Preservation of Cultural Heritage or (Mis)appropriation? A Historical-Linguistic Probing into Naming among some Tikar Descendants Jude T. BerinyuyPreservation of Cultural Heritage or (Mis)appropriation? A Historical-Linguistic Probing into Naming among some Tikar Descendants

Abstract

This paper examines naming among some Tikar tribes. It anchors on the hypothesis that the way they name persons, places, things and concepts has a tribal undertone, which may be misleading. The study focuses on Mbiame, Nso and Oku tribes of Bui Division in the North West Region of Cameroon. The objective is to determine whether names are used to preserve cultural heritage or to misappropriate it. The study argues that despite their common ancestral origin and fraternity, the nuance in naming is sometimes used as a strategy to assert their respective identities. This is particularly noticeable in the mother tongue(s) wherein the tribal trademark is tagged on names to distinguish ownership or affinity.  Data was collected through observation and interview of thirty (30) origins of Mbiame, Nso and Oku of both sexes who could express themselves in English, Nso and Oku languages. “Lamnso” is the indigenous language for the people of Mbiame and Nso while that spoken by Oku is known as “ǝblam ǝbkuo”. The choice of the respondents stemmed from the fact that the naming phenomenon was first observed in the two mother tongues before being translated into English. As regards the framework, Norrick’s 1981 Semiotic Theory was applied for a comparative quantitative and qualitative analysis using different variables.  The findings reveal that, indeed, the people of Mbiame, Nso and Oku use names of persons, places, traditional compounds, traditional institutions, things and even concepts in English with a tribal tag. This is seen as a strategy to assert their respective identities and lay to claim of ownership. The people of Nso in particular and those of Oku, to a lesser extent, distinguished themselves in the number of instances they used naming to assert identity. My submission is that naming is a mark of cultural and identity preservation. However, it serves as exclusion of others and misappropriation when collective or natural objects are named using the trademark of one tribe.