12/20/2023 0 Comments Nigerian pidgin english words![]() Pidgin English also borrowed a lot from many native languages words that best describe its content and context and it is accepted by all. Nigerians also refer to pidgin as ‘broken’ or ‘broken English’. He further asserts that ‘when a pidgin develops beyond it’s role as trade language and becomes the first language of a social community, it is described as’ creole’ like what we have now in Nigeria. ![]() While Yule (1996), describe it has a variety of languages which developed for some practical purpose, such as trading among group of people, who had a lot of contact, but who did not know each other’s language. He defined it as a corruption of the English word ‘business’ with the two chinese character words’pei and tsin’ meaning ‘paying money ‘ or from the South American Indian language’ ‘Yago’ whose word for people is ‘pidion’. Malmkjaer and Anderson(2001)definition gave an insight on how pidgin was formed and derived from two sources. ![]() He further explained that, it becomes makeshift when an illiterate is discussing with an educated person, marginal when two uneducated have transactions and mixed when we code – switching in formal and informal situations. He further described it as ‘a contact language’, that can sometimes be called makeshift, marginal, or mixed language. Later scholars like : Yule(1996),Crystal (1987)and Malmkjaer and Anderson (2001),gave the following descriptions and definitions of pidgin.Ĭrystal (1987)avers that pidgin is formed by two mutually unintelligent speech communities attempting to communicate with each other successively approximately to the more obvious features of the other’s language. The natives and the foreigners had to develop a jargon to help them understand each other. ![]() Historically, pidgin is a creative creation of the Colonial era between foreign officials, tradesmen, sailors and the natives in Nigeria and other nations. Some scholars have proposed some definitions and explanations, but firstly what is Pidgin? Pidgin is a development formed by a less dominant group of people. Can we have a clearer clarification on that now? In your paper at the just concluded CBAAC International conference, you tried to justify how the word pidgin was borrowed or formed. Then I know that Pidgin English is one of the topics listed and studied in the course, Varieties of English. I am not a linguist and so, I do not know their plan but honestly, it is worth exploring, because of its wider reach. Is there any plan by linguistics scholars and their allies in higher institutions to entrench the pidgin English in the curriculum as a language of study? It is also an acceptable means of Communication in commerce and entertainment. Presently, it is popular and accepted and it is being used in both formal and informal settings, introduced through: code – switching during discussion or used in full or part in production of all sorts. Afterwards, it became the language of most illiterate people during conversation and in dealing with the educated class. Pidgin English was created out of a dire need to understand each other during business transactions between the natives and foreigners during the Colonial period. Indigenous things are always in the place where they are, with the natives who own them. No matter the content or context, the comic element is constant. Take for instance ‘ wetin concern dog with family planning’? And ‘ if you stay too long for party, you go follow dem pack chair’. Example: ‘my guy if life pepper you, make pepper soup’ Humour is the swag of pidgin proverbs:The tone, the words and the presentation or performance makes it humourous. Nigerians are awesome happy people, even in a difficult situation, we try to make it humorous. Then, humour is a great element of pidgin proverbs. So, It can be deduced that pidgin proverbs started from the Colonial era. Some of the proverbs in pidgin were a direct translation from their native languages and as pidgin language developed, otherwise sayings cropped up. Prior to this, the natives had a robust pool of wise sayings in their various indigenous languages that: caution, rebuke, praise, satirize and entertain. It started from when communication began in pidgin English. When and how did the idea of creating proverbs and humours in pidgin English start?
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