prolly have a change of mind, tho pidgin english is spoke widely if its hard to believe for u guyz we cant make it our lingua franca even here in london most english pplz cant speak queens english only african pplz here can speak it. so keep engish n let pidgin juz be what we speak as fun or even if a national sport lol

Isnt it already? I mean OBJ is always on about been "kanpke"! Especially in public.

pingin is english is not to good outside

using pidgin english as a second national language is not a bad idea

i beg to differ to some posters idea that once u know how to speak pidgin english u wont know how to use proper english i would tell u thats a big lie

most of us here have a good understanding of both pidgin english and proper english 

i went to a university in nigeria that even if u don't understand pidgin english before u graduate u would know how to manipulate it and so is the case in most nigerian universties talk less of secondary and primary schools


most times have u not noticed that when u bring an mgbeke from the village she picks up pidgin faster and can communicate with it

we can achieve good use of both languages if we just try - mind u,  some of us already have good command of our native languages and that does not affect our english it only in some cases affect our ascent

Yeah thats true.Wldnt be a bad idea too

It might not be in the constitution but pidgin is already an official language in Nigeria, everyone speaks it anyway

Yeah thats true.

as a waffi guy make i yarn my mind. pidgeon na the way forward o. scrap queens english. pidgeon was made for us black human beings,. afterall even though hawk and owl de fly for sky na only one de see for night

Na true jare.The Queens English never profit us sef.Abeg na pidgin all d way jare.

I totally agree with you guys

Honestly it will be good if dey pass dis but i dnt tink so cos not all tribes in 9ja can speak it well too.

ov:

as a waffi guy make i yarn my mind. pidgeon na the way forward o. scrap queens english. pidgeon was made for us black human beings,. afterall even though hawk and owl de fly for sky na only one de see for night

If they do make it official please drop phrases such as "ace sobey" its degrading !!!!

Is dt pidgin?LOL

I would like to make a good point about Nigerian Pidgin English, first of all I will classify it as a new Nigerian language which derived from english with the mixture of our own almight languages and culutre, and the English Dictionary classified it as Pidgin because they can't understand it and meanwhile the English language is derived from other European languages (such as Dutch, French, etc) and please people read the history of English then you will know that the English itself was a Pidgin language, but as time goes on the language keep changing. So who are they to labelled it "Pidgin" just because they don't understand the constructure of the language (Pidgin). I agree that it should be official just like the adopted English. I also hate calling our own languages vernacular, I think some of our profs and government don Kolo since 1960s, ) I beg give me banana b4 I jump like monkie as baba 70 said.

Communication is the goal of any language. Why speak pidgin when we can speak English?
Most articles on the Internet, books, movies,tv shows are in English. We won't be able to take
advantage of all these resources if we only understand pidgin. So let's stick with the standard.

I'm all for sticking with regular English.

Pidgin was never spoken in our home, my parents spoke to myself and my sisters in English.

I'm bringing my kids up to speak regular English too, not Pidgin.

Siena:

I'm all for sticking with regular English.
Pidgin was never spoken in our home, my parents spoke to myself and my sisters in English.

I'm bringing my kids up to speak regular English too, not Pidgin.

Yes I agree.  But unfortnately in about 50-100years from now, there will be no languages within the "tribes". The good news is that most of us are not going to be alive to see how it all plays out.  Thank God! We are going to be left with "standard english" and "pidgin english".  Would be wise to understand both since the latter is the language of the streets.  Nigeria has mostly an illiterate gen-pop.  I would like my generations to come to understand both to avoid being ripped off or look like a fish out of water in the hoody neighbourhoods of Nigeria. 

Pidgin English is a language of survival in Nigeria.  Your life might depend on the ability to speak it if you find yourself in certain parts of Nigeria. If you do not live in Nigeria-no problems then.  I would like my kids to visit Nigeria often, so they better learn it---and fast---especially since they are from the South-South!

I hate pidgin English.

I don't think it should become the official language of Nigeria, but it seems many Nigerians love the idea. I think it's a step backwards.

Fufu King:

I hate pidgin English.
I don't think it should become the official language of Nigeria, but it seems many Nigerians love the idea. I think it's a step backwards.

I beg shine your eyes well oh!  How far na?   Pidginee no go mud lie lie!!!

I don't understand why some Naija peeps' hairs are ruffled whenever this issue of Pidgin as an official language is brought up. As others have clearly stated, quite a few standardized or "creole-labeled" languages are recognized as actual languages. Check Seychelles creole (pidgin French) or Jamaican Patois (pidgin English). People in Angola and Sao Tome have their own version of Brazilian Portuguese. Those are languages that started out being "improper" versions of the original language. Y must our speech be exactly like the Brits? Have you heard them rapping their own version of English. Honestly the accents and slangs in that one country alone are mind-boggling! Y e be say Naija peeps go jus dey do unnecessary gra-gra wey e come to our mata? Razness in practice! Besides, there are some things we can say in Pidgin that just won't work within the confines of English (which is a bastardized form of Latin, German and loan words from other romance languages by the way with improper pronounciation - and sometimes spelling - of words like "quid pro quo", "de rigeur" and "tete-a-tete". Y'all don't get me started! Heck even "y'all" is improper English but it's perfectly acceptable to write and say in American English)

Case in point, how can you honestly explain these sentences in English:

"Man bodi no be fayawood"
Or
"Becos you no wan kpai b4 u die! Lai! Lai!" from 2Face's song, "No Shakin"

A valid language has a cultural expression behind it that may be unfathomable or indescribable in another language or culture. In fact---all the people wey get qualms with pidgin as official language (e don already be unofficial wetin bad 2 remove 2 letters from d front again? Shu-u!) na d peeps wey no sabi rap d tin laik Waffi peeps or common man! I rest my mouth.

Oh and by the way, our neighbours are clamouring to speak our Nigerian version of Pidgin English because they think it's really cool. Naija films dey reach all over Africa sotay my friend from Morocco dey yan me of "Games Women Play" b4 me fa wey be Naija babe bin see am. All those people in all those countries see our language as cool and acceptable. Why don't we?! Ghana speaks pidgin, quite a few Camerounians do too and what exactly do you think Sierra Leone's "krio" is? Nigeriens! Mon Dieu! C'etait ridicule! Incroyable! So Fela and Femi and Asa shouldn't have spoken pidgin?! Na wa oh!

omoovie:

what exactly do you think Sierra Leone's "krio" is?

Its definitely not pidgin. some similarities, but not pidgin

I support the adoption of pidgin english 100%, afterall that's the only language spoken and undertsood by about 70% of Nigerians. What else do we need?

mukina2:

Its definitely not pidgin. some similarities, but not pidgin

pidgin/krio, all the say, it just depends on what you want to call it.

I would like to say a couple of things about Nigerian Pidgin Language (NPL).

I don't think that we should just rush headlong to make NPL our national language immediately, though it is widely known that it is spoken, in its many varieties, more than any single language in the country, and this includes English Language.

We should allow the wriiten form of the language to grow, and let people learn how to properly read it and write it. Presently, many people are using the English Language ortorgraphy to write NPL. That is wrong. Orthography is the way of spelling the words of a language and writing in the language.

I am Nigerian Pidgin Bible translator and we have translated the Bible into NPL. The New Testament will soon be published while the Old testament is undergoing polishing. An NPL adult primer will soon be published to help teach people how to read in NP and write in the language using the standardised orthography. If God could use us to transalte the Bible into NPL, I believe with time, many books in various fiedls would be translated or written in NP.

Actually, every major language, such as English, Spanish French, Chineese, etc started as a spoken language and its written form was later developed. Literatures were written and produced in the language and the language grew in strength and popularity.

Concerning NPL, its ortorgraphy was standardised at a workshop/meeting held at University of Ibadan in February 2003. The workshop was attened be well known linguists and NP experts from various parts of the country. I was at the meeting.

During the workshop/meeting, NPL's orthography was standardized. It was established that NPL is a language of its own having its structure, phonolgy, orthography, etc.

It is therefore wrong for one to say "Nigerian Pidgin English" when referring to "Nigerian Pidgin Language" One can correctly say "Nigerian Pidgin" but not "Nigerian Pidgin English"

That NPL borrowed many words from English language does not make it that language. We need to remember that the English Language borrowed extensively from Latin, Greek and a host of other languages and it is still borrowing. Language is dynamic.

If any of you are interested, I wouldn't mind sending you the standard orthography of NPL. Much work is going on in the language.

I think this posting is getting too long. I will write again on some other issues concerning NPL which I read in this thread.

omoovie:

People in Angola and Sao Tome have their own version of Brazilian Portuguese. Those are languages that started out being "improper" versions of the original language.

I'm sorry, but WHAT?

LOL! The Portuguese spoken in Sao Tome and Angola is NOT Brazilian Portuguese. It's Portuguese!

And there is a huge, huge difference between regional accents and regional vocabulary and a pidgin or creole language.

mukina2:

Its definitely not pidgin. some similarities, but not pidgin

Sierra Leonians speak pidgin that is VERY similar to Naija pidgin English. My hairdresser is from Sierra Leone and when she speaks pidgin English, you will think she is a Naija. I can barely differentiate between Naija and Sierra Leone pidgin English.

@Poster
Growing up in Naija, pidgin English was forbidden in my house. We were not allowed to speak it. However, I learnt to speak it in elementary school from the other kids who spoke it in their households. I like pidgin especially when cracking jokes. I think it should remain a secondary language of communication. Atleast, here in America, if I want to say something to my fellow Naija who is not from my ethnic group and I don't want yankee people to hear what I am saying, I can just switch to pidgin English!

omoovie:

Oh and by the way, our neighbours are clamouring to speak our Nigerian version of Pidgin English because they think it's really cool. Naija films dey reach all over Africa sotay my friend from Morocco dey yan me of "Games Women Play" before me fa wey be Naija babe bin see am. All those people in all those countries see our language as cool and acceptable. Why don't we?! Ghana speaks pidgin, quite a few Camerounians do too and what exactly do you think Sierra Leone's "krio" is? Nigeriens! Mon Dieu! C'etait ridicule! Incroyable! So Fela and Femi and Asa shouldn't have spoken pidgin?! Na wa oh!

Sierra leones were the ones who started Pidigin but called it Krio. Krio and pidigin is the same. The only difference is in Naija Pidigin has some yoruba, hausa and igbo dialects mixed with it. I read that we got that language from slaves who came to Africa(I.E: Sierra leones). They are the ones who began it and Nigerians made it popular.

That's why i agree we should make pidgin the main language in Nigeria. Hell maybe Africa.
Our people started it so we should make it our own instead of copying others.
Haiti speaks creole as a main language(That's pidgin also but different).
Naija people we communicate with Pidgin more than we communicate with regular English. It will be a perfect First Language.

Nwaka77:


Sierra Leonians speak pidgin that is VERY similar to Naija pidgin English. My hairdresser is from Sierra Leone and when she speaks pidgin English, you will think she is a Naija. I can barely differentiate between Naija and Sierra Leone pidgin English.

@Poster
Growing up in Naija, pidgin English was forbidden in my house. We were not allowed to speak it.

Me too. Growing up in Naija. In our house Pidgin English was forbidden. My mama and my father can speak it but they didn't teach it to us.
Atleast they taught us Igbo.
My sister and brother learnt how to speak it from friends.
Me on the other hand i'm slowly learning.
I can read and understand it but i can't speak it or write it yet.
My parents don't care anymore if we speak broken english in the House. My mother even agreed that pidgin should be Naija main language.
Maybe in the future i'll know how to speak and write it.
So i can confuse yankee people. not only with Igbo but with broken english also.

pigin is so sweet, the Edos & dalta speak it best.

Pidgin i subscribe be adopted.
Even abroad when you meet a fellow Nigerian these expressions are commonly used, My guy wetin dey, who you be, where you from, no wahala, nuthin much, i go call you, come chop, i dey work, i dey be student etc

Its a language we all understand from ibo, yoruba, iJaw, efik, delta, edo, uhrobo , perhaps hausas too.

the language is very sweet and original

Lets stop calling it pidgin english call it Nigerian.
We can standardise it very quickly (ask Wafi and Safi guys) and it is a more sensible idea than that ridiculous wazobia.