THE IMPACT OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN ON THE WRITTEN ENGLISH OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

By

Author

Presented To

Department of English and Linguistics

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background to the Study

The English language in Nigeria is a second language. It is a second language because Nigerians already had their first language or Mother Tongue (L1) before the incursion of this foreign language called ‘English’ into the country. In this instance a foreign language (English) left its native environment and met with another language or languages (Nigerian indigenous languages). It is true that the culture and values of the people are embedded in the language they speak. As such it is said that ‘language is culture’ and none can be separated from each other.

Language is a very important factor in the educational process. It is an indispensable aspect of communication. Ithas very strong basics for creative thought and without it there would be no meaningful progress in civilization and culture, Makinde (1997:7). The above citation explores the powers of language as a tool for communication and creative thought. Language is used to communicate ideas through the process of thinking, translated to either speech or writing.

Therefore the language of wider communication of a country is crucial to the progress and growth of that nation, even academically. Nigeria is a diverse and multi-ethnic country with about four hundred and ten (410) languages Mackey (1992:12). However, with the introduction of the English language in 1842, these numerous languages have influenced, or if we might say, interfered in the way Nigerians use language on the lexical, grammatical and phonological levels of communication. Though English is Nigeria's lingua franca, a unique brand of English has emerged to suit Nigeria’s socio-linguistic and communication needs (which is to an extent a deviation from standard British English). This has led to a localization or domestication. Since English has been influenced by our indigenous languages, the way we write will also reflect this metamorphosis. These variations we referred to as "peculiar Nigerianisms".

English language did not come to Nigeria just on its own. Its incursion into Nigeria was caused by lots of factors like trading, slavery, colonization and missionary activities in Nigerian by the Europeans and this was done in phases. As such English as a language is a borrowed blanket which has been converted to a personal use by the borrowers so as to suit their purposes.

The exact date that English language usage started in Nigeria is not certain. However, it is believed that the first intimate contact between the British and some ethnic groupings in Nigeria was in Southern Nigeria. This must have been at some period before the Atlantic slave trade.

The term pidgin is used to refer to a language which develops in a situation where speakers of different languages have a need to communicate but do not share a common language. Once a pidgin has emerged, it is generally learned as a second language and used for communication among people who speak differently.

Language is the most creative and unlimited instrument for social communication and it helps us to understand the deep seated social relevance, culture involvement and the human relatedness of language. Having said this, we can therefore agree that pidgin is a language of its own and not just a supplementary tongue as some people see it, since it serves as an unlimited instrument of social communication especially in a multilingual community as Lagos State.

According to R. Linton he states that "the culture of a society is the way of life of its members, the collection of ideas and habits which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation" (12). These cultures, ideas and habits can only be transmitted from generation to generation through language. In linguistic, every language is considered adequate to represent the communicative needs of its people and as such should not be made to suffer any biases.

This cannot be said of Nigerian Pidgin " even though it is a language " because various attempts have been made by different faction to eradicate the use of Nigerian Pidgin English. These attempts have however been unsuccessful because of the significant value the language has to its users. It is a language that has brought people together in spite of their differences in ancestral culture and language by creating a local culture for itself which blends ideas from different cultures.

According to Adetugbo [1984:8], a certain Oba in Benin was reported to have spoken Portuguese. The language was in use for economic interest and because it was the language of commerce and diplomacy in the ancient Benin kingdom. Actually, the advent of English in Nigerian can be classified into three major periods, namely: the period before the missionary activities, the period during missionary activities and the period after the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorate. It is important to add that there is no clear cut demarcation between these periods as each period shades into another period.

The structure of Pidgin is quite different from that of Standard English in its Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. Nigeria is fast colonizing the West African region with Pidgin English. Pidgin English as spoken in Nigeria is a kind of language derived from English, Portuguese and Dutch. Pidgin English as spoken in Nigeria is interesting with very unique pronunciations. Words in Standard English could turn out to mean or denote something else in Pidgin.

As Platt, Weber and Ho accurately observe in their book, The New Englishes, (RKP 1984) "In some nations - the New Englishes have developed a noticeable range of different varieties linked strongly to the socio-economic and educational backgrounds of their speakers." It borrows words, patterns and images freely from the mother-tongue and finds expression in a very limited English vocabulary.

Critics on the poor performance of English language at the West African School Certification Examination have always commented that Pidgin English has not only affected students in their subjects area but also hampered their chances in other disciplines. It is the mind of the researcher to investigate and verify the above claim and possibly ascertain the extent of the negative effect of Pidgin English among students in Senior Secondary School in Nigeria The researcher in this work is out to investigate the influence of Pidgin English on the use of Standard English among senior secondary school students and suggest the possible means of eliminating the adverse effects Stern (1983:152),

It is on records that as from 1553 English men paid frequent visits to the Nigerian shores, especially the ports of Ancient Benin and old Calabar, and the type of communication which evolved between the English men and the Nigerians was a simplified kind of communication in English called Pidgin. Note, however that Portuguese and not English was probably the earliest European language to be used in Nigeria.

The global spread of the English language is one of the most far-reaching linguistic phenomena of our time. Evidence of this worldwide phenomenon of language contact, variation and change can be seen through such designations as world Englishes, new Englishes, modern Englishes, West African Englishes, South African English, Australian English, Indian English, to mention just a few. The phrase "Nigerian English" has also appeared in the last four decades or so. Out of the Nigerian variety of English some sub-varieties have emerged like the Nigerian Pidgin English.

1.1 Brief History of Nigerian Pidgin English

The Portuguese were the first Europeans who traded in pepper and slaves from the Nigerian coastal area. They first arrived in Benin (city) at the end of the 15th century. From the mid 16th century, the British took over as major trading partners. With the abolition of the slave trade at the beginning of the 19th Century, British colonial interests shifted to agricultural production for exportation to Europe. In 1842 and 1846 the first missionary stations were established in Badagry (near Lagos in the Southwest) and Calabar (in the Southeast) respectively. The missionaries were mainly interested in spreading Christianity among the African pagans. In the schools they established in the Southern part of Nigeria (they were not allowed to settle in the Islamic North of the country) they also taught agriculture, crafts and hygiene. In order to easily reach the population, the language of instruction was usually the mother tongue of the natives. But the Africans refused to send their children to school because they needed them to work in the house and on the farms. Consequently, the missionaries paid compensation to the parents. All the same, the first generation of students was made up mainly of children of slaves who the village communities thought they would not miss much. The mass withdrawal of English colonial officers just before and after Nigeria’s independence down turn in the Nigeria economy and the disappearance of the middle class with the attendant breakdown in social and family values.

The British colonial government increasingly felt the need for Africans who were literate in English and would serve British colonial and trade interests (for instance as teachers, interpreters and clerks for local native courts and the trading companies). Therefore, missionary stations were ordered in the 1880s to teach English in their schools. In the long run, however, the missionary schools were unable to meet the demands for educated Nigerians, and the colonial government began to establish state schools from the turn of the century. The first state school was in fact founded as a result of pressure from Muslims in Lagos in 1899 who had no access to missionary schools and felt they were at a disadvantage. Despite all these efforts, communication was indeed difficult between the Nigerians and the colonial masters thus a means of easy communication had to be devised which was a simplified way of structuring and speaking English. The simplification could be seen in all the levels of a new contact language that emerged (Pidgin). The emergence of churches and the use of pidgin English to evangelise people.

1.1.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN

The new contact language is a simplified language in the areas of Lexis, Phonology and Grammar

1.1.11 NIGERIAN PIDGIN LEXIS

Pidgin draws its lexical items from the dominant language namely English, while others are drawn from the indigenous languages. For examples,

a)      Yoruba: oyibo " ‘white man’,

wahala - trouble

b)      Portuguese: pikin " ‘child’

palava " ‘trouble’

sabi " ‘to know’

c)      Hausa: wayo " ‘tricks’

Secondly, there is extensive use of reduplication in its lexis. This is partly to identify meaning and partly to avoid confusion which could result from phonological similarity. Examples: katakata (confusion, chaos), wakawaka (walk or wander perpetually), toktok (talk, gossip).

In addition, Pidgin lexis is filled with Compound Words like ‘kresman’ " (crazy man), ‘switmaut’ " (flattery), ‘wochnait’ " (night watchman).

1.1.111 THE GROWTH OF NIGERIAN PIDGIN

The growth of Nigerian Pidgin from a rudimentary speech form which was strongly aided by gesture to an elaborate form is examined in some details by Elugbe and Omamor (1991). At first, it was used between the visiting English and their Nigerian hosts. Later, the Nigerians, who had no common language of their own, began to use this form among themselves. This had the effect of stabilising and expanding the language because it then had to cope with the expanding experiences of its Nigerian users.

The continued use of the English in Nigeria made the number and interest of its speakers to continue to expand, and this encourages the growth of Nigerian Pidgin. The continual growth and use of Pidgin English challenges was a challenge and threat to the existence of English and this brought about the emergence of Standard English. This development was a logical consequence of two factors.

In the first place, the English recognised that they could not do business in a language in that they could keep records, which they considered inferior and was unintelligible to English speakers newly arrived from Britain. Nigerian pidgin was thus relegated to situations involving only Nigerians, or the English and those Nigerians who could not speak or understand the standard variety of English.

Secondly, schools were established and a standard variety of English was being taught. This variety became the language of trade and industry, missionary work and government. So important did this variety become that its possession became a passport to a good position in society, with its social and material benefits.

The growth of English in Nigeria did not remove the usefulness of Nigerian Pidgin. Not everyone had access to a school and the process of acquiring English was decidedly longer and more tedious than that of ‘picking up’ Nigerian Pidgin. It remains a hallmark of Nigerian pidgin that its speakers use it with a lot of freedom and creativity.

In the days of the colonial government, the missionaries were very influential and they used that influence to ensure that activities leading to the development of Nigerian languages were not banned.