Wetin Be Pidgin, Where E Dey Come From?

Wetin dey happen my people? Kilon shele? How far? I hope sey you bam?

Have you ever wondered where pidgin originated from? Or why so many Nigerians can speak it but not necessarily know how to speak their native language? Well, read on to find this out and more. I promise I won’t bore you!

Okay, so first up pidgin can be argued to be (though many people would beg to differ) the Lingua Franca of Nigeria, in other words the “Bridge Language” and to define it further, is the language that is widely used as a means of communication amongst most Nigerians.

Let’s talk about pidgin as a whole; there are different kinds of pidgin. West African Pidgin (Nigerian Pidgin, Cameroonian Pidgin, Sierra Leone Krio), Indonesian Pidgin (Tok Pisin, spoken in Papua New Guinea) as well as Pidgin spoken in parts of Asia and the Caribbean.

It is said that pidgin takes more of a “baby talk” approach and seems to imitate toddler speech or phrasing (calm down, I’m not saying that people who speak it sound like babies oh, just listen to the explanation first). Toddler speech doesn’t have any tones and uses simple vowels and like Pidgin is used to get what you want, using whatever communication and terms of reference you can (in the quickest way possible). Originally, pidgin was a few well placed words here and there with gestures to accompany them, and the rest as they say is history.

Pidgin: Unofficial Naija Mother Tongue

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.

Writing Fiction: What has Pidgin got to do With it?

Pidgin is formally defined as “a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.  With more than 250 ethnic groups, Nigerian Pidgin English (also known as “Broken English”) is recognized as an informal means of communication and is widely spoken across the nation.

Pidgin English is not the official language in Nigeria, though some people would want it that way. One of the reasons why Pidgin is frowned upon is that opponents believe that prolonged use will color your English because it is considered an adulterated form of English. The same people would argue that speaking your native language fluently will color your English.  I disagree on both counts. But I will leave that for another day.

Most Nigerians are familiar with basic terms and forms of usage.  Examples of common terms are:

Wetin be dis? – What is this?

You dey craze – You are crazy

I no sabi im name – I don’t know his name

Dat pikin head resemble mango – That child’s head looks like a mango

More advanced terms are common with more advanced speakers.  So, what does this have to do with fiction?

How You Dey? Africa & A Language Called Pidgin

(Saharareporters.com TV) - As African metros grow dramatically, and as custom and culture diffuse across the many different physical, geographic, and social borders that mark the continent, one element seems to have achieved some constancy despite such change; a language called “pidgin”. A fusion of English and different traditional languages, “pidgin” is popular across Nigeria.

In almost any setting and in any scene, pidgin is a linguistic element that translates effortlessly across class, age, educational level and tribe. While shopping, at work or school, or in any of many other environments, Naija pidgin can be overheard peppering everyday speech with a sweetly symphonic flavor, tying the dish that is daily dialogue together quite savorily.

From the most spirited “how you dey?” to the most melancholy “haba!”, and from the tongues of school-children, area boys, or even grandmothers, pidgin is a well-embedded, well-embraced, and ever-evolving facet of Nigerian society, as natural (and as necessary) as oxygen. Pidgin even supersedes speech, like a living thing it adapts and grows as the climate around it changes.

Even in the United States, where I have lived my entire life, pidgin and some of its variants can be heard among African communities from all reaches of the continent.