International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies

Volume 3, Issue 4, 2022

Homepage: http://ijlts.org/index.php/ijlts/index
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlts.v3i4.000

Language and Peace on WhatsApp and Facebook Messages on the

Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon
Peniel Zaazra Nouhou
University of Maroua, Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, Department of English
Language and Literature.
[email protected]
How to cite:
Nouhou, P. Z. (2022). Language and Peace on WhatsApp and Facebook Messages on the Anglophone Crisis in
Cameroon. International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies 3(4).26-41.
https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlts.v3i4.

ARTICLE Abstract
HISTORY This study set out to explore the promotion of peace by some social media
messages related to the ongoing crisis in Southern Cameroons. Focus is on the
Received: 29/10/2022
lexical choice and style that show ways out of the warped communication out of
Accepted: 28/11/2022 language crisis, and the possible impacts of the messages on the readers’ minds
of Cameroonians and other world citizens. The theory of Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA) by Fairclough (1989, 1992, 1995a, 1995b) guided the analysis of
the data (150 messages) collected from 75 participants (45 males and 30 females)
KEYWORDS both from WhatsApp (100) and Facebook (50) posted by Cameroonians from the
English-speaking part. The researcher and the field assistants used the Android
Peace, WhatsApp phone to collect these data. Results reveal that there is an intensive war of words
and Facebook and words of war almost every line of the e-messages from either of the platforms.
messages, CDA, The numerous messages of peace are overshadowed and outnumbered by verbal
Anglophone crisis, bullying and the tense mood in the discourses. Some messages advocate national
ideology unity and push readers to think of peaceful co-existence. Therefore, readers are
served with messages that feed them with bitterness about the current affairs in
the country and accept war for peace to reign; in other words, the messages of
peace are likely to recruit less militants than the words call for uprising.

1. INTRODUCTION
Social media are fast vehicles to convey an avalanche of texts and opinions on any subject. They
have niched all the aspects of human life such as entertainment, information, advertisement,
scamming, dating, lobbying, gambling and fighting (Kapoor et al., 2018; Busuyi et al., 2020).
Because of its fast nature of spreading messages (Baruah, 2012; Bosley et al., 2013; Denis, Klein
& Gueguen, 2014, Zhang et al., 2014) at a cheaper cost; youngsters (Chukwuere & Chukwuere,
2017; Winstone et al, 2021), adults and elders (Yavich, Davidovitch & Zeev, 2019) glue to the
screens and stick to what they see and reply, react, discuss or post about what they stand for, what
they like or dislike and what they experience. The terms of violence online sparked armed battles
(Jibon & Minar, 1997; Mengü & Mengü, 2015; Polak & Trottier, 2020; Manyerere, 2021;

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Proctor, 2021) and the report of the battles by social media users gave rise to abundant information
which aims at shaping the views of the larger audience on the crisis; pro-separatism users lobby
the social media users with their opinions as they preach the merits of the ‘struggle’ against the
singers for peace who drum the necessity of dialogue as wanted by the government. The rush to
give details about the incidents during the conflict from the two sides has created two conflicting
groups of opinions. Thus, the words on social media give the temperature from the battlefields.
It should be maintained that online violence is limited to Internet-based interactions, while others
are directly related to face-to-face acts of violence (Patton et al., 2014). Protestors/activists incite
people to conflict through the use of hate speech, cyberbullying (Dooley, Pyzalski & Cross, 2009;
Hinduja & Patchin, 2010) and an excessive violence, campaigns of abuse towards certain people
and institutions as well as black propaganda. Far from only being a field of battles, social media
is also a peacebuilding environment (Kahl & Puig Larrauri, 2013; Mac Ginty, 2017; Baytiyeh,
2019; Denskus, 2019; Tawanda & Mbwirire, 2020; Hillena, 2021) that promote peaceful co-
existence through reconciliation. In other words, social media impacts efforts to prevent, manage
and resolve conflicts.
As a reminder, the genesis of the problem that led to the armed conflicts goes back to the
world political climate in 1916 when Germany was defeated in World War I by Britain and
France's joint forces; they divided Cameroon into two, thus leaving two different political
heritages. The sharing was confirmed in 1922 by the League of Nations Agreement. France
governed its own portion of Cameroon as an autonomous part of its colony, while the British
administrated Northern and Southern regions as part of its Nigerian colony (Eyongetah & Brain,
1974; Osuntokum, 1975, 1978; Ngoh, 1987). The history of these two regions took twists and
turns. In the course of time the international scenes and the management of the home affairs by
the ruling cast made the brothers to be like ‘co-wives’. This is the result of the degradation of the
relationships between the two areas, which led to the degradation of the language; in its turn, the
degradation of language brought to the bloody actions. As such, this study examines the linguistic
expressions that portray and encourage peace on WhatsApp and Facebook messages about the
Anglophone crisis by Anglophone Cameroonians. It also looks at the impact of the expressions
on the interactants' ideologies.
1.2.Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
CDA has been widely used in various genres of linguistics to analyse some of the critical language
phenomena which lead to the emergence of a certain ideology, power relation and domination
within a domain, and inequality among races, genders, and social classes. It is perceived that the
most crucial aspect where power and domination are exercised is in public through the media.
The media is an explicit domain, and the public is exposed to various ideologies which influence

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 Language and Peace on WhatsApp and Facebook Messages on the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon

their opinions. It is perceived that discourse shapes the way a text is produced (Fairclough 1992)
and vice-versa.
CDA is the basis of this study. It uses Fairclough’s triple-dimensional approaches to seek out
social relations and practices through the use of language. Fairclough’s model is based on three
levels, as discussed below:
- Discourse as Text:
In this first level, the text is examined under ten-question criteria. The first four questions deal
with grammatical, sentence-level text analysis, vocabulary, and cohesion.
- Discourse as Discursive practice:
This analysis level involves three text functions: the construction of the text, distribution, and
usage of text. Here text highlights the relationship between participants.
- Discourse as Social practice:
The third and last level takes discourse as an activity performed in a society or social context
(Dremel & Matić, 2014, p. 155). Fairclough’s CDA model plays a significant role in discourse
by relating text directly to society regarding interactions. Fairclough (2001), as cited in Ghani and
Hussain (2021), states that text and meaning productions are the outcome of production and
interpretation activities; they involve social contexts that affect the conditions in which texts are
produced and interpreted. These three factors are all necessary to dissect the layers of the texts
concerning hidden motives, power relations, and social inequalities.
Fairclough’s approach to CDA is useful because it provides multiple points of analytic
entry (Hussain, Gill & Afzal, 2020). It does not matter which kind of analysis one begins with as
long as they are all included and are shown to be mutually explanatory at the end. In this
interconnection, the researcher finds the interesting patterns and disjunctions that need to be
described, interpreted and explained. The simultaneity of this method of CDA has been with a
model that embeds the three different kinds of analysis, one inside the other.
Figure 1: Fairclough’s triple-dimensional model of discourse

Source: Adapted from Fairclough (1989)

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Linguistic analysis is descriptive, whereas intertextual analysis is more interpretative (Fairclough,

1995). He defines intertextuality as the property texts of being full of snatches of other texts,
which may be explicitly demarcated or merged in, and which the text may assimilate, contradict,
ironically echo, and so forth. According to Fowler and Hodge (1991) and Fairclough (1995), the
ideational function refers to the speakers’ knowledge of the world and its phenomena, whereas
the interpersonal function personifies the insertion of speakers' attitudes and evaluations about
the phenomena in question, and establishing a relationship between speakers and listeners
(Bukhari & Xiaoyang, 2013, p.9). Instrumental to these two functions is the textual function. It is
through the textual function of language that speakers are able to produce texts that listeners
understand. It is an enabling function connecting discourse to the co-text and context in which it
occurs. The messages collected from WhatsApp and Facebook are described, interpreted and
explained following Fairclough’s framework.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.Conceptual Reviews
The socio-political upheaval in Cameroon led a number of researchers to look, listen and speak;
this provided abundant literature on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon from different
dimensions. It has been studied from the educational perspective (Akame, Crockett & Awutarh,
2021), geopolitical and rhetorical (Ekah, 2019; Ascone & Renaut, 2019), and linguistic
perspectives (Tabe & Fieze, 2018; Tchouape, 2019). These scholars used different approaches
and obtained both convergent findings (Tabe & Fieze, 2018; Tchouape, 2019) and divergent
(Ekah, 2019; Ascone & Renaut, 2019). These studies revealed that violence and disruption may
have sought educational alternatives through informal learning methods, as well as relocating to
neighbouring towns in Northwest and Southwest of the country or other relatively sub-urban areas
of the Anglophone regions.
Moreover, the strategic location of Southern Cameroons, the presence of natural resources
(Flint, 2006; Kurecic, 2015), demographic considerations and other geopolitical parameters are
proving to be responsible for the heightening of the Anglophone crisis (Nfi, 2014; Ekah, 2019).
Violence attributed to online hate speech has increased worldwide (Kweitsu & Besong, 2019;
Sombaye). It has been linked to a global increase of violence, verbal bullying and threats toward
minorities, including mass shootings, lynching and ethnic cleansing (Kweitsu & Besong, 2019;
Sawalda, 2020; Ezeibe, 2021). Salome (2018) and Barrach-Yousefi (2018) found that social
media is fertile for hate speech. It contributed to the escalation of protests and conflicts
worldwide, and the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon is left out. The success of online activism
greatly relies on offline action, and the use of small media greatly complements social media use
as platforms for alternative discourse (Feltwell et al., 2017; Salome, 2018; Nazarudwas0). It was

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revealed that hate speech in Cameroon, as in other contexts Hate speech over the social media
has greatly influenced the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon (Ngange & Mokondo, 2019; Nganji &
Cockburn, 2019, Ngange et al., 2020). It was a powerful tool with which Cameroonian diaspora
and separatist groups threatened national cohesion and development (Sombaye, 2018; Okpara &
Chukwu, 2019). In addition, online hate speech looked from pragmatic perspective, claimed that
most of the hate language posted and tweeted by the Cameroonian diaspora activists centered on
the incitement of violence conflict, defamation, ethnic criticism and large challenge on the
Cameroon government (Sombaye, 2018; Edimo, 2021; Orock, 2021). It is one of the causes of
offline conflict in Cameroon today (Sawalda, 2020).

2.2.Empirical Review
Many studies have been carried out on the ongoing Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. Some
linguists have studied the language used to report and present the sociopolitical crisis in Cameroon
Anglophones regions (Tabe & Fieze, 2018; Fieze, 2019; Tchouape, 2019) while others
(Agborsangaya, 2018; Nganji & Cockburn, 2019; Ngange & Mokondo, 2019; Nounkeu, 2020)
studied the role of media use during the Anglophone crisis.
Tchouape (2019) investigated the way language is used to portray the crisis in newspapers
to analyse metaphors; while Tabe and Fieze (2018) analysed news headlines in newspapers.
Tchouape used metaphor identification procedure (MIP) of 75 articles dealing with the
Anglophone crisis while Table and Fieze utilised Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of 130
headlines from 16 private newspapers, and 01 public newspaper (Cameroon Tribune). Their study
suggests that the crisis is reverberated in the media landscape through a war of opinions
respectively. Their findings are similar in the sense that metaphors were used to build in
Cameroonian’s minds the image of a destructive and disastrous crisis sponsored mostly by the
Cameroonian diaspora (Tchouape, 2019). These metaphors were used to discredit the leadership
of the elite and tarnish the images of some individual political figures (Tchouape, 2019). Their
findings diverge somehow for, apart from metaphors, Tabe and Fieze’s results showed much more
linguistic expressions used in newspaper headlines to portray the crisis. It is therefore revealed
from the findings that, the headlines of these newspapers use language which creates terror, incites
violence towards the government which is accused of mishandling not only the armed conflict,
but also the mismanagement of the country (Tabe & Fieze, 2018).
On the other hand, Cameroon Tribune uses soft speech and peaceful language to downplay not
only the outrage in the discourse, but also to calm down the public opinion and promote dialogue.
Their data indicates that the government is mouthpiece is the only newspaper with the highest use
of words suggestive of dialogue (Tabe & Fieze, 2018). This interaction between physical and
verbal tension, they think, worsens the unrest. The researchers suggest that fixing the language

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used by the competing and influential claims in the narratives on the situation can take some miles
forward to its solution. Investigating on CDA of 184 private and government newspapers articles
on the Anglophone crisis and using CDA theory, Fieze (2019) highlighted that the presentation
of the Anglophone crisis was a war of words with each side accusing the other for perpetrating
violence and tension.
Agborsangaya (2018) carried out research on the role of social media and small media
during the Anglophone crisis. He looked at their positive and negative roles in protests by the
diasporas. They served as a link between Anglophones at home and abroad. The findings revealed
that (90%) of Anglophone Cameroonians feel strongly that the use of social media contributed to
fuel the crisis out of proportion. In addition, the use of social media led to the spread of
propaganda and rumour, which contributed in weakening the legitimacy of the Anglophone crisis
(Agborsangaya, 2018). It could be educed that online activism without field action is not enough
for a winning ‘struggle’. The researcher argued that even though social media are very powerful
tools for information sharing, their shortcomings in protest cannot be underrated as the success
of online (Agborsangaya, 2018).
Nganji and Cockburn (2019) presented how twitter is being used in the Anglophone crisis
in Cameroon by several groups, including the government, Anglophone activists, media
organisations and every day citizens to spread opinions on the war. The researchers used the
critical theoretical perspective to examine tweets from September 2016 to December 2018. The
findings of the study showed that social media are being used by the government, Anglophone
activists and non-affiliated people to sway public opinions on the crisis and solicit the attention
of local diaspora and the international community.
Ngange and Mokondo (2019) examined the content information (graphics, audios, videos,
texts) posted on WhatsApp and Facebook while Nounkeu (2020) assessed the information shared
on Facebook about the Anglophone crisis by individuals who present themselves as citizen
journalists. The former used a qualitative approach to analyse data of falsehood propagation
during the Anglophone crisis; he utilised a mixed multi-method approach, the researcher analysed
messages and information given in the social media Facebook. Their findings were contradictory
in the sense that Ngange and Mokondo’s results indicated that social media activists used
computer software to distort pictures that depict the messages they wanted to pass across. The
activists also spread rumours using texts, audio clips and distorted videos (Ngange & Mokondo,
2019; Nounkeu, 2020). It could be said that social media have been awash with falsehood in the
Cameroon Anglophone crisis. On the other hand, Nounkeu’s study revealed that a large number
of Facebook news stories lack important elements of verifiability and reliability. In fact, the
affordability of social media and especially Facebook facilitates the spread of fake news or at

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least the circulation of unverified information (Nounkeu, 2020). The claims they made is that the
pieces of information were distorted to cast discredit on the army and the leadership of Yaounde.
Ngouo (2020) analysed contradictory discourse and conversations on Facebook on the
future of the English-speaking regions. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, he critically analysed
the linguistic as well as the social, political and psychological features in conversations and
discourses made by Anglophone activists on Facebook regarding the Anglophone crisis. The
study aimed at identifying how Cameroon nationalism is challenged or reproduced in people’s
discussion about the status of Anglophone regions of Cameroon on Facebook (Ngouo, 2010). The
findings revealed that there are two opposing views on Facebook: the separatists’ and the
prounionists’ positions. On one hand, the separatist activists through their Facebook posts
discourse reject the pan-Cameroonian identity. On the other hand, the pro-unity Anglophone
activists who defend national unity and reject secessionist discourse (Ngouo, 2020).
It could be concluded from the above review that almost all the works carried out on the
Anglophones crisis in off and online media portray terror, violence, derogative expressions,
verbal bullying, accusation and threats just to mention but these (Willis, McAulay, Ndeunyema
& Angove 2019). None of the reviewed works has, however, evoked the language of peace which
is the concern of this research.

3. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

The data used for this study collection of some WhatsApp and Facebook e-messages from
Anglophone Cameroonians. The messages were collected with the help of field assistants and the
personal appeals from Cameroonians from all walks of life from 2018 to 2022. These messages
were collected on WhatsApp group chats and Facebook made up of 45 male and 30 female
informants. Some participants were in different WhatsApp groups while those from Facebook are
from individual account. The researcher and the field assistants got the consent of the users of the
targeted platforms for the purpose. Most of the interactants sampled in this study are either
university students or workers. The researcher used purposive sampling technique so as to get the
data from those who gave their consent for the use of their chats in the research.
Table 1: Corpus composition
Platforms participants 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Number of e-messages
WhatsApp 50 40 20 22 24 44 150
Facebook 25 17 12 10 13 23 75
Total 75 57 34 32 37 67 225

Statistics from table 1 shows that a total number of 150 WhatsApp and Facebook messages were
obtained from 75 informants made up of males and females in the selected platforms. The

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majority of the participants are males. Each of them provided three e-messages. The extracts used
as examples are presented the way they appeared on the chats or e-messages. Hence, some of the
chats are presented with their errors. Besides, the informants’ messages were coded for ethical
reasons. Qualitative analysis was applied to the data collected. This enables, the presentation, the
description and interpretation in statistical tables. The WhatsApp and Facebook messages
provided the researcher with actual and complex patterns of e-messages texts for analysis of
language that portrays peace.
Two questions guided the analysis of the data collected from the targeted platforms:
1- What are the linguistics features of the conversations of Anglophone Cameroonians on
WhatsApp and Facebook?
2- How do they impact the promotion of peace?

4. DATA ANALYSIS
It should be reminded that this study sought out to investigate on the kind of linguistic expressions
used by Anglophone Cameroonians on WhatsApp and Facebook messages to encourage peace.
The data analysis revealed the use of expressions indicating peace related to the Anglophone crisis
on some WhatsApp and Facebook messages. It also indicated language that portrayed tension. It
is worth mentioning that most of the social media interactants reacted harshly to the ongoing crisis
by inciting to violence, threatening and terrorising the government as unveiled in some works
(Tabe & Fieze, 2018; Fieze, 2019; Tchouape, 2019). Despite these kinds of reactions, some
netspeakers tried to dab the population by using expressions that encourage people to go in for
peaceful coexistence and promote the social cohesion (Achu, 2020).

5. ANGLOPHONE CRISIS AND PEACE RHETORIC

Below are some extracts that illustrate peaceful expressions in the participants’ threads of
conversations:
(1) On the way to Buea. I am ready to sacrifice myself also, but
Let us practice to make peace among ourselves. (15-2020-WHAP-Male)
(2)… activities or movements of our people within the cities or local government areas will
have to go on as usual e.g during a no circulation period, life within Buea, Kumba, Bamenda
etcmust go on as usual … (40-2020-WHAP-Female).
(3) …complete shutdown of Ambazonia with no movements of persons, vehicles, businesses,
shutdown within and without the cities. Then this has to be done 3 days before the banned
elections to avoid any casualties on our people or confrontations between ourself, defence
forces and occupied forces that may get our people harmed. (27-2020- WHAP-Male)

From the first and second samples, the informants call the people with whom they are
together on the same platforms for a return to peace through the use of expressions such as “Let
us practice to make peace among ourselves” and “… activities or movements of our people within

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the cities or local government areas will have to go on as usual”. In example 3, the participant
implicitly calls for peace, for the expressions and “shutdown within and outside of the cities” are
some drawbacks of war.

(4) I know someone shall be quick to say some Fons in the NW have also been subjected to
humiliating and degrading treatment. But that is a false equivalency. The Fon of Nso was
Kidnapped and tortured by sons of Nso. […]. There is no evidence that thugs from the SW are
the ones doing these things to the traditional rulers of the NW.I do not condone violence or
hate speech wholesomely directed towards a group of people. But I understand the frustration
and I feel the pain of the people of Fako Division as every day they watch, almost helplessly,
their traditional rulers being humiliated and killed and their sacred institutions desecrated.
(11- 2021- WHAP-Male).
(5) Never take delight in causing pain or sponsoring the tears of another.*
Also, never use anything to frustrate others. Hnnnnmm (45-2022-WHAP-Male).
(6) It is not about war after all there is nothing wrong for one to decide he is no longer
comfortable with the union and therefore want to opt out. LETS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
AND SEPARATE HONORABLY. This is worth sharing over and over again...British named
them Burma. They rejected it, restructured & renamed themselves Myanmar (63-2021-
WHAP-Female).

In the fourth sample, the informant is campaigning against violence and hate speech that some
participants directed against some traditional rulers. To him, violence or hate speech usher into
chaos. Thus, he strongly stands against such practices. The participant in the fifth sample holds
the same discourse with the user quoted in example (4) in the sense that he is criticising the
sponsors of the conflicts. In addition, the sixth sample begs for stability.
(7)………Similarly, when the Anglophone crisis broke out and even well before that, I began
to promote federalism, which I have always proposed as the only answer to separatism and,
by extension, to the more general problem of regulating intercommunity relations in
Cameroon. A large number of media blocked me, with the argument that I was leading
Cameroon into the division and that in any case, a small squad of gendarmes was going to
subdue the Secession. 5 years later, where are we?We are today (50-2022-WHAP-Male)
A close look at the above message shows that the speaker sees the conflict in Anglophone
regions as a result of careless steps that brought to irreparable and irreversible turns; they try to
dissuade the war lords and the separatism campaigners by spreading messages of peace;

(8)Cameroonians need to PRAY, especially the Anglophones! What recently happened in

Yaounde is going to take more lives in Cameroon! Bloodshed is going to be Worst! Finally,
the Anglophones are going to have their Independence. But they have to STOP ALL IN
FIGHTING amongst them very fast, and be ONE! Once they do this, it won't be upto 5 months,
their Independence will be declared. PRAY AGAINST SERIOUS BLOODSHED IN THE
FRENCH SPEAKING CAMEROON!!!(65-2021-WHAP-Male)
(9)We are gearing towards mass Killings of Christians especially, or towards WW3 which will
be very devastating! If the WORLD can REPENT, FORGIVE, PRAY and FAST, it will be very
minimal. (78-2022-WHAP-Female)

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The participants in samples (8) and (9) share a view as they call for prayer which they
believe can help restore peace in the minds of the population, in the towns and villages. They see
prayer as the way out of the horrible and overwhelming security climate. When a phenomenon
overpowers a human, they look towards heaven for solace. This is typical of some biblical verses,
psalms, and hymns meant to be read for consolation in difficult times (Psalms 59: 16; Jeremiah
16: 19). As a reminder, churches play a role in the evolution of the conflict with their bold position
against war; they also serve as the thresholds where people come and sing souls to seek for
comfort.
(10)I think it is time for the Biden administration to arrest and deport secessionist leaders in
USA to answer chargers of their hideous crimes against civilians especially killing students &
teachers in schools in the 2 English speaking Regions (80-2022-WHAP-Male)
(11) When will Africans understand the manipulation of the western? At times I just feel
ashamed of myself. Why don’t we ask ourselves some questions (1) why is cocoa grown in
Africa but yet chocolate cheaper in the western world. (2) why does petrol comes from Africa
but yet cheaper in the western world. (3) why gold from African but still the western world
media makes us understand Africa is the poorest of continent. (4) is it that we don’t fabric
weapons but rather fights more than the western world that fabrics. Just to mention a few. If
the western world doesn’t manipulate us guys to keep fighting yourselves, they can get those
things for little pr even no cost. Ambazombias keep kidnapping, kidnap even paul Biya idiots
those manipulating you guys are eating in vergolden plates, Did you think Sisikuos suffering?
No he is dining on high table. I will be back. (FBK, Mar, 19. 2018-Male)
(12)The world should see what the so call Ambazonians are doing to kids who want to go to
school. They have been kidnapped and now the will be raped to fortify their Odeyshi powers
and use them to fight their senseless war on killing innocent civilians. Eric Tataw, Tapang Ivo,
VerlaFranklineVerla, YannickSicot, Ayaba Cho Lucas, Capo Daniel, KemiAshu.
MolaWonjaWonjaMbua, you all will answer for these crimes. Your think hidingabroad is save
heaven for u rights? Shameless idiots. If u listen to the terrorists himself u will realise he is an
illiterate, no wonder they don’t like kids to be educated (FBK, Nov, 5. 2018-Male)
(13) thank you Anglophone crisis, at least we have SEEN the sad consequences of giving GUNS
& DRUGS TO ILLITERATE RASCALS & BANDITS (FBK, Jan, 10. 2019-Male)
(14) Gamblers who want to gamble with the faith of 8 million folks. Rejection! You cannibalize
your brothers & you say is liberation? Who is the enemy? Who will you govern? A total
rejection! A cancer! (FBK, Dec, 17. 2018-Male)

(15) All die people them Weh they deh for biya e die lock… abeg make them enter coffin di die
di go…we the youth of watawata go figth for our independence!!!! Nonsense!!!(FBK, Oct, 1.
2019-Female)

(16) No Ambazonian on GZ should listen to any white person or France. We are put in
today’s situation by white people. All the deaths in Ambazonia today is because of UN
agenda to colonize the world by hook or by crook. We will not let them dictate to us
anything again. Idiots. (FBK, Mar, 4.2020-Male)

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The examples above indicate renunciation or rejection of conflict by the interactants who
are tired of looking at massacre issued by the ongoing war in the Southern Cameroon. The victims
and some humanists are crying out for peace to get back in that area. Knowing the fact that no
one can really benefit from a given conflict, some Anglophone Cameroonians engaged in looking
for peaceful and safety refugee. Therefore, everyone should take extra measures to resign from
war and come together to promote pacific living together. For that reason, some Anglophone
Cameroonians have used expressions like peace among ourselves; avoid confrontations; the
western world doesn’t manipulate us guys to keep fighting yourselves, they can get those things
for little pr even no cost. Ambazombias keep kidnapping, kidnap even paul Biya idiots those
manipulating you guys are eating in vergolden plates, Did you think Sisiku; If the WORLD can
REPENT, FORGIVE, PRAY and FAST, it will be very minimal; we the youth of watawata go fight
for our independence!!!! Nonsense!!!; and No Ambazonian on GZ should listen to any white
person or France. We will not let them dictate to us anything again. Idiots.
Through these illustrations, some participants are encouraging people to get back to normal
life by advocating national unity which in turn will push the readers to think of peaceful living
together. Their voices advocate calmness and peaceful co-existence. It should also be said the fact
that only 16 over 150 messages (10 from WHAP and 6 from FBK) highlight or portray and
promote peace show the will of the belligerents to pursue the fight to attain their goal. The
frequency and the percentage of the used features are presented in table 2.

Table 2: Frequency and percentage of linguistic features portraying the language of peace
Platforms Number of E-messages Frequency Percentage (%)
WHAP 100 10 10
FBK 50 6 5

Statistics from table 2 shows that 10% of WHAP messages encourage and promote peaceful life
compared to 5% of FBK. This means that the issue of peace on WhatsApp and Facebook
messages about the Anglophone crisis is utopic and far from reality. The example clearly shows
that there are less shared opinions for the fight to stop. In other words, the way back to peaceful
life in that area is nightmarish. From the above figures, it can be educed that the discussions of
Anglophones on the crisis rocking their regions are fraught with frequent use of peace expressions
calling for a return to stability. Some messages on these same platforms incite the readers to
violence.

Anglophone crisis and war rhetoric

The role of social media in facilitating some conflicts is gaining more and more weight and steam.
Most of times, the conflicts are fuelled by hate speech, dehumanising language and absolutely

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resolute incitement to tension and violence. These tactics that perpetrators use deliberately to call
for an uprising. They always make choose words that push people to revolt against the regime, as
illustrated below in samples (17) and (18).

(16): How can Atanga Nji sack Edith kahwalla of the CPP and appoint his preferred
president of that part? (FBK, Nov, 16, 2018-Male)
(17): Horrible! Cameroon terrorists (soldiers of the Terrorist Biya Regime) shoot a house
wife in her legs after breaking into her home in the city of Buea, Ambazonia. (FBK, Sep,
29, 2018-Male)

6. CONCLUSION
This study examined the linguistic expressions that portray and encourage peace on WhatsApp
and Facebook messages about the Anglophone crisis by Anglophone Cameroonians. A total of
150 e-messages were collected from two different platforms: WhatsApp and Facebook. The
findings revealed that the corpus used for the analysis is fraught with words and expressions that
appeal to peace. However, these words and expressions are overpowered by hate language that is
found in some messages on either Facebook or WhatsApp. These platforms are no man’s land,
and therefore there is an influx of hate language, verbal bullying and propaganda found in more
than 100 messages out of 150 messages screened for the target words or expressions. The verbal
violence against the ruling class, some government officials, some party representatives and
individuals accumulated into a shell that rocked, rocks and is till rocking the whole social media
and mass media landscape. Nowadays, the words on the screen have been transformed into real
violent and bloody actions on the field: from warped communication social media platforms to
armed conflicts on battle fields. Provided that there is still a higher percentage of violent
expressions than peace language on these platforms, sensitisation remains a master key to curb
the spread of hate speech; establishing local restrictions on the contents of the publications on
Facebook and WhatsApp can also help to fight against the expressions that poison the opinions
of the social media subscribers. Some people can volunteer as peace keepers on these platforms
and preach peace so as to counteract hate language.
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