INTRODUCTION
English as used by educated persons is called Standard English. However, there are other varieties of English which developed as result of the influence of other languages. This gave rise to such varieties of English as Pidgin and Creole.
In this unit, you will learn about the characteristics of Creole and Pidgin and how these differ from Standard English.
3.1 What is ESL?
According to Afolayan (1991:8), ESL can be regarded as both a variety of English and a discipline. As a variety of English, ESL describes the form of English, which exists in a place where the language is learned and used widely in addition to the first language(s) or mother tongues(s). In this situation, English exists with other language(s). This is therefore a bilingual or multilingual situation. This situation will have some implications for the form of the English language, since the mother tongue(s) will influence the language one way or another. This type of influence is termed mother tongue interference and it can manifest in the areas of phonology, semantics and grammar. In other words, ESL as a variety will be expected to differ somewhat from EMT (that is, English as Mother Tongue). This is to say, for example, that the English language in Nigeria will exhibit some peculiarities in the aspects of phonology (pronunciation), lexis and semantics and grammar. This is so because the situation in which English is used in Nigeria is not the same with that of Britain or any other place where the language is used as a first language or mother tongue.
ESL as a discipline relates to a formal educational programme and will naturally relate to such issues as theories and practices of teaching English as a second language. However, it is in the first sense (that is ESL as a variety) that we are using the term ESL here.
3.2 Definition and Characteristics of Pidgin
The term ‘pidgin’ is thought to have originated from the Chinese pronunciation of the English word ‘business’. Pidgin is a language made up of elements of two or more languages and used for minimal contact, especially trade contact between the speakers of the languages. Pidgin is not usually the mother tongue of any particular people.
According to Fromkin and Rodman (1978:268), the “most notable pidgin that exists today is called “Tok Pisin” it was formerly called Melanesian Pidgin English. This form of pidgin is extensively used in Papua New Guinea.
Characteristically, pidgin is a rudimentary form of a language of minimal contact. It uses simplified vocabulary and grammar. But this is not to say that it is not rule-governed. Grammatical categories like case, tense, mood and voice are generally not present in pidgin.
In many places, pidgin has come to have negative connotations. This might be because most of the best-known pidgins are all associated with European colonial empires. The Encyclopaedia Britannica once described pidgin using negative or unpalatable words. Pidgin, according to this book, is an unruly bastard jargon, filled with nursery imbecility, vulgarism and corruption. In recent times, however, there has been greater recognition of the fact that pidgins reflect human creative linguistic ability.
In Nigeria, pidgin is commonly used by the people in the Southern parts of the country. It is common among the Ibo, Ijaw, Ibibio, Urhobo and a lot of other ethnic groups near the coast. This is because of the fact that when the traders and missionaries came then, they entered the country from the coastal parts and pidgins began to develop so as to ensure that there was a form of communication. Pidgin English is a mixture of English and the indigenous languages.
In the South-South, South-East and South-West parts of Nigeria, Pidgin English is a popular language. Some Television stations, cast news in pidgin in addition to local languages and English.
Self-Assessment Exercises
1. What purposes do you think Pidgin English serves in Nigeria today?
2. How would you feel if what the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could speak is only pidgin?
3.3 What is Creole?
Creole can be regarded as an advanced form of pidgin. When a pidgin comes to be used as a mother tongue of a group of people, it becomes a Creole. Creole is a language that has its origin in extended contact between two language communities, one of which is generally European. The main difference between a pidgin and a Creole is that a Creole has the status of a mother tongue.
Creole may also arise when communities with mutually intelligible languages are kept apart, as was the case with African Negroes in the Americas (South and North) who were separated to prevent insurrection (rebellion). In this situation, the communities resort to pidgin as the only viable lingua franca, and this then becomes a Creole e.g. Jamaican Creole.
Pidgins and Creoles share certain characteristics. They are syntactically simpler than the languages upon which they are based. For example, inflexions are minimal and reduplication is common e.g. quick quick, small, small. There is also serial verb structure as in “Dat chief him woman go start begin teach am”
Creoles and pidgins based on English exist in all the continents of the world and can be divided into two main groups: Atlantic varieties, showing certain West African features and Pacific varieties, related to the English used especially in the late 19th century and early 20th century on the China coast. While most of the vocabulary comes from English, it also includes Portuguese words such as “savvy” (sabi) and “piccaninny” (pikin). In Sierra-Leone, Krio (Creole) spoken by about 200,000 people (Fromkin and Rodman 1978: 270) developed partly from an English-based pidgin.
4.0 CONCLUSION
There are diversities of languages in the human society. Languages can be classified according to their functions, mode and order of acquisition, origin and status. The concept of English as a second language (in the sense of a variety of English) relates to functions as well as order or mode of acquisition. In their own case, pidgin and Creole are related in the sense that Creole is an advanced form of pidgin. Both pidgin and Creole are based on two or more other languages from which they draw their vocabularies.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have explained the concept of English as a second language (ESL) and described pidgin and Creole as well as state their characteristics. You will do well to note that pidgin and Creole have some similarities and differences.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENTS
1. What do you understand by English as a second language?
2. Explain what you understand by pidgin and Creole and distinguish carefully between the two
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Afolayan, A. (1991) “The concept of ‘English as a Second Language’ as an Applied Linguistic Policy for Development” Journal of
English as A Second Language (JESEL) No 3.pp6-21.
Fromkin, V. and Rodman, R (1978) An Introduction to Language
(Second Edition). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winton.
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