Analyse ethno-linguistique des mécanismes de (dé)construction du code culturel à partir des noms de rites et fêtes mafa

Starting from the actions implemented by the majority of African States in favor of the promotion and popularization of mother tongues, this work, in the extension of this happy initiative, sets itself the objective of highlighting the mechanisms of (de) construction of the cultural code in mafa country. In culture, defined by Diki-Kidiri (2008) as “The set of lived experiences, productions made and knowledge generated by a human community living in a space, at the same time”. As part of this study, we were specifically interested in the designating names of some Mafa rites (13) and festivals (18) collected from 08 officials of the Mafa cultural center and guarantors of the Mafa culture in Mokolo (Far North, Cameroon). This explains the choice of the qualitative approach from where we targeted informants likely to inform us about the names of rites and festivals as well as their content. With regard to the theoretical framework, an emphasis is placed on ethnolinguistics understood as the study of the relationship between language, culture and society (Griaule, 1997), to which we have associated the concept of experience dear to psychomechanics. language that participates in the (re)construction of representations. Thus, speaking of the results, it follows that the cultural code is constructed linguistically from lexico-semantic processes referring to various experiences relating to their living environment and their activities. Mafa rites and festivals are therefore significant events in the annual calendar of the Mafa people.