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And for im independence day speech today, President Nana Akufo Addo ask Ghana pipo to not just celebrate but put hand together to help goment protect di kontri heritage and environment.
De president of Ghana dey very optimistic say Ghana go be a better place of opportunities as development be progressive since independence.
"We for hand over barton of opportunities not retrogression to our pikins", de Ghanaian leader add.
I first noticed this sometime last year and didn't know what I was reading. It is very interesting to say the least. I can respect reporting in a manner that your audience speaks, but there is also something to be said about educated journalists using accepted, formal standards of speech as far as I'm concerned!
I first noticed this sometime last year and didn't know what I was reading. It is very interesting to say the least. I can respect reporting in a manner that your audience speaks, but there is also something to be said about educated journalists using accepted, formal standards of speech as far as I'm concerned!
I personally feel like it's racist. Pidgin isn't even taught in schools in Nigeria and it's highly regional. Nigerian Pidgin is a spoken language, not a written one. The place were it has a significant enough difference to be considered it's own language is Warri and some parts of the Niger Delta. Outside of Warri and a couple of poorer areas, anyone who speaks English and has spent a year in Nigeria can speak and understand pidgin. All Nigerians who can speak pidgin, and write, can write in English.
I have no problems including words like pikin or sabi. Even dey isn't too bad, although it's clearly an expanded definition of the word "they" said with a heavy accent. But legitimately everything else is like a complete purposeful bastardization of Nigerian Standard English. Using "oda" to mean "other", is insulting. The speaker is saying other with an accent, it's not a new word it doesn't mean anything new. This is 90% of Nigerian Pidgin, it's accented English with a few loan words in all of Nigeria and only in one region of Nigeria can you differentiate it enough for it to be it's own language in my humble opinion.
They spell basic English words like "this" and "the" as "dis and "di" with the exact same meaning. Their basically purposefully throwing out traditional English spelling on words, that every pidgin speaker who can write knows how to spell, and the only issue is an accent makes them pronounce "th" as "d" which theirs's nothing wrong with. Same with "story" and "tori" or "afta" and "after" or "him" and "im" or "penarity" and "penalty".
"Abeg, it's just common English, that they dey try to pontificate like this." If I wrote in pidgin I would only differentiate words that either don't exist in English or have an expanded meaning. Adding an accented spelling on different regular English words, with nearly the same meaning is ridiculous and makes it illegible for many speakers of pidgin in my opinion.
From an AfrAm perspective, this is interesting and also pretty easy to read.
EDIT: WOW very easy to read, I love it.
Definitely shares many similarities to very old AAVE, so many that when reading in my head I sort of had to double take cause I was reading "goment" as "gubment" as in "gubment cheese".i can almost read it in my grandmother's voice.
To me it's very phonetic and pretty comfortable. Thought it would have a bit more African word usage.
In many ways, this reads like the transcripts of the Federal Writers Project on Slave Narratives from the late 1930s.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 03-09-2021 at 03:05 AM..
I personally feel like it's racist. Pidgin isn't even taught in schools in Nigeria and it's highly regional. Nigerian Pidgin is a spoken language, not a written one. The place were it has a significant enough difference to be considered it's own language is Warri and some parts of the Niger Delta. Outside of Warri and a couple of poorer areas, anyone who speaks English and has spent a year in Nigeria can speak and understand pidgin. All Nigerians who can speak pidgin, and write, can write in English.
I have no problems including words like pikin or sabi. Even dey isn't too bad, although it's clearly an expanded definition of the word "they" said with a heavy accent. But legitimately everything else is like a complete purposeful bastardization of Nigerian Standard English. Using "oda" to mean "other", is insulting. The speaker is saying other with an accent, it's not a new word it doesn't mean anything new. This is 90% of Nigerian Pidgin, it's accented English with a few loan words in all of Nigeria and only in one region of Nigeria can you differentiate it enough for it to be it's own language in my humble opinion.
They spell basic English words like "this" and "the" as "dis and "di" with the exact same meaning. Their basically purposefully throwing out traditional English spelling on words, that every pidgin speaker who can write knows how to spell, and the only issue is an accent makes them pronounce "th" as "d" which theirs's nothing wrong with. Same with "story" and "tori" or "afta" and "after" or "him" and "im" or "penarity" and "penalty".
"Abeg, it's just common English, that they dey try to pontificate like this." If I wrote in pidgin I would only differentiate words that either don't exist in English or have an expanded meaning. Adding an accented spelling on different regular English words, with nearly the same meaning is ridiculous and makes it illegible for many speakers of pidgin in my opinion.
How is it racist? You can pick at how its been written but I don't see how it's racist?
How is it racist? You can pick at how its been written but I don't see how it's racist?
I can see racism via the "soft bigotry of low expectations." In my view, we should be encouraging people to speak properly in accordance with the conventions of a language, but this pidgin usage encourages and treats as acceptable improper English. In our society, people who speak improper English are generally called out for it and encouraged to speak properly, but here the media treats it as acceptable. Is it because the speakers are black? And the media don't believe that the same high standards should apply?
Note, I'm torn on the "bigotry" argument myself. Because, regardless of what I wrote above, that means little to people who do speak this way and likely appreciate the pidgin articles.
I can see racism via the "soft bigotry of low expectations." In my view, we should be encouraging people to speak properly in accordance with the conventions of a language, but this pidgin usage encourages and treats as acceptable improper English. In our society, people who speak improper English are generally called out for it and encouraged to speak properly, but here the media treats it as acceptable. Is it because the speakers are black? And the media don't believe that the same high standards should apply?
Note, I'm torn on the "bigotry" argument myself. Because, regardless of what I wrote above, that means little to people who do speak this way and likely appreciate the pidgin articles.
I think the "speak proper" language you use is problematic. Pidgin is not improper English; its a English based creole language, much like how Haitian Kreyol is a French based creole or Afrikaans is arguably a Dutch based creole or daughter language. We all can recognize Kreyol and Afrikaans as languages, not bad French or improper Dutch.
Speaking Pidgin does not mean one can't speak English. We really need to move past the stigmatization of speakers of creole languages. There is little actual evidence that speaking a non standard variety of a language or a creole language in of itself interferes with learning the standard language. It doesn't. Look at the Caribbean, other parts of Africa, or parts of Asia for instance. If Nigerians are having issues speaking English, its due to lack of quality education, exposure, and opportunity to speak, not due to using Pidgin.
Now personally, I have an issue with the orthography of BBC Pidgin. It doesn't not help that its very much based on English. The Krio and Pichi languages have a better orthography if you ask me. You can see that it is based off English but it's very distinct. Jamaican Patois was also standardized recently and people complain that it looks nothing like English. But I think that is better if there's a clearer separation in the orthography of the language, to prevent confusion.
How is it racist? You can pick at how its been written but I don't see how it's racist?
Prospectheights covered a bit of it although he went too deeply as no one cares about the bigotry of low expectations in Africa. Africans act however they want and the opinions of Europeans is irrelevant to Pidgin English speakers.
My issue with it is that it simply isn't a real language outside of one region of Nigeria. Hence their is an estimated 5 million people that use it for daily use (Largely in the region my Dad is from, Warri/Port Harcourt and a bit in Lagos and Benin City) even though their's an estimated 75 million total speakers. My dad is one of the few people that knows zero Nigerian languages and as a result can only speak English and proper Warri-Pidgin English. BBC wrote the standardized version of Pidgin. Since it isn't a language in the western sense theirs no need for a standardization. It's a trade language, the people that speak it live in the most multicultural parts of Nigeria and too understand other groups rather than learning several languages, folks just learned pidgin to speak and trade with each other. It's similar to Hindi in that respect with India. My Grandma could speak Pidgin, her own language, as well as Yoruba and Igbo (she recently passed).
This video shows a lot of the context. Look at how his voice changes. When talking in his normal voice and with pidgin. I'm not anti-pidgin, but it's a very local and it has it's purpose. Even in Nigeria. Folks from Warri are popular not only because of their accent. as mentioned in this video, but because Warri people have a certain cadence to them reminiscent of New York City. They'll tell you how it is, and it's a rough place, even by Nigerian standards as the disparity there is massive do to it being a center of oil revenues. In fact Warri is so rough the Oil Industry sort of left to Port Harcourt. Similar to New Orleans and Houston. It's cultural impact on the country is massive just like New Orleans. In fact Warri is so popular people associate all of Nigeria with Pidgin English since it's a cultural phenomenon that has grown from there and grabbed a hold of the country's entertainment history. Their are a million musicians, comedians and movie stars from Warri or Delta State, and it's the 2nd or 3rd most popping city after Lagos and Port Harcourt from a cultural standpoint.
Here is in another city. In this city, it's less multicultural than Warri or Port Harcourt or Lagos, because this is the Yoruba heartland. Listen to how people speak. The either Speak English with a Yoruba/Nigerian accent, or speak Yoruba. Even if they do Speak pidgin they speak a pidgin that's very similar to English, it's at best an Accent.
Now that context is somewhat established, let me explain why it's racist. The BBC are taking a language from a country that doesn't teach the language partially because it's seen as lower class and much more significantly because their are a million regional variations and all of them are close to English except 1 (I know in other West African countries they have more extreme versions of Pidgin and those can be considered separate Languages). They then put articles in it, using a grammatical structure that they created (While their unspoken rules when speaking Pidgin, no one is going to correct you).
My question is who is their' target audience? To this day no one writes in pidgin. People who speak Pidgin are either illiterate or can write in English. I could see the need for Other Creole's but native Pidgin speakers basically don't exist, it's an urban accent, it didn't come out of rural isolation. It's one thing if a need is not being met and their are millions people who can read Pidgin English and can't read regular English, but that crossover simply doesn't exist. About the only space is for people who can Speak Pidgin English and Ijaw/Yoruba/Edo but not proper English. But then again if these people could read they would have learned proper English. As to even know written Yoruba or any other language in Nigeria you likely have to know English first.
On top of that do the lower class urbanites of Warri, Port Harcourt, Benin City and Ajegunle, Lagos who might have the most difficulty read the BBC?
Also I have an issue with them quoting people specifically, who almost certainly weren't speaking pidgin. If you quote someone and you rewrite what they actually said, to make it sound like they aren't speaking English it's insulting. Pidgin has it's place, and their are proper ways to Speak with a Nigerian accent but once you start discussing topics like this with pidgin it seems like a reading a written minstrel show.
I think the "speak proper" language you use is problematic. Pidgin is not improper English; its a English based creole language, much like how Haitian Kreyol is a French based creole or Afrikaans is arguably a Dutch based creole or daughter language. We all can recognize Kreyol and Afrikaans as languages, not bad French or improper Dutch.
Speaking Pidgin does not mean one can't speak English. We really need to move past the stigmatization of speakers of creole languages. There is little actual evidence that speaking a non standard variety of a language or a creole language in of itself interferes with learning the standard language. It doesn't. Look at the Caribbean, other parts of Africa, or parts of Asia for instance. If Nigerians are having issues speaking English, its due to lack of quality education, exposure, and opportunity to speak, not due to using Pidgin.
Now personally, I have an issue with the orthography of BBC Pidgin. It doesn't not help that its very much based on English. The Krio and Pichi languages have a better orthography if you ask me. You can see that it is based off English but it's very distinct. Jamaican Patois was also standardized recently and people complain that it looks nothing like English. But I think that is better if there's a clearer separation in the orthography of the language, to prevent confusion.
Exactly. You highlight my points, and my issue with ProspectHeights post. Nigerian Pidgin for the most part is accented English. It's not a bastardization as the original Warri-Pidgin was developed so various ethnic groups in close proximity could speak with each other, and that's why it regionally varies a ton, although like I said the Warri variant is the most popular in Nigerian culture, as well as the one that's least similar to English. All other Pidgins is basically accented English. Much like Singlish or Manglish in Malaysia/Singapore. Jamaican Patois and other Carribbean Creoles, maybe because of the island nature of these countries seem far more distinct from English. My guess is because it's the dominant language in those countries and Sierra Leone because of physical size and the lack of the original African languages spoken by Jamaicans and other groups.
Nigerian Pidgin in reality can't be standardized, because of it's trade language status by it's very nature it borrows from the languages in proximity to it. Theirs's 250 languages in Nigeria, theirs's probably dozens of regional variants of pidgin, and all of them are far more similar to English than to any language in particular. The second you start writing in Pigeon might as well start writing books in Southern, Mancunian and South African English.
Prospectheights covered a bit of it although he went too deeply as no one cares about the bigotry of low expectations in Africa. Africans act however they want and the opinions of Europeans is irrelevant to Pidgin English speakers.
My issue with it is that it simply isn't a real language outside of one region of Nigeria. Hence their is an estimated 5 million people that use it for daily use (Largely in the region my Dad is from, Warri/Port Harcourt and a bit in Lagos and Benin City) even though their's an estimated 75 million total speakers. My dad is one of the few people that knows zero Nigerian languages and as a result can only speak English and proper Warri-Pidgin English. BBC wrote the standardized version of Pidgin. Since it isn't a language in the western sense theirs no need for a standardization. It's a trade language, the people that speak it live in the most multicultural parts of Nigeria and too understand other groups rather than learning several languages, folks just learned pidgin to speak and trade with each other. It's similar to Hindi in that respect with India. My Grandma could speak Pidgin, her own language, as well as Yoruba and Igbo (she recently passed).
This video shows a lot of the context. Look at how his voice changes. When talking in his normal voice and with pidgin. I'm not anti-pidgin, but it's a very local and it has it's purpose. Even in Nigeria. Folks from Warri are popular not only because of their accent. as mentioned in this video, but because Warri people have a certain cadence to them reminiscent of New York City. They'll tell you how it is, and it's a rough place, even by Nigerian standards as the disparity there is massive do to it being a center of oil revenues. In fact Warri is so rough the Oil Industry sort of left to Port Harcourt. Similar to New Orleans and Houston. It's cultural impact on the country is massive just like New Orleans. In fact Warri is so popular people associate all of Nigeria with Pidgin English since it's a cultural phenomenon that has grown from there and grabbed a hold of the country's entertainment history. Their are a million musicians, comedians and movie stars from Warri or Delta State, and it's the 2nd or 3rd most popping city after Lagos and Port Harcourt from a cultural standpoint.
Here is in another city. In this city, it's less multicultural than Warri or Port Harcourt or Lagos, because this is the Yoruba heartland. Listen to how people speak. The either Speak English with a Yoruba/Nigerian accent, or speak Yoruba. Even if they do Speak pidgin they speak a pidgin that's very similar to English, it's at best an Accent.
Now that context is somewhat established, let me explain why it's racist. The BBC are taking a language from a country that doesn't teach the language partially because it's seen as lower class and much more significantly because their are a million regional variations and all of them are close to English except 1 (I know in other West African countries they have more extreme versions of Pidgin and those can be considered separate Languages). They then put articles in it, using a grammatical structure that they created (While their unspoken rules when speaking Pidgin, no one is going to correct you).
My question is who is their' target audience? To this day no one writes in pidgin. People who speak Pidgin are either illiterate or can write in English. I could see the need for Other Creole's but native Pidgin speakers basically don't exist, it's an urban accent, it didn't come out of rural isolation. It's one thing if a need is not being met and their are millions people who can read Pidgin English and can't read regular English, but that crossover simply doesn't exist. About the only space is for people who can Speak Pidgin English and Ijaw/Yoruba/Edo but not proper English. But then again if these people could read they would have learned proper English. As to even know written Yoruba or any other language in Nigeria you likely have to know English first.
On top of that do the lower class urbanites of Warri, Port Harcourt, Benin City and Ajegunle, Lagos who might have the most difficulty read the BBC?
Also I have an issue with them quoting people specifically, who almost certainly weren't speaking pidgin. If you quote someone and you rewrite what they actually said, to make it sound like they aren't speaking English it's insulting. Pidgin has it's place, and their are proper ways to Speak with a Nigerian accent but once you start discussing topics like this with pidgin it seems like a reading a written minstrel show.
Maybe it's just me but the irony in writing in something called Broken English, talking about this topic just seems off.
I will definitely check those videos out. Thank you for dropping more context on this, specifically the bolded. I am Caribbean American so my background/opinion is creole languages is colored by that context, though I understand language politics/attitudes may be different in West Africa.
As an aside, are the English based pidgins/creoles of West Africa mutually intelligible? I've seen online people say they are but I haven't been exposed to all the varieties to know for sure.
I will definitely check those videos out. Thank you for dropping more context on this, specifically the bolded. I am Caribbean American so my background/opinion is creole languages is colored by that context, though I understand language politics/attitudes may be different in West Africa.
As an aside, are the English based pidgins/creoles of West Africa mutually intelligible? I've seen online people say they are but I haven't been exposed to all the varieties to know for sure.
From what I understand Pidgin started in the Delta region of Nigeria, somewhere along the coast. Specifically between these three cities which are only 100km from each other. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Beni...334986!1m0!3e0
Warri/Sapele/Benin from South to North. Because of Oil and the region (SE Nigeria), being extremely ethnically diverse. SW Nigeria is often portrayed as being Igbo dominated, but their are tons of tiny ethnicities on the coast and the East of the Igbo, and the Igbo might not even be a majority in this region. This region was simultaneously close to the European traders, and ethnically diverse at the same time leading to the development of a Pidgin English.
This Pidgin is either the same or heavily influential from Ghana all the way to Cameroon. As While West Africa is Francophone, from around Ghana to Nigeria, English is very much dominant due to their population sizes. So lots of people in Coastal Cameroon, Benin and Togo speak Nigerian Pidgin or a variant of it. For example rather than learn proper English. Ghana has it's own pidgin that's very much related to the Nigerian one. Krio and Liberian Creoles might be more distinct but I don't know many folks that speak that personally. The videos I've seen sometimes I understand a lot of what their saying and sometime I understand nothing. My guess is the loanwords are being heavily used which leads to a large lack of understanding.
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