Abeg. How far? How you dey? Na
wa for you o! These are commonly used phrases, in pidgin English – a
language most Nigerians are familiar with. In many parts of the country, Pidgin
English already functions as the unofficial means of spoken correspondence. For
instance, my friend walks up to me and says, “how you dey, hope you are
fine, Abeg can you give me this pen?” (Do you notice the transition from
Pidgin English to English?)
As a nation, Nigeria comprises of over 200 ethnic groups,
with Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba as the three major languages and English as our
lingua franca. Still, because English is not any Nigerian’s mother tongue,
major and minor errors are made by people on a daily basis; sadly, this case
looks far from ending with the current state of our educational system. In
schools today, especially government-owned schools, many students speak more of
Pidgin English than English.
Growing up, I was exposed to English and Yoruba, my
parents prevented me from speaking pidgin English because of the effect it may
have had on my English later on, but as time went on I mingled with my peers
and gradually got exposed to Pidgin; thanks to the kind of background I had, I’ve
been able to balance my usage of both languages.
I remember once in Secondary school during a discussion
with my English teacher Mr Apeh, he shared his view on Pidgin English; stating
that he liked the fact that with our diversity as a nation, we still had
something in common, something we could call our own. He also added that it
would be good if the Nigerian educational system was strengthened, so that
students would have the ability to strike a balance between their use of both
languages.
Recently, in a discussion I had with Jamilu- the Hausa ‘Aboki’
on my street- he said, “I like to dey speak pidgin because e dey
easy, my papa no send me go Makaranta (school), on to say him no get
money and we plenty for my house. I for like sabi how to speak English
o, walahi because na people wey fit speak am well well dey
get money pass, see Dangote and Sanusi”.
One of my course mates Samuel, believes that pidgin
English should be encouraged because of the way it is accepted by a variety of
people and it’s really easy to learn and speak, he also thinks it would be nice
if a good curriculum is developed to balance the use of Pidgin and English. He
says efforts should be made to formalise the Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) just
like Afrikaans in South Africa and Namibia. He added that it would be a great
idea to package Pidgin English and export it to other countries; citing an
example, he said: “imagine you buy a new mobile phone in the UK and at the back
it says ‘Made in China’; at the translations column you see GBR, ESP, FR and
NPE (Nigerian Pidgin English), obviously the fact that your language is there
Toyosi, I tell you, you would be happy”.
Pidgin provides a good platform for communication and
relationships, in the sense that it unites people of different social status,
ethnicity and academic background. A very good example is when you meet your
fellow Nigerian in a foreign country where there are few blacks or Africans.
Looking at the negative aspect, Pidgin English, if
spoken too often can affect an individual’s spoken English; this is as a result
of its freedom of diction and word formation – everything said in Pidgin is
correct.
As a Nigerian, you don’t learn Pidgin English, it just
comes naturally from the environment; and as a foreigner its one of the easiest
languages to learn. The humour in Pidgin is that grammatical blunders are
absent and words cannot be mispronounced (Don’t worry, Pidgin 101 will teach
you all that). Everything that seems wrong in English seems right in pidgin.
It would benefit Nigerians to see Pidgin as a platform
for unity, a reason why we are one Nigeria and not different ethnic groups;
just the same way we unite when watching the Super Eagles play (now, that’s a
topic for another day).
God Bless Nigeria.
Source: Toyosin Yusuff, Y! Africa
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