Effects of Pidgin English in Standard English Usage Among Students in Selected Secondary Schools
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study intends to investigate the level of damage done on Eha-Amufu students’ use of the Standard English. Specifically, the study tends to:
- Find out the extent of Pidgin English usage among secondary schools in Eha-Amufu.
- Determine the factors that inform students’ usage of Pidgin in secondary schools inEha-Amufu.
- Ascertain the extent of harm done by Pidgin English on the written works of secondary school students in Eha-Amufu.
- Find out ways to mitigate the effects of Pidgin English on Standard English usage among secondary schools students in Eha-Amufu.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
This section deals with the relevant concepts that have helped to shape this study. They include: the Standard English, Pidgin English, Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) and problems encountered by the speakers of Nigerian Pidgin English. Presented in this chapter is also the studies scholars have done on Pidgin English and its effects on English and the move to accept Pidgin as one of the national languages.
STANDARD ENGLISH
The notion ‘Standard English’ is somewhat a direct and deliberate invention by the society to create a class and standard for a language. Standardization refers to the process by which a language has been codified in some way. The process usually involves the development of such things as grammars, spelling book, dictionaries and possibly a literature (Wardhaugh: 31). Based on this, Standard English is defined by Trugill (5-6) as ‘that variety of English which is normally taught in schools and to non- native speakers learning the language. It is also the variety which is normally spoken by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other similar situations.’
Yule (180) also defines Standard English as ‘the variety which forms the basis of print in newspaper and books, which is used in the mass media and in schools … It is the variety normally taught to those who want to learn English as a second language.’ For a language to be standard there must be a referent and a model which that language must follow and this has to be the prescribed grammatical rules of that language. When one fails to follow these prescribed rules, an incorrect grammar is produced and this is in total deviance with the model.
Quirk (100) says: ‘Standard English is basically an ideal, a mode of expression that we seek when we wish to communicate beyond our immediate community with members of the nation as a whole or with members of a wider community – English speakers as a whole.’ For a language to be standard, it must pass through a filter. Its usage is not labeled standard merely because it is used and found acceptable by native speakers. The additional criterion is the acceptability of such usages among educated people. Hudson (33) comes up with the criteria or the filter which a language must be sifted before it is said to be standard. These are: ‘selection, codification, elaboration of function, acceptability (by the educated class) and intelligibility (international).’ The grammatical systems of Standard
English are linked to the various national, regional and local dialects in a taxonomic way. It is directly tied to the way in which English is used in a particular area. For the purpose of this work, what has been accepted as the Standard English in Nigeria is a rendition devoid of native idioms or loan words from Nigerian dialects. It agrees with the rules of the English syntax and is also grammatical. Any usage either in writing or speech that deviates from the rules of the language is not standard. It encompasses grammar, vocabulary and spelling.
PIDGIN ENGLISH
Pidgin English may be built from words, sound or body languages from multiple languages and culture. There are no rules attached to its usage as long as the parties involved are able to understand each other. Looking at the common traits among various Pidgins, Wilson et al (125 – 126) posit that they are a fundamental simpler form of communication and that the grammar and phonology are usually as simple as possible consisting of
-uncomplicated grammatical structure
-reduction of syllabus codas
-reduction of consonant cluster
-no tones, such as those found in West African and Asian languages
-separate verbs to indicate terms usually preceding verbs
Chapter Three
Research Design and Methodology
Socio-cultural groups champion the struggles for development of languages in most cases. This is because of the relationship between language and culture, and language and ethnicity. According to Ndimele (15), ‘an ethnic group can fight for ethnic and /or political equality by first preserving and developing its language as a veritable tool for preserving and sustaining its ethnic and political identity.’ It is this close relationship between language and ethnicity that led Essien (161) to seek for a language policy that will integrate fully all nationalities and linguistic groups in order to allay the fear of ethnic and cultural denomination.
In 1982, for instance, the Ibibio Cultural Organization commissioned the writing of the Ibibio orthography and presented it to the state ministry of education as part of its community contribution to education. Also, the Igbo speaking group which battled for orthography legitimacy for over thirty years has the Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture (SPILC) at the forefront of the reform (Essien, 167 and Ndimele, 124). Nigerian Pidgin has acquired native speakerships/association speech community in the Niger Delta Region (Warri, Sapele, Port Harcourt, Benin etc) (Ndimele, 256), but none of these linguistic groups can claim ownership because it actually belongs to no group of speakers. Instead, what we see are efforts geared towards the development of the various indigenous languages of the Niger Delta Region: Itsekiri through Centre for the Study of Itsekiri Language and Culture (Emenanjo, 6), Urhobo through the Urhobo Language Committee (Aziza, 109). With this, whose responsibility is it then to lead the agitation for the development and standardization of Nigerian Pidgin? Most of the Nigerian scholars who call for its standardization in their works did not write their books in Nigerian Pidgin English. An example is Uguru’s A Common Nigerian Language. The problem of identifying Nigerian pidgin with any culture is probably what the Igbo speaker refers to as ‘the goat owned by many but which is ultimately starved to death.’
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