E don tay wel wel ! na the best thing sha !

occam:

if pidgin becomes one of the international language for business, you may see emails like this pdgin translators will be in great demand

To: Sam Igbokuwenu
From: Charles White
Subject: Timba wood supply

Igbanu Sam,

Abeg you fit supply man pinkin 10,000 planks of timba wood by next month. Bico, yarn me when my container go arrive New York port. Reply me chap! chap!

Charles White
New York Commodity Merchant

E go tey before Oyibo go tear eye understand that one o!

Waoh sounds so good

if to say one thing no do one thing, we suppose don do am official tey tey, but, as something don do one thing na, e come be like say e never late. From hood, the language waka enter streets, from streets e enter work, church. later on, e no rest, e come enter music, movies, tv, radio, sotey our president dey use am address us now; 'my fellow naija people, I dey hail una o'

I like the language sha, dem chicks for here dey like am when we dey speak am. them say na sexy language. sexy ke? na dem sabi jo!

lonewolf:

Languages develop over time. Pidgin English is variation of English language, an amalgam of many languages. That it is being recognised is a good thing. I can't understand why people would be of the inclination that it corrupts 'proper' English. That's not a credible argument.

Anybody who knows black history will appreciate pidgin English, just as they would patois or creole. People who don't appreciate the language generally do not know their history.

It's funny how people talk of "standard" or "queen's" english as if such a thing really exists. As far as I know nobody in England except the Queen and BBC newsreaders speaks queen's english. Everyone else speaks one local dialect or the other just like us Nigerians.
And BTW nobody speaks standard english in Nigeria. Our politicians try (and usually fail) to speak what I like to call "NTA Abuja" english, Chris Okotie speaks "look at me, I finished secondary school!" english, and the common people speak pidgin.

English by the way is a mish-mash of pidgin germanic, pidgin latin and whatever celtic language the britons spoke before the roman conquest. And French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are just diffenent variants of pidgin Latin.

In the olden days in Europe, Latin was the high language used by governments, schools and the church while the languages the commoners spoke (English, French, etc) were considered vulgar (the catholics are actually still doing this nomsense). And now in Naija, English has become the new Latin.

Its funny how history repeats itself.

Pidgin to become a formal language- long overdue. Pidgin to become national language- not good. Its a good idea to study the language,standardize it, and build a body of knowledge on its history,structure and dialects. Quite likely there's been more work done on dog linguistics than on nigerian pidgin which is spoken by millions. However,adopting it as a national language or teaching it in schools is just ridiculous in my opinion. Reading pidgin (even the stuff written on this thread) is hard labour and it has a very limited vocabulary completely bereft of technical words. I think it should be 'formalized' and left to remain what it is- an auxillary language we communicate in when standard english proves difficult or uncomfortable for us.

We are waking up slowly slowly!

this pidgin enghlise na wetin we need to unify naija

just imagine say if you enter naija no matter where you are from,just carry dey yan pidgin,even oyinbo people like our pidgin how much more other african country,this kind sugeestion jonathan go welcom am well well,cos wen bros the yan english ,em they get pidgin english accent, abi i lie.make una go listen to jonathan speech again and again,you go sabi say na true. make pidgin dey like patuar.and make the whole world dey use am identify us.naija 4 live

i dont know, but it's kinda lame! There are so many pidgin slang's, how dem one take blend all of them??

Yoruba would make a better Formal Language.

It's widely spoken. . . . Even Hausa man dey enjoy am

uhhm. . formal language?? the prospect of that might sound exciting, but the true beauty of speaking pidgin
lies in the ability to do so however the heck u want.

Take that freedom and flexibilty; put it in a confined structure with 'standardized' set of rules.

now there you have it; another soulless language ridden with conformity.


the main yarn na say, when i siddon dey blow my pidgin how i like, i for no like any oversabi to tel me which 1 be which.

st-kris, not necessarily. Pidgin already has its own set of rules, which allow for communication, and the initiative to formalize it won't be tampering with those set of rules. Instead, the only actual job at hand for formalizing it is properly codifying it. So there's nothing to really worry about on that end.

kosovo, so yu wan come tell us se na common yan no de?

Pigdin suppose don bcom Formal Language since when i dey small, wey my parents go dey force person speak English wey i no sabi den, Omo, I too gbadun am, nomore Oyinbo oooooooooooo

not a bad idea. hope it happens in my lifetime

How dem go make pidgin formal language,na this kain misdo dey make me para-provoke and para-annoyed.
Ah ah,whish levels,we no go gree o we no go gree,,,,,,,,,

But wait o bros,wetin be formal language again ooooo

pidgin wey don become official language since before before, na today?

i tell you, with dis one no bodi go fail Waec, Neco and JAmb again. becos every bodi go understand wetin the teacher dey yan. i know say na many teachers go happy pass. see grove!!!!

no comment pls.

ChinenyeN:

Common Pidgin. Even, I think it [common pidgin] is relatively the same for West Africa, in general. Feel free to correct me, if I'm wrong.

There isn't a common Pidgin, it's just that generally the varieties aren't much different, but they differ sometimes completely in some other forms. Like in Lagos lot's of people use words like 'Shebi', and in the East words like 'Okwa' is used. Which word would be added to the dictionary, both?

A lot of pidgin is from Sierra Leone and Jamaica, an everyday Nigerian wouldn't be able to understand Sierra Leone Creole. In Ghana they obviously have words like 'Charlae' and 'pa', etc. Not to talk of Northern Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, etc.

LWKMD4H, LOL if to say na just mi, i for dey yarn am anyhow bcoz nobodi 4 dey here to judge mi, pidgin na the language we dey  sweet belle die! papa and mama dey enjoy am welu welu, if no be dis awa sweet lingua, pipl lyk 2baba 4 no dey sing na, okay, now compare 2baba and any other muzxian  4 Afrika, mek we knw hu sabi sing pass, abeg mek dem quick do am jare, i no fit wait!!

We all know that no Nigerian parent in their right Nigerian mind is sending their kids to school to learn Pidgin English, people are struggling to get parents to allow them to teach their kids natural traditional languages, it's pidgin they'll send them to school to learn?

So that's the problem? Don't dictionaries contain synonyms, anymore? Honestly, I don't believe there should even be a question of which word to use. Aside from that, speakers always dictate the flow of their yarn. No dictionary can restrict a language, especially one as adaptive as pidgin.

Also, maybe I should have been clearer. When I said "common pidgin", I was referring to the idea of some kind of generality among varieties (whether or not those from, say the east can effectively communicate with those from the west) and not necessarily to the existence of a standard variety. My mistake for the misunderstanding.

Bad idea, really. Pidgin is really only a practical language and is not capable of expressing the same range of sentiments as standard english, and is not able to express what it can artistically or beautifully. Also, it is very far from appropriate for many formal events (imagine doing wedding vows in pidgin or a pastor speaking pidgin at a funeral). So if it were made a language, it would be spoken even more than it already is, or even worse, taught, resulting in a lower quality of literature, and more simplistic phrasing, but worst of all, a weaker ability to manipulate and express oneself beautifully or creatively or intellectually in the standard language. Remember that most people think in their first language. If a child's first language is pidgin, how great of a writer, poet, orator (think of Obama, not dead Roman senators), etc. could he really be? In addition, many Nigerians that already make lots of simple grammatical mistakes would make even more.


Just my opinion.

^^Yet it is a very clever opinion.
The main issue here is that most people are assessing this issue as it personally affects them. That is they are comfortable speaking Broken. But it will[b] NEVER EVER HAPPEN. [/b]

Pidgin does not even deserve to be called a language as it is just a collection of informal street slang taken from English, French and vernacular.
Maybe some people here actually would presently list Broken as one of their spoken languages! It is meant strictly for short, informal street conversations.

What is truly laughable is that some supposedly busy academics found the time to debate this nonsensical issue.

Nevertheless the replies on this thread do show that Nigeria has yet to develop a reading culture as opposed to an oral culture. It is in literature that the real breadth, versatility, power and beauty of a language is made manifest and appreciated.

ChinenyeN:

So that's the problem? Don't dictionaries contain synonyms, anymore? Honestly, I don't believe there should even be a question of which word to use. Aside from that, speakers always dictate the flow of their yarn. No dictionary can restrict a language, especially one as adaptive as pidgin.

Also, maybe I should have been clearer. When I said "common pidgin", I was referring to the idea of some kind of generality among varieties (whether or not those from, say the east can effectively communicate with those from the west) and not necessarily to the existence of a standard variety. My mistake for the misunderstanding.

Pidgin English is too variable, and can't be standardised. If 'speakers always dictate the flow of their yarn' then you can't create a dictionary telling someone in Eastern Nigeria that another way to ask a question in pidgin is to use 'shebi', it's not part of their pidgin experience which means it can't be a synonym for them.

No formalization of pidgin then, I guess. . . The whole thing could've been cool too. Oh well.

Pidgin na recognized yan since tey tey.
No be pidgin 'Yooh' dey take flow for Wazobia FM wey dey Lagos?
Abi no be same pidgin 'JohnKennedy' take dey yan tory for Capital FM wey dey Abuja?
Wetin some ppl dey yan so?
Pidgin na country man language jo.

There is creativity in pidgin English, a sentence could me made in so many ways using pidgin.
Make I no lie,
Imagine seeking for admission in higher institutions and the 'O'Level requirement is 5 credits in relevant subjects including Pidgin English and Maths.
Imagine the possibility of seeking for employment in Wazobia FM and the requirement is a Bsc in Pidgin English or its equivalent from a recognized Nigerian institution.
Imagine the possibility of BBC world (pidgin service)
Imagine the possibility of pidgin English generation,
it begins with you.

As much as I think Pidgin should be encouraged, I dont think it should be formalized!!

I dont even think it can be formalized cos it varies from one state to another in Nigeria with only the basics being the same.

That said, the only way wey we govment fit make this pidgin to favour we all na for them to start to dey do many things for pidgin! When we all be tar-tar those days, them been dey read 7 O'clock news for pidgin after dem don read am for grammer finish! Anyway sha, if govment wan do this pidgin thing to follow for part of our dialect, make them make sure say dem put age ban for untop as e dey for cigar. Make only people wey don complete secondary school pass english language with C+ fit speak the broken!! Becos pikin wey ehn hand never strong for drivin motor, dem no dey gree am reverse motor for express!

Naija I dey hail O!!

Oboy to type this pidgin hard pass JAMB!!

well, the truth of the matter be say make dem just leave am the way e dey, make e just be ordinary street yan, no need for formalization.
e no go good at all!

make una no mind all this people wey dey theif 9ja money, see waitin dem for don do tay tay tay, well make we see because na paper and biro plenty for this country pass