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Global Academic Journal of Linguistics and Literature
Volume-7 | Issue-05
Review Article
Language Use as a Tool for Peaceful Coexistence: A Lexico-Semantic Study of The Post Newspaper in Cameroon
Donald Beteyeh Nchofua
Published : Oct. 30, 2025
DOI : https://doi.org/10.36348/gajll.2025.v07i05.005
Abstract
Multilingualism and Multiculturalism stand as challenging issues for peaceful coexistence in Cameroon today. This situation has been worsened by the escalation of the Anglophone Crisis that has taken a more violent turn in recent times. Cameroon, a nation with a rich linguistic and cultural tapestry, and with a history of colonial tensions, thus, presents itself as a compelling case study for exploring language as a tool for peace building. It is in this regard that this research paper examines how The Post Newspaper uses vocabulary and meaning-making strategies to shape public discourse and foster social harmony. The corpus for the study consists of forty-five (45) purposively sampled news-related stories or articles on the concept of Living Together/Peaceful Coexistence within the newspaper’s content, drawn from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 publications. The paper is framed on Halliday‘s (1985) theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to analyse editorials, articles, and opinion pieces within The Post Newspaper. Upon the analysis of the data, prominent themes related to peace and social cohesion within the newspaper’s content and the lexico-semantic features employed by The Post to navigate the complexities of Cameroon’s social landscape were identified. Such included the use of some lexical preferences that denote togetherness such as ‘Living Together,’ ‘National Unity,’ and ‘National Integration,’ lexical items suggestive of dialogue, the use of religious situated lexicons, moral situated lexicons, lexical items associated with radicalism, lexical items associated with good ethics and the use of rhetorical questions. The analysis highlighted the newspaper’s use of inclusive language, reframing of divisive narratives, and promotion of intercultural understanding. Overall, the analysis revealed that The Post’s language choices have an ideological function in fostering national unity as an ingredient for peaceful and harmonious coexistence.

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