Nigerian Pidgin

Nigerian Pidgin

Researchers like Elugbe and Omanor (1991) Foraclas (1996) have adopted the term Nigerian Pidgin (NP) formerly known Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) and have agued that NP is more spoken in the country (Nigeria) other than indigenous and exogenous languages.
According to Mafeni (1971:97) “Nigerian Pidgin exhibits variety in form and function from region to region, from community to community”, he further states that these varieties are nearly all mutually intelligible and vary in the identity of the indigenous languages which contribute to their resources.
Ayuwo cited Faracles (1996) syas “it is often considered a Creole language since most speakers are native speakers, although many children do learn it early.
In the words of Donwa- Ifode (1983) “Nigerian Pidgin is among the most widely spoken languages in Nigeria, yet it is among the least documented”. According to her, Port Harcourt is one of the multi-lingual settings where NP is most fovoured.
In the course of the research it is observed that, certain areas in Nigeria have also been identified as home of  NP, Areas such as, Rivers (Port Harcourt), Bayelsa, Edo and Delta States (especially Warri City).
But Warri, Sapele, Benin and Port Harcourt has evolved from being a mere contact language into a full fledge natural language. But for the research we would focus on  NP as regards radio broadcasting.
“One may argue, that Pidgin English is the first language of a number of people in Nigeria and therefore is creolising” Ayowo (2010: unpublished). He went further to say that “many people however, are of the opinion that NP is in a creolisation state in most urban centers especially in Port Harcourt, Warri, Benin and Sapele where the language is widely used in markets, government offices, departmental stores, schools, petrol stations, hotels and the electronic media etc.  In these environments, Pidgin English is employed to bridge the language barriers that exist.
Nigeria as multilingual nation has about 300-512 languages, all of which could be grouped unto either of the following broad classes:
The Exogenous Languages: French, Portuguese, Arabic and German
The indigenous languages
The artificial languages, which are considered neutral as they are neither of foreign or native origin.
Nigerian Pidgin is grouped under the third category, as it is an artificial language, which evolved as a result of contact between two or more existing languages and cultures.
Ayuwo 2010: unpublished) gives a conservative estimate of the number of people that speaks NP as a second language would have to exceed 70,000,000 (seventy million) and the number of first language speaks have already surpassed 1,000,000 (one million).
NP (Nigerian Pidgin), despite its common use throughout Nigeria, has no official status.

2.2.12 Levels/Social Dialects of Nigerian Pidgin Usage

There are three different levels at which Pidgin could be spoken. They are the three way of looking at Pidgin users, and they refer to the individual rates of speaking the Pidgin. As those who speak pidgin could either use it as Acrolect, mesolect or basilect speakers.
The Acrolect speakers of pidgin are those who speak it as enlightened people. They use it lightly e.g. Professors, Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers (lecturers) etc.
The Mesolect speakers are the average users of the Nigerian Pidgin. They speak it moderately e.g. Hotel personnel, Bankers etc.
The basilect speakers are very inferior and use it indigenously. They are heavy users of pidgin. e.g. market men and women (traders), uneducated persons, etc.
Therefore, this research during its survey would analyze the category Port Harcourt people call under as regards their opinion to Nigerian Pidgin radio broadcasting station.

2.2.12 Social Linguistics Status of Nigerian Pidgin

Ayuwo (2010: unpublished) says “The situation today is that the pidgin flourishes as a medium as inter-ethnic communication”.
Bridging grass roots language gap in Nigeria in a punch newspaper article, Ayodeji Alabi writes: The rationale for an official language for Nigeria has gone beyond the realm of arguments. The choice of ‘English’ as the nation’s (Nigeria) official language was done out of necessity… the adoption of the English language as the official means of social communication has not in any way contributed to the problem of disunity in Nigeria. In fact it remains the second fastest growing means of social communication in Nigeria today, second only to Nigeria Pidgin; which the merrian-websters dictionary describes as a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages. Pidgin English is the bastardized or corrupted form of the English language. In spite of its being unfashionable to the elite, it is the fastest growing and the most acceptable language of the common man in Nigeria today.
Also, with this variety of English (Pidgin), it is easy for Nigeria to have a common language, which can easily help build unity amongst Nigerian at the grass roots level.
Ayuwo (2010: unpublished)  says “The print and electronic media, that is newspapers, the  radio, televisions adverting and news are social contexts in which NP could be seen to have made a permanent break through…. A good number of radio stations (such as Radio rivers, Treasure FM, Wazobia FM, Ray power etc.) relay newscasts in ethnic languages of their state as well as in Nigerian Pidgin English.

2.2.13 BROADCASTING

Following this research we cannot analyze radio broadcasting without defining what broadcast is.
Nevertheless, broadcasting has been defined by several researchers/scholars as the researcher would identify but a few below:
According to Usua (2008:2), “is a process in which signals, sound or picture are sent from one point, to be received by several people at different locations at the same time by means of radio waves.   
Ndimele and Innocent (2006:180) cites the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) “defines broadcasting as a Radio Communication service in which the transmission are intended for the direct reception of the general public.
Usua (2008), say’s “there’s an objective behind every effort; ….as for broadcasters, the objective is to communicate in  the most effective manner to heterogeneous audience …. Stating there are two major forms of broadcast media –radio and television.
From the above definition on broadcasting, the major issue is on communication whereby there’s a sender and a receiver and the message (information).

2.2.14 Forms of Broadcasting

As technology in our present day has advanced, so also has the forms of broadcasting, this research would help identify these forms, which are:
Television
Radio
Internet
Digital cable television (subscriber based).
But for the research, we would focus on radio broadcasting as regard NP.
2.2.15 Radio as a Broadcast Tool
Ndimele and Innocent (2006:181-182), “The radio, as a mass communication medium, has certain features that are advantageous to its function as a mass medium. They further states “in terms of programming, radio is not limited by illiteracy, poverty, or poor infrastructural facilities.
Meaning that radio as a broadcast tool, helps to transmit information (messages) to people at different location, at the same time.
Ndimele and Innocent (2006) in their work states “that radios are built in such sizes that make them cheap and affordable by even the average person as radio is also very portable and supplemental.
Meaning, radio can be accessible by anybody no matter the status, for free flow of information, and can be listen to while engaging in other activities.
The research would analyze the use of NP as regards radio broadcasting and various views of the issue.

2.3 Empirical Review

Nigerian Pidgin is a deviation from the norms of the English language and it probably explains why NP fits comfortably into the advertising world in Nigeria. He confirmed NP as the language of the masses in Nigeria because it has no class distinction and concluded that the effectiveness of the language in adverts is due to the fact that it caters for all the sections of the society.
Writing on Nigerian pidgin, Jowitt (1991) also remarked that Nigerian pidgin has attained the feet of dignity not only among the illiterates but also the literate members of the society. He instantiated that the use of pidgin signals proximity, informality and it is good for cracking jokes. In his contribution, Adegbija (1994) encourages the utility of the Nigerian pidgin and also proposes the elevation of Nigerian pidgin as a natural language. He says that its grassroots popularity and cultural neutrality and easy acquisition are some justifications. He acknowledges, however, the likely problems to be encountered.
In her contribution, Temitayo Alao (2012) examined the place of pidgin among tertiary institution students in Nigeria by conducting a case study on Osun state University and concluded that Nigerian Pidgin has hidden potentials which even linguists are yet to chart. She added that given the appropriate enabling environment to develop, NP may evolve itself into a viable national language which helps to achieve a number of purposes other than the social and commercial.
Eyo Mensah (2011) discovered in their work on Lexicalization in Nigerian Pidgin that though NP does not have a rich morphological system, it reveals a dynamic process of linguistic innovation and lexicalization, which in turn has greatly improved its functionality that can sustain it a s a language of national consciousness in Nigeria.
It has been suggested that the language is creolizing, on the basis that when a pidgin acquires a speech community it becomes a creoles. This claim has brought some controversies, for example Marchese and Schnukal (1982) say of pidgin in Warri “it has without doubt, become the lingua franca and according to the formal criteria of creolization, it is definitely the creoles or first language of a speech communication in the region”. In reply to this claim, Donwa-Ifode (1983) says that “if c realization is the nativization of a pidgin to acquire speakers for whom it is the mother lingua franca, then the N.P is not creolizing.
Nigerian pidgin has a far much larger number of speakers than was has been referred to by Bamgbose (1980) as the “standard Nigerian English”.
According to Idiagbon (unpublished) in his paper, he categorized the Nigerian pidgin into three which are as follows:
Ordinary pidgin: this is the Nigerian pidgin spoken by the vast majority of Nigerian people
Wafy-ranky which is a special variety popular among the Nigerian students and which of course is the major focus of the study. This category evolved at Ajegunle Lagos state, which is mostly inhabited by low-income earners including young musicians who perform at club houses where majority of those in attendance are students and socialites of low average status. However,” Wafy “ as being popularly referred to has spread beyond its originators to virtually all nooks and crannies of students, settlement and also in the campus.
Hooligan’s version popularly associated with the fouts “area boys” or hoodlums. This is more muddle with slangs, it presents an alternative source of words into Nigerian pidgin. Slangs are characterized by: neologism, clipping, sound symbolism and metaphoric elements.