User:Heir-of-Isildur/Camfranglais

Classification
While it is clear that Camfranglais is a contact language, the status of Camfranglais remains up for debate, as some authors call it a "hybrid language", while others call it a "composite language." Whether or not it is its own language is debated as well, as scholars also argue that it is simply "a new speech form." Difficulties in classifying Camfranglais arise because of its relatively contemporary usage, despite contact having occurred between the different languages that comprise Camfranglais for longer than Camfranglais has existed distinctly.

As a whole, Camfranglais sets itself apart from being considered a pidgin or a creole because it consists of an array of languages, where familiarity with the sources languages is required but proficiency in them is not (except in the case for French, since it provides the sentence patterns). It contains elements of compounding words, word clipping, and coinage of new terms among others. Numerous other classifications have been proposed, like 'pidgin', 'argot', 'youth language', a 'sabir camerounais', an 'appropriation vernaculaire du français' or a 'hybrid slang.' However, as Camfranglais is more developed than a slang, this too is insufficient. Kiessling (2005) proposes it be classified as a 'highly hybrid sociolect of the urban youth type, a definition that Stein-Kanjora (2015) agrees with.