West African Pidgin English
This article possibly contains original research. (December 2022) |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2017) |
West African Pidgin English | |
---|---|
Native to | Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea |
Native speakers | 75,000,000 (2017)[1] |
English Creole
| |
Latin script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | west2851 |
IETF | cpe-011 |
West African Pidgin English, also known as Guinea Coast Creole English,[2] is a West African pidgin language lexified by English and local African languages. It originated as a language of commerce between British and African slave traders during the period of the transatlantic slave trade. As of 2017,[update] about 75 million people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea used the language.[1]
Because it is primarily a
History
West African Pidgin English arose during the period of the transatlantic slave trade as a language of commerce between British and African slave traders. Portuguese merchants were the first Europeans to trade in West Africa beginning in the 15th century, and West African Pidgin English contains numerous words of Portuguese origin such as sabi ('to know'), a derivation of the Portuguese saber.[3] Later, as British merchants arrived to engage in the slave trade, they developed this language in combination with local African slave traders in order to facilitate their commercial exchanges.[6]
The language quickly spread up the river systems into the West African interior because of its value as a trade language among Africans of different tribes. Later in the language's history, this useful trading language was adopted as a native language by new communities of Africans and mixed-race people living in coastal slave trading bases such as
Some scholars call this language "West African Pidgin English" to emphasize its role as a lingua franca
A British slave trader in Sierra Leone, John Matthews, mentioned pidgin English in a letter he later published in a book titled A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone on the Coast of Africa.[9] Matthews refers to West African Pidgin English as a "jargon", and he warns Europeans coming to Africa that they will fail to understand the Africans unless they recognize that there are significant differences between English and the coastal pidgin:
Those who visit Africa in a cursory manner ... are very liable to be mistaken in the meaning of the natives from want of knowledge in their language, or in the jargon of such of them as reside upon the sea-coast and speak a little English; the European affixing the same ideas to the words spoken by the African, as if they were pronounced by one of his own nation. [This] is a specimen of the conversation which generally passes.[10]
Matthews supplied an example of West African Pidgin English:
- Well, my friend, you got trade today; you got plenty of slaves?
- No, we no got trade yet; by and by trade come. You can’t go.
- What you go for catch people, you go for make war?
- Yes, my brother … gone for catch people; or they gone for make war.
Modern Africa
West African Pidgin English remained in use in West Africa after the abolition of the slave trade by Western nations and the
As of 2017, about 75 million people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea speak the language.[1] During the rise of African nationalism, it became a "language of resistance and anti-colonialism", and political activists still use it to criticize their post-colonial political leaders.[3]
Over the last hundred years the amount of English-lexifer based creoles in West African countries currently being used as primary and secondary language has increased greatly, with speakers currently exceeding one hundred million.[12]
Because West African Pidgin English is a primarily spoken language, there is no standardized written form, and many local varieties exist.[3] In August 2017, the BBC launched a Pidgin news service, aimed at audiences in West and Central Africa, as part of its World Service branch.[13] As part of that effort, the BBC developed a guide for a standardized written form of pidgin.[1]
Structure
Like other pidgin and creole languages, West African Pidgin English took the majority of its vocabulary from the dominant colonial language in the environment where it developed (English), and much of its sound system, grammar, and syntax from the local substrate languages (West African Niger–Congo languages).
The English dialect that served as the
In Sierra Leone Krio, for instance, words derived from English regional dialects include padi ('friend'), krabit ('stingy'), and berin ('funeral'). Words from specialized ship vocabulary include kohtlas [from cutlass] ('machete'), flog ('beat, punish'), eys [from hoist] ('to lift'), and dek ('floor').
Historical impact
The various pidgin and creole languages still spoken in West Africa today – the
Some scholars[
The similarities among the many English-based pidgin and creole languages spoken today on both sides of the Atlantic are due, at least in part, to their common derivation from the early West African Pidgin English. Note the following examples, all of which mean 'They are going there to eat rice':
- Sierra Leone Krio: Dem go eat res
- Ghanaian Pidgin English: Dem go chop rais
- Nigerian Pidgin English: Dem dey go chop rice
- Cameroonian Pidgin English: Dey di go for go chop rice
- Gullah: Dem da gwain fa nyam rais
See also
- Languages of Africa
- Ian Hancock, linguist and scholar of pidgin and creole languages
References
- ^ a b c d Kasaree, Najiba (August 22, 2017). "Working towards a standard Pidgin". BBC Academy. BBC. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
- ^ "The Origin of Pidgin". www.afrostylemag.com. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko de (December 30, 2017). "The BBC in Pidgin? People Like It Well-Well". The New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
- ISSN 0920-9034.
- ^ "Aku People of Gambia". www.accessgambia.com. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
- ^ "Pidgin - West African lingua franca". BBC News. November 16, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ "Pidgin - West African lingua franca". BBC News. November 16, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ "Pidgin - West African lingua franca". BBC News. November 16, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ Matthews, John (1788). A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone on the Coast of Africa. B. White and Son, and J. Sewell.
- ^ Matthews, John (1788). A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone on the Coast of Africa. B. White and Son, and J. Sewell.
- ^ "Pidgin - West African lingua franca". BBC News. November 16, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- S2CID 147057342.
- ^ "BBC starts Pidgin digital service for West Africa audiences". BBC News. August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.