Editing Demographics of Cameroon (section)

==Languages==
[[File:Nigeria Benin Cameroon languages.png|thumb|260px|Linguistic survey of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin]]
{{Main|Languages of Cameroon}}

There are 24 major African language groups in Cameroon; additionally, [[English language|English]] and [[French language|French]] are official languages. [[Cameroonian Pidgin English]] is also widely spoken.

Peoples concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces—around [[Buea]] and [[Bamenda]]—use standard [[English language|English]] and [[Cameroonian Pidgin English]], as well as their local languages. In the three northern provinces—[[Adamawa Province|Adamawa]], [[North Province, Cameroon|North]], and [[Far North Province|Far North]]—either [[French language|French]] or [[Fula language|Fulfulde]] (the language of the [[Fula people|Fulani]]) is widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal second language, although pidgin and some local languages such as [[Ewondo language|Ewondo]], the dialect of a Beti clan from the [[Yaoundé]] area, have a wide currency. In [[Far North Region, Cameroon|Far North Region]] the northernmost constituent province of Cameroon, [[Mafa people|Mafa Language]] [[Chadian Arabic|Arab Shuwa]] (an [[varieties of Arabic|Arab dialect]]) and is spoken by the [[Baggara|Baggara Arabs]] (also called Arab Shuwa).<ref>Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20060711095438/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Cameroon Languages of Cameroon]". ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', 15th ed. Dallas: SIL International. Accessed 25 June 2006.</ref>

Indigenous languages of Cameroon include:
*[[Chadian Arabic|Arab Shuwa]]
*[[Bamum language|Bamum]]
*[[Basaa language|Basaa]]
*[[Bikya language|Bikya]]
*[[Bung language|Bung]]
*[[Kanuri language|Kanuri]]
*[[Ngumba language|Ngumba]]
*[[Yeni language|Yeni]]
*[[Lamnso language|Lamnso]]
*[[Meta' language|Meta']]
*[[Mafa people|Mafa]]


[[Image:Cameroon-demography.png|thumb|260px|Estimated number of inhabitants (in thousands), based on 2005 data from the   [[Food and Agriculture Organization]].]]