and non-linguistic elements that contributed to and influenced the act of labelling by the two parties involved in the Anglophone crisis.