Ghanaian Pidgin English: In search of diachronic, synchronic, and sociolinguistic evidence
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AJI ISZ1
GHANAIAN
DIACHRONIC,
PIDGIN
SYNCHRONIC,
ENGLISH:
IN
SEARCH
OF
AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC EVIDENCE
By JOE
A
OF
DISSERTATION THE
UNIVERSITY OF
THE
K.
Y.
B.
PRESENTED OF
TO
FLORIDA
REQUIREMENTS DOCTOR
OF
UNIVERSITY
AMOAKO
THE IN
GRADUATE
PARTIAL
FOR THE
DEGREE
PHILOSOPHY OF
1992
FLORIDA
SCHOOL
FULFILLMENT
OF
Copyright 1992 by Joe
K.
Y.
B.
Amoako
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
like to express my
would
I
Professor
John
sincere gratitude to
Lipski, the cochair for this dissertation,
spent a lot of his time in helping me with his very good
who
suggestions especially
on
Professor
the chair for this dissertation,
me
lot
a
the
Allan of
encouragement as well as guidance,
Special thanks
dissertation
Markel, about
Professor
I owe thanks to
University of Ghana, who brought had
English situation in Ghana.
It
that
no
Norman
Dolphyne of the Department of Linguistics
studies
fact
my
for suggestions that have brought
completion of this work. Florence
on
to the other members of the
go
Professors Chauncey Chu,
and Goran Hyden,
the
the
committee,
gave
especially
socioliguistics part of this work and he deserves
gratefulness.
at
Burns,
the theoretical aspects.
formal
been was
attention to the
my
done
the
on
pidgin
through Professor Kofi
Anyidoho of the University of Ghana, who
also
was
one
of my
informants, that I corresponded with Professor Ian Hancook of
the
University of Texas who directed
research both to the
of
on
them
the
for
me
pidgin English in Ghana. their
assistance.
I
must
on
I
am
how to do the
indebted to
express my
thanks
Joyce Adjorlolo and Amoako-Atta for their asssistance in distribution and collection of the questionnaire.
thank the
following informants for their time and
information: Adult
I
Mr.
Education;
Akweyena and George Danyare of Institute of Dan
Amakye-Dede,
iii
leader of Apollo High King
Band
of
Georgina Amankwah and Anthony Pegah of Kumasi
Ghana;
Polytechnic; Asiedu-Yirenkyi, and
Culture
Ghana; and
Tourism and
a
first P.N.D.C.
lecturer
the
at
secretary for
University of
Ayeh, managing director of CEREDEC; Nana-Benyin
Mr.
Sarfo-Baidoo of Third Eye
Ernest
International
Okukuseku
Band; Kofi Sammy of
Gustav Baidoo
Band;
and Agnes
Ewusiamah of Achimota
Primary School; Mr. Torkonoo of the
"Ghanaian Times";
Enning of the Ghana Atomic Energy
Commission
Primary School; Ms. Salamatu; Ms. Serwah-Awuku;
Monica Addo
comics;
Job
and
H.T.K.
Rebecca
Bobobee;
and the other
Legón;
this work would not to
Hellen
Ms.
Djadu; Kofi Ntiamoah of Homotta Alhassan of
Odamtten,
successful. a
Hall
at
informants without whose help
numerous
be
Commonwealth
Special thanks should
go
former worker of the Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation and
a
senior research fellow at the
University of Ghana for contributing to the history and syntax parts of this work. Simbo
Mr.
make my
Odunaiya for his computer guidance that enabled beautiful
the
graphics in this work.
wife, Doris Boateng,
Needless
to
say,
yu
de
sabi
thank
crows,
pi
the
you
I thank
I am solely responsible for any errors or All
pul wey dcm help mi.
sey
Finally,
me
for her patience and encouragement.
imperfections in this work. tank
I wish to express my thanks to
i bi Joe de tank
people who helped
yu me.
I
can
Wey de =>=»."
say
is "Na G^d
m^nin
go
k=>k de krow mek
("it is God who will
When the morning rooster
should know that it is Joe thanking you all.").
iv
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
Page
iii
ACKNOWLE DGMENTS
ABSTRACT
V
CHAPTERS 1
DEFINITION
OF
PIDGIN
1
Introduction Social and Structural Criteria Nonnative Speaker Criterion Definition of Creole
1
1
3 4
Etymology of "Pidgin" Etymology of Creole Summary 2
HISTORICAL
OVERVIEW
AFRICA AND
ITS
5 6 7
OF
PIDGIN
CURRENT
STATUS
ENGLISH
IN
WEST 9
Introduction A
9
Step-by-Step History of Pidgin English in West
The The The
Africa
9
Portuguese
10
Dutch
13
British
15
Principal Pidgin English Varieties in
3
West
Africa
18
Nigeria
21
Sierra Leone Liberia
28
23
Cameroon
31
Summary
33
GHANAIAN AND
PIDGIN
ENGLISH:
IN
SEARCH
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
Research
Background Methodology History of Ghanaian Pidgin English
OF
CURRENT 35 35 36
39
Colonial
39
Second
43
Settlement World War v
Media
News
Current
Emergence of Ghanaian Pidgin English. with other West African States
Contact The
44 48
Nigerian Influence
Other
48
Factors
51
Summary 4
A
52
PHONOLOGICAL,
SEMANTIC
MORPHOLOGICAL,
SURVEY
OF
GHANAIAN
SYNTACTIC,
PIDGIN
AND
ENGLISH...
Introduction Vowels
54
54
Phonology
57 of
GPE
Consonants
57
of
GPE
58
Syllable Structure of GPE
59
Tone
60
Vowel
Harmony
61 64 64 70 71
Morphology Reduplication Word Compounding in GPE Syntax The
Basic Sentence Structure
71
Tense-Modal-Aspect
71 76
Negation Imperative Interrogative Exclamations Personal
78 and
78 80
Emphasis
Pronouns
81
Possessives The
81
Articles
82
Prepositions and Postpositions Complementizer "sey" Comparative / Superlative Expression Semantics Words
of
from
Some
G.P.E.
other
Words
96 96 97
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
OF
GHANAIAN
Introduction
PIDGIN
ENGLISH..
99
99
Speakers and Places of GPE Age Groups Male and Female Speakers Teachers
100
106
106 108
Family Members and Friends Traders
83 84 84 86
Languages
Orthography Summary 5
46
and
Farmers
Ordinary Workers Government
109 109
110
Officials
110
Drivers Priests
Ill
Students
112
Ill
vi
113
Others
of Ghanaian Pidgin Written Usage Literature Entertainment
Uses
English
114 114 115 118
119 121
Newspapers Spoken Usage Communication
122
Simplicity of GPE Socialization and Politics Entertainment
123 Fun
124 125 126
People's Attitudes Toward GPE Summary
129 142
CONCLUSIONS
147
A
RESEARCH
QUESTIONNAIRE
151
B
LANGUAGE
MAP
GHANA
155
C
SOME
GPE
COMMON
CONSTRUCTIONS/EXPRESSIONS....
156
SOME
GPE
CONVERSATIONS
6 APPENDICES
D
A
OF
Conversation
Future
Between
AND
SONGS
Two
Students
Date
a
158
A
E
158
About
Song by Okukuseku International Band Interview with Kofi Sammy A Song by Apollo King International Band
160 161 162
GHANAIAN
164
COMICS
IN
PIDGIN
Gyato Magani Baba Dogo Super Mugu Yaro
164 176 186
REFERENCES BIOGRAPHICAL
ENGLISH
199 SKETCH
2 04
vii
Abstract of
of
Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School
University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
the
GHANAIAN
DIACHRONIC,
PIDGIN
IN
ENGLISH:
SYNCHRONIC,
SEARCH
OF
AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC EVIDENCE
By Joe
K.
Y.
Amoako
B.
December
1992
Chairperson: Allan Burns Major Department: Linguistics Considerable misinformation has
Ghanaian
Pidgin English
is
serving
overlook.
It
communication. in popular
occasions.
people.
a
very
serves
It
songs, It
Most
important as
an
is used on
circulated about
Some Ghanaians attribute the
(GPE).
worsening of standard English to the GPE
been
of GPE.
emergence
purpose
which
many
But
critics
important medium of on
wide
a
scale
political platforms,
is used by both
at
and
many on
places,
many
literate and illiterate
importantly, pidgin English is becoming the
lingua franca in English speaking West Africa countries. There
has
not
been
much
formal
pidgin English situation in Ghana,
attempt to study the and because of this,
linguists do not believe that there is country. a
In a personal
creolist at the
for
a
research
on
letter to me,
University of Texas, Ghanaian
a
pidgin in the
Professor Ian Hancock,
expressed the need
Pidgin English:
"It
is
heartening to learn that serious scholarly attention is viii
some
being given to Pidgin in Ghana, which
for
English." prompted open
information
least
is
the one West African nation available
The above observations, me
to do
a
research
on
among
on
the
local
pidgin
other things,
the language so that
it will
the way for other linguists to know that there is
a
pidgin in Ghana. The
study consists of six chapters which deal with the
definitions
and
etymologies of pidgin and creole, the
history of West African Pidgin English, the methodology of the
history of GPE,
research,
of
GPE,
on
the
a
detailed linguistic analysis
the sociolinguistics of GPE,
well
as
as
conclusions
survey.
Data
were
collected
months.
Out
304
retrieved.
were
of
the
400
on
GPE
over
a
period of nine
copies of guestionnaire distributed,
This period was
also used in tape¬
recording interviews, conversations, and collecting magazines and consisted of both
sexes
songs,
as
well
The informants who
newspapers.
ranged from school children to
secretary of state. The
Ghana,
survey
shows that there is
a
pidgin English in
and that it has been influenced by the substrate
languages.
It is spreading fast,
especially
youths because it is being used not only communication but also
as
a
means
ix
of
as
as
among a
means
solidarity.
the of
a
CHAPTER
DEFINITION
OF
1
PIDGIN
Introduction This
chapter is devoted to a literature review on the
definition and etymology of
some
two
these
of pidgin and creole.
definitions to
acquaint ourselves with these
being discussed in this work is of
cite
This will help decide whether what is
concepts are.
none
I will
a
pidgin
creole.
or
or
it is
them.
Social
and
Structural
Criteria
'•Pidgin” has been defined with different criteria by various The
authors.
social
means
of
serve
criterion
of
these
states
the
are
social
need
for
and a
structural.
language
communication when people who do not have
language reduced
Two
come
together;
structure
as
John
a
means
of
of
as a
a
common
and the structural criterion is the
such
a
language that would evolve to
communication.
Lyons defines pidgin languages as:
Specialized languages used for trade
similar language. It is characteristic of pidgin that they have a simplified grammar and a highly restricted vocabulary in comparison to the language or languages, upon which they are based. (Lyons 1981:30-31) purposes
by those who have
1
no
other
or
common
2 For
extended
in
"a pidgin is a reduced language that results from
Holm,
contact
between
of people with no language
groups
it evolves when they need some means of verbal
common;
communication, perhaps for trade" the
following to A
pidgin is
certain common
say
(Holm 1988:4).
Todd has
about the definition of pidgin.
marginal language which arises to fulfil among people who have no language. In the initial stages of contact the a
communication needs
communication is often limited to transactions where a detailed exchange of ideas is not required and where a small
vocabulary, drawn almost exclusively from one language, suffices. The syntactic structure of pidgin is less complex and less flexible than the structure of languages which were in contact. (Todd 1974:1-2) claims
Hall
whenever
a
customer, further
that
a
guide meets
new
a
pidgin is likely to arise
tourist,
or
and the two do not share
states
that
a
a
a
shopkeeper meets
common
language.
a
He
pidgin will draw its minimal
vocabulary from both languages.
He again states that the
phonology and syntax will be reduced and the pidgin is suitable
(Hall
only for minimal and specialized communication
1954). Apart from the communicative approach,
added
function
to
his
definition of
pidgin.
Wardhaugh has He writes that
"pidginization generally involves the simplification of language, syntax
e.g.,
reduction in morphology
(grammatical structure),
phonological variation
(word structure)
tolerance of considerable
(pronunciation), reduction in
number of
functions
extensive
borrowing of words
for which
a
the
the
pidgin is used, and
from local mother—tongues"
and
3
(Wardhaugh 1990:59).
He argues that one usually does not
attempt to write novels in NonNative
pidgin.
a
Speaker
Criterion
criterion which has been used to define
Another
in addition to the
social
and
structural
pidgin does not have native speakers. definition,
pidgin language is
a
charateristics: of
those
who
structure
speak it;
(2)
is that
Hall writes that "by
with two special
one
it is native to
(1)
criteria
none,
or
virtually
vocabulary,
as
from which
it
is derived"
(Hall
English
an
example of his definition for pidgin.
English is based of
but
on
the
any
world
one
as
pidgin first
one's
1954:20).
He uses Pidgin
"Pidgin
differing from English, used by various parts
Wardhaugh,
no
contrasted with the language
of several kinds of reduced language,
a
lingua
languages but native to
defines
none,
it is sharply reduced in
and
as
pidgin
franca none
among
of them"
speakers of different
(ibid 23).
in using the nonnative speaker criterion, as
"a language with
language but is
a
no
native speakers:
it is
contact language"
(Wardhaugh 1990:57). Fasold
structural,
has
combined all
the
three
and nonnative speaker,
criteria,
social,
to define pidgin.
Roughly,
a pidgin language is generally understood to "simplified" language with a vocabulary that comes mostly from another language, but whose grammar is different. Pidgins, in the stereotypical case, are formed when speakers of one language engage in trade be
a
with speakers
of another, or work on plantations managed by speakers of another, and neither knows the
4
other's
language. Pidgins 1990:180)
(Fasold David
are
no
one's mother tongue.
Camp is another writer who has used the three
De
criteria
define
to
pidgin.
He also states that
it is
a
vernacular. A
pidgin is
a
contact vernacular,
normally not the
native language of any speakers. It is used in trading or in any situation requiring communication between persons who do not speak It is characterized by a
each other's native language.
limited vocabulary, an grammatical devices such as number drastic reduction of redundant
elimination of many and gender, and a features. (De Camp
1971)
Definition of Creole The
most
arise when
general popular account states that creoles
pidgin becomes the native language of
a
generation of children. creole
Hall
when
it
1954:21;
In other words,
acquires native speakers Todd 1974:3;
Hymes 1971:3;
a
new
pidgin becomes
a
(Fasold 1990:83; DeCamp 1971:15;
Wardhaugh 1990:58; Muhlhausler 1986:7; Holm 1988:6). This
occurs, for instance, when parents from different linguistic backgrounds communicate among themselves and with their offspring in a makeshift pidgin, which is
elaborated
and
adopted as a means of intercommunication by the next generation. Thus the children in this situation: are exposed to imperfect, reduced language input; elaborate this input using new grammatical devices gleaned from internal resources, that is, by appealing to their innate linguistic knowledge; and eventually speak a language that is both quantitatively and qualitatively different from that spoken by their parents and, in many cases, not intelligible to them. (Muhlhausler 1986:7) The
appeal of children to the innate linguistic
knowledge in the acquisition of creole suggested by Muhlhausler
is
related
to
Bickerton's definition of creole:
5
"creoles
reflections
are
of
natural
a
bioprogram for human
language which is activated in cases of imperfect language transmission"
(Bickerton 1981).
Bickerton
pidginization and creolization is that pidginization
between
is
suggests that "the essential difference
second-language learning with restricted input and
creolization restricted
is
first-language learning, also with
input"
(Bickerton 1981) Etymology
There the
term
include
have
"pidgin". the
the
a
The
proposals as to the etymology of
more
widespread of these proposals
TO
THE
ETYMOLOGY
OF
THE
TERM
"PIDGIN"
definition
(OED) 2.
many
"Pidgin"
of
following taken from Mühlháusler (1986:1):
PROPOSALS 1.
been
.
of
given by the Oxford English Dictionary "Chinese corruption of English "business";
a
Chinese
corruption of the Portuguese word
ocuoacao:
"business"; 3.
Hebrew pidiom:
4.
Yago
Britain)
pidian:
South Seas pronunciation of from the location where the
(Muhlhausler 1986) 6.
trade,
redemption";
(a South American Indian language spoken in
colonized by 5.
"exchange,
derived
from
an
area
"people";
English "beach" (beachee) language was typically used
;
pegueno
portugués.
roughly "little
Portuguese"; 7.
derived Of
most
all
from the
Baixo portugués above
popular support.
proposals,
"low
Portuguese"
(Holm 1988)
the OED theory enjoys the
In a paper presented at the 1990
6
Linguistic Society of America (LSA) used
conference, Dingxu Shi
phonological evidence to support the OED theory. word for "business" is found in a Chinese Pidgin English phrase book that was popular around Canton in the early 19th century. It is represented by two Chinese characters pronounced as [pitsin] with an unaspirated voiceless stop [p] and an unaspirated affricate [ts]. The two consonants are the closest a Cantonese speaker can get for [b] and [z]. The English speakers in turn would pronounce the two Cantonese sounds as [ph] and [dz]. The insertion of vowel after a syllable-final consonant is common in Chinese Pidgin English. (Shi 1990)
The
Etymology The
term
"creole"
of
Creole
originated in
in the sixteenth century.
colonies
one
Both form and meaning
suggest an etymology criar "to nurse, (Valkhoff 1966:34). the
was
originating from the colonies'"
Webster's
"creole"
Ninth New
has
"originally
'slave in European employment,
particularly around the house, white
word
breed, nourish"
According to Muhlhausler,
meaning of criolho
The
of Portugal's
man or woman
(Muhlhausler 1986:6).
adopted a number of meanings.
Collegiate Dictionary gives the
following meanings to it. 1.
white person born
2.
a
in the colonies
of European descent born especially in the or Spanish America
West
person Indies
3.
white person descended
a
from early French or
Spanish settlers of the U.S. Gulf states and preserving their speech
and culture
4. a person of mixed French or Spanish and Negro descent speaking a dialect of French or Spanish
7
5.
language based on two or more languages that as the native language of its speakers (Merriam-Webster 1984:305-6)
a
serves
According to Holm, Crioulo. which is "with
diminutive
a
suffix,
born
in the New World
then
extended
to
The word
finally
Africans
and
borrowed
as
include came
to mean an African slave
Brazilian usage.
Its meaning was
Europeans born in the New World.
to refer to the customs and speech of
Europeans born in the New World.
Spanish criollo.
English creole"
and
in
came
Portuguese word
a
French cr^eole.
It was later
Dutch creol.
(Holm 1988:9). Summary
this
In
definitions when and
chapter, of
we
have attempted to deal with the
pidgin and creole languages.
people who do not understand each other's language meet
they want to communicate verbally.
definition of
pidgin has
a
pidgin.
than
those
from.
The structural definition states that
of
the
syntax,
language
or
and semantics
to
are
that
its
simpler
By definition pidgin does not have native speakers.
linguistic structure of of
pidgin.
near
one
or
future, more
a
creole
a
is
Ghanaian Pidgin English
topic of this work has the
means
languages that it may evolve
Pidgin becomes creole when it acquires
that
This is the social
reduced language structure which
phonology, morphology,
The
Pidgin evolves
of
no
native speaker. more
complex than
(GPE)
which is the
opportunity of being creolized in
because the Ghanaian children have the
45
Ghanaian
local
languages.
access
8 Moreover
GPE
speakers. time to
is not
This
come.
a
means
popular language in the homes of its GPE will remain a pidgin for a long
CHAPTER
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND
OF ITS
2
PIDGIN
ENGLISH IN WEST CURRENT STATUS
AFRICA
Introduction This
chapter contains two subsections.
section deals with the
the
which A
we
will
discuss how Portuguese,
and British have contributed toward pidgin English in
West Africa. of
first
step-by-step history of pidgin
English in West Africa; Dutch,
The
The
second
section deals with
principal pidgin English varieties in Nigeria,
are
Sierra Leone,
The
exact
pidgin in
date
of
the
West
Liberia, and
Step-bv-Step History of Pidgin English
development of
Africa,
Cameroon.
in West Africa
an
West Africa cannot be determined.
enumeration
an
English-based It
probably
began with the first contacts with
the
sixteenth century
Spencer 1971:8).
the
British built their first English
the
Gold
the
Dutch,
made
(Mafeni 1971:97;
some
section,
Coast
in
1631,
British
in the
Before
fort at Cormantine
the Portuguese,
who
were
on
followed by
had traded with the people of West Africa and had
impact I will
on
the
linguistics of this
In
area.
discuss, chronologically, how these
European nations contributed toward
English in West Africa.
9
the
evolution
of
this
three
pidgin
10
The
Portuguese There
of
was
pidgin Portuguese which
a
Africa throughout the
1978:334).
16th
and
Naro states that the
17th
was
in parts
used
centuries
(Naro
history of pidgin
Portuguese is divided into two temporally and geographically distinct phases. in Europe,
The
first phase is the period of formation
beginning around the 1440s, and the
is the
period of transfer
of
resultant
the
The
reached Gold
and
establishment
Cape Verde in 1444,
Coast
(now Ghana)
Jorge de Mina1 Gwato,
Thome
as
Sierra Leone in
in 1471
center
for
their
and
and
up the
they reached
India,
as
well
as
the
They
as
a
base
They built the fort
for of
They set up a station
and colonized the island of
Niger-Cameroons
trade.
Sao
They
forts and trading stations down the
eastern sub-equatorial
Goa
and
(Spencer 1971:7).
in the Gold Coast.
the port of Benin, a
1460
Islands and used them
established settlements, western
1500.
captains of Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal
settlements south along the coast.
at
phase
in West Africa
"acquired code," beginning around
colonized the Cape Verde
Sao
second
and
coasts
of
Africa,
Calicut and the Malabar coast of
Malacca
on
the
Malayan peninsular
(ibid.8). Native
speakers of West African languages
and
taken
the
Navigator, they
could
be
to
used
Portugal, where,
as
were
captured
at the orders of Prince Henry
taught Portuguese
translators
were
on
so
future voyages
that they
(Naro
11
A pidgin Portuguese which Naro calls
1978:314).
"reconnaisance
Africans who
those then who
later
on
in
were
language,
in
used
any
were
among
Africa
Portugal.
the
Portuguese,
speaking to
persons
was
to
necessary;
it could
of any social standing and of
(ibid:326).
Portuguese settlers and traders who set up
usually with African
might have been the
setllers
their
and
"The purpose of the reconnaissance
linguistic comprehension when
reconnaissance
means
in West
women,
of transfer of the
language from Europe to Africa.
direct
had
linguistic contact with
These
the Africans
in
daily life. The
major linguistic significance of the Portuguese and trade is the traces of Portuguese vocabulary
voyages are
found
in
some
African languages and
pidgin and creole languages. Portuguese words,
assimilated
into
Portuguese carta letter same
and
the Portuguese and other nationalities
permanent households,
some
there
nationality, under appropriate circumstances
The
that
sent
first between
from the Portuguese point of view,
facilitate be
language" evolved in Europe,
or
In the Akan language of Ghana,
which have been phonologically
Akan
language,
("letter")
paper").
meaning.
kamisa
the
especially in
Porco
are
still
in
use.
has become Akan krataa
("pig")
Portuguese camisa
("a
has become prako with the
("shirt") has become Akan
("a woman's one-piece undergarment");
conta
12
is konta in Akan with the
("accounting, reckoning") meaning; Portuguese Portuguese sapato with the
same
coco
("coconut")
("shoe")
kube2 in
is
same
Akan;
and
has become the Akan word sepatere
meaning (Amoako 1988:4).
Many linguists have discussed the Portuguese vocabulary items
in
pidgin English.
We will provide the discussions by
Schneider and Spencer because they deal African
West
specifically with
Pidgin English.
few
high frequency vocabulary items are a legacy from Portuguese Pidgin which held on into the 17th century and constitutes a vocabulary substratum in West African Pidgin English. Examples: P-E /pikin/ from [pequenino] PORT, 'child / little one'. P-E /dash/ from [dache] PORT, 'gift' or 'tribute' and extended to cover a broad semantic field of meaning. P-E /sabi/ from [saber] PORT. 'know'. P-E /palaba/ from [palavra] PORT. 'conference', 'discussion' and in Portuguese 'word', The forms—dash, pikin. palaver and savvy— appear in many historical sources and 'dialect' conversations of 19-2Oth century writers. (Schneider 1967:6)
A
The as
well
Portuguese exploration has bequeathed to the world to
as
West
African
Pidgin English
many
prominent place-names which lie recorded in the
15-16th
are
Guinea, Elmina,
Novo,
century sources.
Sierra Leone,
Cameroons
Lagos,
Cape Palmas,
Cross River,
Porto
Fernando Po,
and
(ibid.7).
Writing about the early Portuguese, on
portulans of
Examples of these place-names
Cape Verde,
Luanda,
the
of the
voyages
Spencer also writes
Pidgin vocabulary:
on
and trade of the
the
Portuguese influence
13
From
early centuries date some of the most
these
characteristic
Pidgin words,
known and used by almost who has lived in the dash. n and v, 1(to give) a gift, bribe, tip or commission'; pickin. n, 'a young child'; palaver, n, 'talk, argument, trouble', and compounds such as maromv-palaver. 'woman (or wife) trouble', bellv-palaver. 'stomach trouble'; chop n and v, 'food' and 'eat', and its recent extensions in phrases such as small chop, 'cocktail eats', chop box, 'food box for use on trek, originally for head loading', etc. (Spencer 1971:11) everyone, English or African, coastal areas of West Africa:
The
Dutch 1581
In
the
Dutch
northern
provinces declared their
independence from Spain and successfully defended it. from that time,
Dutch,
enterprise. had
built
a
The
embarked on a worldwide commercial
By the middle of the seventeenth century they vast
Dutch
empire which circled the planet with
outposts from what is today New York to the Caribbean,
Brazil, Africa,
India, Malaysia,
(Holm 1989:322).
Japan
They took
Indonesia, Taiwan, over
possessions in West Africa by 1642. settlements
the
Gold
Coast
its people between
1595
and
the
Elmina castle One
very
on
the
on
remarkable
Gold
all of Portugal's
They made
(now Ghana)
1869
in
some
few
and traded with
(Ward 1948).
Coast
and
They captured
1637.
thing about the Dutch is that there
are
few linguistic remnants of the vast empire that they
built.
Negerhollands
(D
'Negro Dutch)
is
widely spoken in what became the United Islands; Creole creoles
it is extinct today
Dutch
is
one
of
the
spoken in Guyana
two
a
creole
States
(Holm 1989:325).
once
Virgin Berbice
nearly extinct Dutch-based
(ibid.329).
Skepi is also
a
Dutch-
14
creole which
based
was
once
widely spoken along Guyana's Afrikaans, which is spoken in
Essequibo river (ibid.333). the that
is
Republic of South Africa, descended
from
a
standardized language
seventeenth-century dialects of
Dutch. Dutch
was
a
never
suoerstrate
language in West Africa. were
"This
nor
seems
trading in West Coast waters for
a
substrate
unusual over
two centuries and
word
Dutch
klaar
krado with
the
are
found in the Akan language of
("ready to do something") same
meaning.
is the Akan ("piece of
Dutch doek
is the Akan word duku meaning "headscarf"
cloth")
"handkerchief."
("turkey") because
as
of
with the wonder
(Schneider
Only some few Dutch words which have been
phonologically assimilated Ghana.
Some
Akans
pronounce
krakuun while others pronounce it kurokurokoko
some
semantic extension that has been
noise made by the turkey
that
these
Dutch words
are
especially during the slave trade.
associated
(Amoako 1988:6). still
used
It
Negerhollands has
Some
lesser
Twi is of
the
a
a
long time
Akans
that
the
(Holm
dialect of Akan.
reasons
that
have
been
no
in the Akan
predominantly Twi substrate
a
It is
is also because of
long contact between the Dutch and the
1989:325).
or
the Dutch word kalkoen
language for the Dutch traded with the Akans for
this
any
for the Dutch
practically monopolized the trade for 60 years" 1967:8).
to
attributed
impact of the Dutch in linguistic terms
are
to
the
that
15
"they were usually neither the first nor the only Europeans to
arrive
in the
areas
they colonized,
and in most cases
they did not remain as long as the British and the French"
Their
(ibid.322).
own
attitudes
their
of
the
have undermined the
It is claimed that "till the
spread of their language. middle
may
nineteenth century the Hollanders
language as a sort of caste-language and heard
unwillingly its employment by their inferiors" Reinecke
1937:443).
traditional
the
to
the
the
most
"the Dutch
also
In fact, been
commercial.
miscegnation, to
settlement,
themselves
to
linguistically to have .
.
they,
.
in contrast of the
use
(Le Page & Tabouret-Keller
"the
no
fraternization),
Christianization,
widely
the Dutch tended to be polyglots.
observed that No
more
must have made full
Portuguese Pidgin or Creole"
has
seem
accommmodating traders
British and French,
1985:29).
(quoted by
Another probable contributing factor is
proficiency of the Dutch in
spoken languages? been
regarded
no
emphasis
assimilation no
on
the
(inter-marriage,
religous fervor
culture contact.
their ships
was
It
or
attempt
The Dutch confined
and establishments"
(Schneider
1967:9). The
British The
following account of the contribution
British toward West African
by Schneider accounts
(1967).
made
Pidgin English is the
His account is
given by various writers
a
summary of
(Holm 1989,
by the
one
given
other
Spencer 1971.)
16
British
privateers
the Atlantic
ever
powers
coast.
since the sixteenth century.
were
Atlantic trade, West
the business of buying slaves on the African
The
concentrate
in
Utrecht
1713
African Coast. as
the
The great
engaged in a highly competitive
struggle was long and England and France
remained after the Dutch and
"fortune seekers" engaged in
"high-jacking" and irregular slaving were working
smuggling,
colonial
or
were
forced
to
give
strategic places.
up
their empire
efforts
at
between
England and France divided the West
The treaty of
"By 1713 the French had replaced the Dutch
strongest European power on the shores of Upper
Guinea,
and the English were strongly established in
competition with the Dutch
on
the Gold Coast"
(Fage
1961:67). British receive credit
The
African products
This very
were
carrying the bulk of
and slaves during the eighteenth century.
fact demanded closer contact of cultures,
developing of ideas,
for
new
methods,
and exchange of opinions and
and much closer association.
The very
foundations
being laid for the development of West African Pidgin
English.
All along the African West Coast the local
indigenous authorities made agreements with individual independent traders. pattern known a
as
was
the
and
During the eighteenth century this
drastically revised by the companies in what is "factory system".
The "factory" was in reality
trading post where "factors" lived
and
conducted the
17
details had
a
of
The "factor" himself usually
fairly free hand to buy and sell in his
received the
large companies.
a
commission
for
his efforts and
West
are
still
African
referred
to
faktri.
as
Pidgin English became firmly established
through the entire coastal area and there is that and were
the
slaves
off-loaded
of at
entrusted with
was
The larger stores and shops in
goods of the company.
Cameroon
He
own name.
the
some
early nineteenth century,
Sierra
Leone,
Liberia,
evidence recaptured
and Fernando Po
communicating in pidgin English. Schneider
gives the following
as
the major reasons why
pidgin English emerged and survived in West Africa.
Firstly:
Pidgin-English began to develop during the These developments are documented by Dutch sources of the West Coast. Pidgin-English competed with Pidgin-Portuguese and perhaps a smattering of Dutch but by the 18th century had gained 17th
the
century.
greater part of the West Coast
as
its
arena
of
communication.
Secondly:
The ascendancy of Britain as the chief as the organizer of West Coast trade set the pattern for the spread and development of Pidgin-English. This was greatly facilitated by the "factory" and the attempts to monopolize the trade through such procedures as the "trust", creation of a hierarchy of middlemen, the employment of Africans as factors, the incentives of gifts, security and bonuses for effort. carrier of slaves and later
Thirdly: The English traders, artisans and sailors ordinary men. Many had little formal education. They had no fixed opinions about language, no visceral
were
reactions when their dialect
was
"pounded and battered.
This type of contact situation was excellent soil which the seeds of Pidgin-English could thrive.
(Schneider 1969:14-15)
in
18 We
has
conclude
influenced
this
the
section
by recognizing that history
evolution of
especially pidgin English.
pigins in West Africa,
Pidginization of European
languages in West Africa began with Portuguese and now
pidgin English is spoken in Principal
many
West Africa countries.
Pidgin English Varieties
English-based pidgins and creoles Africa
from the Gambia
countries where
countries and role
are
Cameroon.
of
the
In
West
to
the
English is
Gambia,
an
in West Africa
are
Cameroon.
spoken in West
They
are
official language.
Sierra Leone,
spoken in These
Liberia, Ghana,
Nigeria,
Spencer has the following to say about the
English language in West Africa. Africa English exists
alongside a multitude of languages which constitute the mother tongues of practically all the peoples of those states which retain English as an important auxiliary, or sometimes as an explicitly national, language. As these societies develop, as their populations become socially and geographically more mobile, as institutions and organizations spread and multiply, and as group interacts with group in the process of modernization, so the place of English gets more interwoven with the lives of more and more people. It is normally through English that an individual breaks the bonds of West other
African traditional
life
and
enters
into
some
kind of
relationship with the westernized sectors of the society. Through English he obtains the education which is the road to the kind of success which awaits him beyond the village or the tribe. Through English of one kind or another he communicates with fellow citizens from language groups other than his own, or with foreigners. English is the
language of institutions implanted by colonialism: the law, largescale business, formal education beyond the first two or three years of primary school, science and technology, central administration and politics. (Spencer 1971:3)
19
English is the type of English that Spencer is
Standard
talking about in the above quotation. one
on
listened to children educational
campuses,
closely related in
some
in the playground, one
ways
if
On the other hand, or
to students
might hear another language, to English,
but certainly
unintelligible to native English speakers from outside West Africa:
Pidgin English (ibid.5).
people associate with pidgins,
English,
The social stigma that
and for that matter pidgin
is discussed by Spencer:
Where
it existed as a it was forbidden
lingua franca in local community in classroom and hopefully, in playground and dormitory too. It was frowned upon by the schoolmaster and swept under the carpet by almost all colonial educationists. Many Africans who made use of it were also made ashamed of it. From the point of view of formal education Pidgin, as well as Krio, the creole language of Freetown, lived an "underground" existence. (ibid.5) life
the
For
based
of
simplicity, Holm divides the English-
pidgin and creole in West Africa into Krio,
groups:
in Sierra African
three
major
including nonnative and emigrant varieties,
Leone;
Liberian, with similar divisions;
Pidgin English,
Cameroon. and
sake
"Because
Pidgin share
a
considerable mutual
of
as
spoken in Ghana,
their
number of
and West
Nigeria,
and
interconnected histories, features
and
there
Krio
is
intelligibility between their speakers,
although neither group
can
understand much Liberian"
(Holm
1989:409). This is
related
is how Schneider has defined to
West
Africa:
Pidgin English
as
it
20
Pidgin-English is the most common name given to a lingua franca spoken throughout West Africa from Sierra to the Gabon. for African peoples
Leone
It
is
a
meduim of
communication
who have no first language in common, for white men of various ethnic backgrounds and for the West African working man, trader and transient peoples. Pidgin-English is not a mere simplification of English, but a separate and describable language. Its vocabulary is predominantly English-based, but the lexical forms have changed their meaning to fit into the value system and world view of the African people. (Schneider 1966:2)
According to Barbag-Stoll, the term West African Pidgin English
is
(WAPE)
linguist's invention which
a
covers
different, often mutually unintelligible varieties spoken the
West
has
listed
African Coast a
number
of
(Barbag-Stoll names
that
1983:37).
are
used
in
on
Barbag-Stoll
referring to
WAPE:
It
is
often
referred
to
Bastard English, Broken English, Funny English, Vulgar English (value judgement labels), Kitchen English, Factory English, Market English, Trade English (institution labels), Coast English, West African Negro English, Liberian English, Sierra Leone English (dialect labels), etc. (ibid.37) The come
and
above value
about because
of
standard English.
as
judgement and institution the
assumed
labels
have
relationship between
WAPE
This has happened because of the
language contact between Europe and West Africa which began,as already stated above, with the arrival Portuguese
century The
on
the West African coast
(Schneider 1967:4;
Portuguese
followed by the
were
in the
Spencer 1971:7;
of
the
fifteenth Holm
1989:268).
followed by the Dutch who in turn
English.
They all contributed to
were
carve
the
21
pidgin English in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and
Liberia,
Cameroon,
Ghana.
Nigeria The
area
built by the
that
is
now
coastal
Nigeria
Europeans for the slave trade.
Although the
Portuguese began the traffic in slaves in this on,
had forts
never
much of the coast from Nigeria to Cameroon
area
early
was
relatively ignored by the Europeans, partly because of its difficult conditions
(Tonkin 1971:143).
the
However,
growing demand for slaves in the eighteenth century drove slavers
further
eastward
to
the
lagoons of what is today
Lagos and the creeks of the "Rivers" at the mouth of the
Niger. the
Here the Europeans could anchor their vessels for
brief period needed to
traders end
of
of
load the slaves that the African
kept ready for them the
(Osae et al.
1973:180).
eighteenth century Bonny and Calabar
Biafra had become two of the most
By the the
on
Bight
important trading
ports. The
British made the
their navy patrolled this
however,
as
1971:144). 1885,
illegal in 1807, and
to enforce the
area
Protestant missionaries
began coming to this
welcomed
trade
new
law;
trade in palm oil and other goods remained
important. Leone
slave
teachers
of
area
from
in the
England and Sierra
1840s
and
arithmetic and English
Britain annexed Lagos in 1861,
and then all of Nigeria
in 1900.
were
(Tonkin
the Rivers in
Although Nigeria
22
retained in
and
1960
for
English
as
its official language after independence
knowledge of the standard variety is essential
a
higher education and socioeconomic advancement,
still
Pidgin
plays a major role in interethnic communication in
linguistically heterogeneous urban centers, particularly in the
south
(Mafeni 1971:99).
Nigerian Pidgin English is and
thus
a
tongue for
true a
communities, a
creole
creole
pidgin in Hall's
a
lingua franca for sense;
it is also
number of families in certain and
as
language
areas
many, a
mother
and
such might in these cases be defined
(ibid.95).
as
Mafeni describes how the
English has emerged in Nigeria like this:
Inter-tribal
increasingly cases
husband
international marriages have become common in urban society. In many such and
and
wife may not
share
a
common
indigenous language, and as a result will often use Pidgin as their chief meduim of communication in the home; or, of course, Pidgin alongside standard English. Children brought up in such homes naturally speak Pidgin, sometimes alongside standard English, as their first language, although they may also speak the native language(s) of either or both parents. The children therefore learn to operate several linguistic systems, of which Pidgin is one of them; and in many cases it may be the primary and predominant system. However, even where both parents speak the same native language, many urban and partially detribalized children learn Pidgin very early although it is not the language of the
home.
Often
several
families
live
in the
same
and if they differ in linguistic background a convenient lingua franca. The compounds and neighborhoods find Pidgin an efficient means of communication among themselves, and may also use it at home even though their parents may not approve. (ibid.98)
compound,
Pidgin
serves as children in such
According to Mafeni, pidgin.
some
Nigerians have two types of
The majority of servants employed by European
23
families minimal
which
two
use
quite different varieties of pidgin;
variety, which they
is
the
use
a
elsewhere.
Many Nigerians,
to their employers—and
variety,
fuller
pidgin
proper,
which they
especially familiar, contexts,
nevertheless
to
ashamed
associated with the
be
This is probably
use
because
and
not
a
Nigerians the
use
traditional
language.
language in
who have often discouraged
they consider it
language in its
are
result of the influence of
a
parents and school authorities, its
use
although use pidgin as a
register in certain,
of
own
debased form of English
a
right (ibid.99).
their pidgin in variety of attitudes
of
in spite
ways,
disapproval towards the
Many Nigerian novelists,
playwrights,
advertising
agents,
trade unionists and
and
exploiting the great potentialities of the language
as
are
a
medium of
mass
even
politicians have realized
communication.
The various
broadcasting
corporations in Nigeria have done much to popularize pidgin by allowing its "Save
use
in advertisement; the NBC radioserial
Journey" has been running with great
number
of
years;
in their novels Sierra
success
for
a
Achebe and other writers have used pidgin and
poems
(ibid.100).
Leone
Holm
a
only kind of pidgin which most Europeans come
across—and
public.
one,
(1989:413)
creole
English
before
it
was
were
states that it
spoken in the
settled
from
seems
area
both pidgin and
around Freetown
Britain and the New World
in the
24
late
The English might have been
eighteenth century.
influenced by the
Portuguese that was spoken by the traders
their Afro-European descendants
and
in this
area.
The
Portuguese reached the peninsula on which Freetown now stands
around
Mountain" onward trade
1460
(ibid.413).
the
area
Serra
Lyoa or "Lion
From the late fifteenth century
European ships stopped regularly in this area to manufactured
established
a
fort
peninsula in 1663; the
named
and
offshore
goods for slaves and ivory. on
an
island
near
The English
Sierra
the
Leone
number of English privateers settled on
a
islands
from
this
period onwards and they and
their
Afro-European descendants helped establish various
forms
of
restructured
English there.
"These mulattoes
merged with the Afro-Portuguese to form
a
12,000 by the end of the eighteenth century have
formed
society that
the
of about
group .
.
.
[that]
may
'indigenous' nucleus of the Creole-type in the nineteenth century"
was
to emerge
was
abolished in Britain in 1772,
(Jones
1983:16).
Slavery American offered to
revolution began freedom to
fight for the
At this time the British
American-owned slave who
any
crown,
(Hancock 1971a:12).
in 1776.
to
Africa.
be In
a
social 1787
Some
of these soldiers ended up
problem.
some
would
escape
and thousands of slaves did this
England where they and others called the Black felt
and the
Some
of these
four hundred persons
in
Poor were
were
settled
in
(330 blacks and
25 70
white
what
to
was
in
and
prostitutes) become the
1790
Freetown.
However,
which
Company,
opponents of the slave trade. American slaves who had British
been
won
sponsored by British
was
In 1792
their
by fighting for
brought from Nova Scotia,
were
1,100 former
where they had
temporarily resettled after the British lost their
"Settlers" Because
to
some
freedom
southernly American colonies in 1783. were
of
Nova
population of
Scotia;
survivors
joined by
disturbance
a
entire
the
died of disease
destroyed most of what remained of the
Temne
Sierra Leone
the
many
The settlement was revived the following year by
colony. the
arrived in Sierra Leone and founded
were
however,
the
1796
British government had
settlement deported from Jamaica
a so
resettled
In 1800 these
550 Jamaican Maroons.
some
in
more
died from the cold that the
many
in Sierra
Leone
(Le Page and DeCamp
1960:100). In
took
over
it
Britain outlawed the
1807
Freetown
from the
a
naval
base
non-British
slave
ships.
use
as
thousands
settled them
at
from
of
captives
Freetown, all
(Koelle 1854).
over
for
on
trade
and
financially troubled
in
1808
company
to
anti-slavery patrols to intercept Between 1808 and 1864 tens of
intercepted slave ships
bringing
West
slave
Africa
were
great many languages with
a
and
the
Congo-Angola
Krio became the lingua franca
among
area
these
recaptives and the first language of their descendants, who joined those of the Settlers and
Maroons
as
members
of
the
26
Creole
society.
Singler suggests that "the most important
phase of the development of Krio
re-creolization)
was
that occurred with the
Liberated Africans who washed ashore
1984:35). of
the
The
In summary
following and
Maroons
last
spread
Nova
were
over
describes
a
the
the creolization
in
wave
upon
Freetown
(or
wave
of
(Singler
"the Sierra Leone settlement consisted of people:
groups
Scotians,
The Black Poor,
the
and the West African recaptives.
by far the most numerous, number of years"
language Krio
their arrival being
(Jones 1971:67).
Jones
as:
Krio is an English-based lingua franca used throughout Sierra Leone as an inter-tribal language of trade and social communication. It is the mother tongue of the descendants of freed men who settled in the Sierra Leone peninsula between 1787 and the early years of the nineteenth century. It is a second language for other residents in this same area whose mother tongue is one of the Sierra Leone languages. It has also spread
throughout the country principally in the more urban areas as an additional language. (ibid.66) In
Jones
describing the
says
tribal
it is recognized
communication and
dissemination.
daily
usage
over
He
as
of Krio in Sierra Leone today, as
a
such
useful a
medium of
the official
says
language of inter¬
news
news
bulletin put out
the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service by the
Ministry of Information, government statements,
as
are
English, Mende and Temne.
well
as
other
important
broadcast in Krio
as
used
well
as
at
as
(The other languages of the
country usually have weekly broadcast in them.) also
well
widely in public speeches all
over
inter-tribal religious services.
the In
Krio is
country
talking
as
27
about
the
negative
Jones
has
this
to
response
that the usage of Krio receives
say:
is not however encouraged
It
in the schools because of supposedly harmful effects on the learning of English, the language of education, and is not widely used in its written form, although there have been sporadic bursts of good writing in it. Its register Krio remains largely intimate and oral. It is used as its
the
normal
of
means
communication
in Creole homes but
among educated Creoles outside their homes it tends to be used only as means of intimate conversation. Educated Creoles on first meeting other even
educated
Creoles
to use English, this being polite language. Coversation mellows into Krio as acquaintanceship grows, although it is apt to fade into English as topics veer into the more technical fields. The appropriate occasions for Krio in Sierra Leone society can involve delicate nuances of etiquette. (ibid.68)
thought the
varieties
Some
Africa.
spoken and
as
a
in
countries
1975:365).
as
The
(locally called Aku
form
as
same
Ghana,
some or
of
Krio
parts of West
Patois)
is
in Banjul
(Hancock 1969a:8).
is preserved
their
own
A
in several small
Krio-speaking communities
thing happened in such English-speaking Nigeria,
and Cameroon
(Reinecke et al.
A form of Krio called Fernandino
is spoken
This island,
on
Bioko
or
Porto3
(formerly called Fernando
which lies just off the coast of
in the Gulf of Guinea,
1989:418).
spoken in
second language
a
formed
(Lipski 1992:1) Po).
are
French-speaking Guinea and Senegal, where Sierra
traders
(ibid.9).
Krio
home language by some 3,500 Creoles
conservative
enclaves Leone
of
Gambian Krio
by others
more
tend
more
Cameroon
forms part of Equitoral Guinea
(Holm
28
Liberia Holm
writes about the Liberian
(1989:421-426)
Creole/Pidgin English in terms of how the speakers of the language
came
in contact with English speakers.
Portuguese reached what is the
known
of
the
Liberia in 1416; because of
in pepper that developed
trade
be
now
as
slave
Grain Coast.
the
trade
in the
As
in this
ships and act
British took
the
eighteenth century,
stop again
sailors
favored
These
from the ethnic
on
name
were
of Kru
(Klao).
seems
a
population of the Kru country speak imperfect,
in
noted
intelligible English"
"Three-fourths
of
the
but
Jones,
and Reinecke to describe how
contributed towards the spread of Pidgin
English in West Africa.
important diffusers their employers
that
century
(ibid.618).
quotes Tonkin, have
1856
(earlier
likely that the
male
Krumen
ships
Holm in
an
the
they
largely
were
when
Holm
man
They enjoyed
using pidgin English for at least
observer
to as
Their
(Reinecke 1937:617).
quoting Reinecke suggests that it had been
crews
called Krumen
position with the white traders and
excempt from slave raiding
Krumen
more
their return journey to drop off the
(Singler 1981:4).
Krooboys) a
on
over
middlemen with other Africans
as
to
came
their ships
proceeded down the coast to trade for slaves. would
it
area,
began stopping along the Grain Coast to take their
The
and
The
Krumen
"must
standardizers of
have
been
Pidgin English,
included slavers, traders,
explorers,
and
for
29
English Navy became
the
African pidgin speakers such
...
main agents
1971:143).
these
as
of language transmission"
(Tonkin
Jones suggests that the Kru probably helped
spread Krio features in West African Pidgin English since
they were present in Freetown by the 1790s and by 1820 their numbers
there matched
had
south
brought
the
as
of
the
settlers
and
a
knowledge of Pidgin English
Congo River
(Reinecke 1937:619).
largest group of Krumen worked in Nigeria,
end
of
become
their
It
was
arrival
of
these
around
made
primary
could be
English
of
First World War
seen
from
Gold
Coast
far
but by the
(modern Ghana)
had
(Holm 1989:422). the
above
paragraphs that Pidgin
spoken along the Liberian coast before the the
Afro-American
settlers
noted
settlers.
in the
1820s
of
One
that
understand
language without
our
an
the
officials
"every head
and hundreds of their people speak,
us,
to
venue
the
as
At this time
the
the
maroons
By the end of the nineteenth century the
(Jones 1971:67). Krumen
those
and
man
can
be
interpreter"
(quoted by Singler 1984:39). Americans wanted to
The
blacks
that
unsafe,
loitered about the
but there
homeland after the
of
their
slave
was
also
own"
trade.
Society bought land at 1822
the
"get rid of the
first group of
masses
city streets, making them
the humane wish to
give them
(quoted by Holm 1989:423). In
1821
of
the
the present
American
This
a was
Colonization
site of Monrovia and in
freed American slaves arrived.
30
During the first 25 American blacks
Carolina. South
from
came
Later
of immigration,
years
Virginia, Maryland, and North
immigrants
Carolina, the origin of
"Settlers"
delivered by years
some
(ibid.).
often from Georgia and
came more
60% of those arriving
over
immediately after the American Civil These
70% of the
War
(Singler 1989).
joined by liberated Africans,
were
United States Navy.
Over the period of twenty
5780 liberated Africans
were
Some 15,000 American freedmen eventually
immigrated Liberia,
settlers
as
well
as
who arrived in 1865
Barbados,
were
There
outnumbered
happens to be
some
350
settlers
(Singler 1981:6).
some
modern
brought from America
Black
from
The
the
different
the
speech that the
the creolized ancestor of
English vernacular (Holm 1989:424). purposes
For
there exists
a
variety of Liberian English which differs little
standard
English elsewhere in
phonology, which is 1970).
area.
was
broadcasting and other official standard
These
kind of classifications in
of people who inhabit the
Settlers
from
by the indigenous Africans.
language spoken by the Liberians because of groups
in Liberia
settled
more
American than British
Singler (1984:69-71)
basilects.
The
first
Merico by Hancock).
West Africa
is that
except in its (Hancock
postulates three distinct of
Settler
English
This has features that
are
(called
largely
confined to American Black English and the North American varieties.
31
The two
language varieties of Liberian English have
different basilects
Settler
the
second
basilect)
(both quite distinct from the
that have separate historical origins:
variety that developed from Kru Pidgin,
coast;
and
influenced
developed
pidgin, among
dominated.
Mande
spoken along the
the variety that developed from
(2)
spoken in the interior.
the military and Both
on
Interior and
(1)
Mande-
a
Interior Pidgin
plantations, where the Coastal
Pidgin reflect
the
phonology of the speaker's first language.
are
typical of speakers with little
The
following paragraph from Holm summarizes the varieties
of
or
no
Both of them
Western
schooling.
English in Liberia. Liberian English encompasses several restructured varieties. There is a creole spoken as a home language
by the descendants of settlers from the United States (3% of the total population of 2,180,000 in 1984) who live largely in and around the capital, Monrovia (306,000 inhabitants). There are also second-language varieties of this speech used as a lingua franca throughout the rest of the country. One of these, Kru Pidgin English, is more similar than the other varieties to West African English because of its distinct historical origins. All of the varieties in Liberia have influenced one another and appear to form a continuum rather than discrete entities. (Holm 1989:421) Cameroon
Cameroonian
Pidgin English
grew
out of the eighteenth-
century Pidgin English used around Calabar Biafra
(Hancock 1969a:17).
Fernando
Po
in
1827
to
on
the
Bight of
After the British occupied
stop the trading of slaves in this
area,
merchants and missionaries
Leone
began coming to what is
now
from
Britain and Sierra
coastal
Cameroon
(Holm
32
1989:430). creole
were
and
four
speakers:
from
on
22
Fernando
Fernando
Po
is
Pidgin spoken in this
than set
are
up
German
firms was
restructured
the
expelled by the Spanish and
now
Limbe
area
Germans
near
Cameroonian coast.
the
on
today is more similar to Krio
other Cameroonian varieties
trading posts
Cameroon
(18 from Sierra Leone
and six spoke Jamaican English
Po)
was
reestablished at what The
spoke Krio
In 1858 the largely Krio-speaking Baptist
(Todd 1984:94). mission
36% of these missionaries
Between 1845 and 1887,
(ibid.97).
The British
the coastal town of Douala.
joined the British in the 1860s and in
officially annexed by Germany English had
to
was
use
already
that
so
as
When
1884
colony,
a
well established that
instead of their
own
language in
dealing with the local people. The of set
the
up
colonization of Cameroon
German
English
was
Dahomey
Germans
1916, the
Other laborers
were
(modern Benin),
also
brought from
and Nigeria.
Pidgin
the lingua franca on the plantations as well
colonial
The
under
spread
They returned to their villages with their
Liberia, Togo,
in
the
plantations that drew laborers from the interior
knowledge of Pidgin.
the
to
Pidgin English into the interior, because the
grasslands.
in
led
German
Germans
were
army
as
(ibid.94).
driven out
of
Cameroon
by the Allies
and in 1919 the country was divided into mandates British
(east part).
(west part
English
(West)
near
Nigeria) and the French
and French
(East)
became the
33
official
influence of the
and
English-based Pidgin in the
where it began to draw on French when further lexicon
east,
needed
Krio
more
increasing
an
English—and Nigerian Pidgin—in the west, isolation of the
further
was
This led to
languages of Cameroon.
The eastern regions maintain
(Holm 1989:431). features
while the western
regions
closer to
are
Nigerian Pidgin. Pidgin English is presently widely used along
Cameroon
the
East
Cameroon
especially in the Douala
Coast,
Though it has little official recognition,
area.
it is still
an
important medium of communication for Cameroon's political, social,
religious,
and economic life
(Barbag-Stoll 1983:38).
Summary have
We
the
discussed how the Portuguese have
linguistics of West Africa, especially in pidgin.
traded
with the people of
the
area,
of
Prince Henry the Navigator
to
Portugal to learn Portuguese.
pidgin Portuguese which language. serve
as
transfer done the
influenced
was
These Africans
some
and through the orders West Africans
This
were
the
taken
the beginning of
was
called the reconnaissance
were
returned to West Africa
interpreters for the Portuguese traders. of
They
to
The major
reconnaissance language to West Africa
was
by the Portuguese traders and settlers who settled in area
among
the Africans,
The
Dutch
followed the Portuguese
traders with
the
especially the
people of West Africa.
as
women.
the next European
They did not make
34
impact
much
the linguistics of the
on
not
sttle
who
followed
the
3.Throug
people of this
Dutch had
area
with the people and
therefore
because they did
the people they traded with.
among
more
Africa because they were
West
area
impact
on
the linguistics of
in closer contacts with the
than their two predecesors.
in products and slaves,
had
The British
close
contacts
They traded
settled among them,
with their culture.
The
major linguistic legacies of the British contact with
Africa
are
standard
English and pidgin English which is
spoken in the Gambia, and
1.
West
Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Ghana,
Nigeria,
Cameroon.
The
Notes
fort
of
Sao
Jorge de Mina is
now
known
as
the Elmina
Castle.
2. Semantic extension has contributed to the phonology of the Akan word kube which was derived from the Portuguese word "coco" which is pronounced /ko'ku/. In Akan, the root
/be/
means "palm tree", and as the coconut tree looks like palm tree, the derivation began with the addition of /be/ to the Portuguese /ko'ku/ to become /kokube/. The first syllable was deleted, hence /kube/. Akan vowel harmony system changed the final /e/ to /e/. The derivation the
would
be
the
following:
/ko'ku/
Portuguese
kokube kube
semantic extension first syllable deletion
kube
vowel
harmony
[kube]
personal communication, John Lipski who has on the pidgins on Fernando Po, told me the pidgin English on the island is no longer known as Fernandino or Porto. The only current terms are Pichinglis
done that
some
the
a
studies
shortened Pichi. descendents of the there. or
the
The
term
Fernandino is applied to Leoneans who settled
original Sierra
CHAPTER GHANAIAN
ENGLISH:
PIDGIN
IN
HISTORICAL
3
SEARCH
OF
CURRENT AND
EVIDENCE
Background
Research
Considerable misinformation has been circulated about
Ghanaian
Some Ghanaians attribute the
Pidgin English.
worsening of standard English to the
emergence
of pidgin
English.
An evidence of this can be read from Suzanne
Romaine's
1988
publication.
recently as 1986 the Times Higher Education (17 Jan. 1986) carried a report of a newspaper in Ghana complaining about the use of Pidgin English on Ghanaian campuses and recommending that stern measures be taken against it. The report notes
As
Supplement
that
in
other
no
case
do
the
future
leaders
of
the
'mixture in which all the tenses are wind, and words are picked from far and wide, making no sense to the listener.' (Romaine country talk
thrown to
a
the
1988:13) But
many
pidgin English is serving critics overlook.
communication.
is
It
It
places,
markets,
on
political platforms, both
literate and
serves
spoken
institutions, work places,
a very
on
on
an
seaports,
drinking
songs,
occasions.
illiterate people.
on
It is spoken by
Most importantly,
pidgin English is becoming the lingua franca in English speaking West Africa countries.
35
which
important medium of
in popular
many
purpose
wide scale in educational
airports,
the radio, and
a
as
important
36 There
has
not
been
formal attempt to study the
any
pidgin English situation in Ghana. that
the
ideal
conditions
in
1973,
but in 1984
Ghana
English
to
above
consider
research
a
(1973:3)
observed
pidgin did not exist in observed that pidgin
was
to be spoken in Ghana.
observations,
doing
a
it
and continues,
was,
The
for
Sey
among on
other things,
prompted
us
Ghanaian Pidgin English in
1984.
Methodology
period
Research
collected
were
April,
1984
on
Over
Ghanaian
to January,
period of nine months,
data
Pidgin English (G.P.E.),
from
a
This period
1985.
was
used in
distributing and collecting questionnaires, tape-recording interviews, English. and
I
did
friends
a
have
in Ghanaian Pidgin
also used in collecting magazines
major researcher during this period.
funding for the research,
any
research
for
was
songs
in which Ghanaian Pidgin English have been
the
was
not
afford
as
The period
newspapers
used. I
conversations, and
both
assistant. the
I
relied
on
the
Since
I could not
help of
recordings and the distribution
as
well
collection of the questionnaires. Questionnaire.
Four
hundred
questionnaires
distributed in Accra in the Greater Accra Region, Abetifi
in the
Eastern
Region, Winneba in the
Region, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Ahafo
Region,
were
Aburi and
Central
Sunyani in the Brong
and Ho in the Volta Region.
Even though all
37
the
regions of Ghana of
were
different
were
ages,
not surveyed the informants who
educational backgrounds,
sexes,
occupational backgrounds,
and social classes consist of
people from all the regions of the country. and
four
the
sex
responses and
3.2
are
a
further
received.
Table 3.1 and 3.2 show
distributions respectively.
age
Appendix A for
were
copy
of the questionnaire.
illustrations
distribution of the
on
the
age
Refer to
Figures 3.1 and
and sex
population surveyed. Table
Sex
Three hundred
3.1
Distribution of
Informants
Male
Female
No
163
137
4
304
53.6%
45.1%
1.3%
100%
Response
Total
Sex Distribution of Informants MALE FEMALE
NO RESPONSE
3.1
Figure 3.1.
Sex Distribution of Informants
38
Table
3.2
Age Distribution of Informants 15-25
26-30
167
84
40
27.6%
54.9%
The
that
31-40
ages
13.2%
Total
50+
7
3
3
304
2.3%
1.0%
1.0%
100%
Response
in table 3.2 begin at 15 because
complete the questionnaire. the
No
41-50
informants below that age
return
(Years)
we
decided
might not be properly able to
Many people over 40 did not
questionnaires because they did not want to be
associated with
pidgin, thus pointing to the strong
attitudes
pidgin in Ghana.
about
Age Distribution of Informants
P1Q-3.1
Figure 3.2.
Materials used.
with
A
O
E
(Y
H
A
R
S)
Age Distribution of Informants
Tape recorders
were
used
in interviews
informants who ranged from school children to
secretary of state.
Some
of the
recording
was
a
done during
39
the
1984
Ghana,
New
This is
Legón.
from
all
held
between
from
Christmas
and
New
issues
Environment.
views
from
This
at
the
University of
one-week school attended by people
a
and
of
held
was
life
walks
discuss national The
which
School
Year
like was
a
all
It is
parts of Ghana.
Year's
Day.
The participants
Aging, Education, Culture,
and
good opportunity to gather
people across the whole spectrum of life in
Ghana. Both
spontaneous and organized recordings of pidgin
were
made,
some
of
including
the
singers
songs
well
as
in pidgin.
sung as
We interviewed
writers of Ghanaian Pidgin
English.
Magazines and newspapers in which GPE has been
featured,
especially in the
also
were
The
collected.
in this dissertation
data
questionnaires and also
of comics and cartoons
areas
been
some
included.
morphology,
syntax,
discussions
were
the
on
taken
from
some
well
as
of
the
as
from the
phonology,
the data in the
organized and
spontaneous conversations of the informants. taken
the
semantics, the lexicon and the
sociolinguistics of the language appendises
from
from interviewees have
responses
The
obtained
were
Some
were
also
magazines.
History of Ghanaian Pidgin English Colonial The
Settlement
Portuguese explored the coast of West Africa
the middle
of
the
fifteenth century,
around
establishing outposts
40
in what end
the
of
the
first by the The
Ghana and Nigeria before
today Guinea-Bissau,
are
But their trade was taken over
century.
Dutch and then the English
English took
part of the slave trade by
over
"The first was built in
establishing forts in West Africa. Cormantine
at
1631
in what
is today called Ghana"
forts
for
trading for slaves
Coast—modern
Ghana,
this
area
In
1821
from
the
form
of
the the
and
the
Leonean
(Fage et al.
Restructured English
late
British
the
Africa
defeated Coast
Sierra
and
Krumen
from
the Gold Coast and Slave
on
and Benin
Togo,
quoted by Holm 1989:426). to
the
for etc.
was
brought
Krio forts
speakers. on
the
Gold
Coast
were
taken
Company and placed under the crown in the
Governor
Ashanti
of
Sierra
in the
Leone.
British
After the
Sagrenti War of 1874,
the Gold
Lagos became the Gold Coast Colony and were
"By the end
century new medicines made life in the tropics safer
Europeans,
and British-born administrators,
teachers,
began taking over the positions previously filled by
Sierra
Leoneans"
1989:427). left
1959
eighteenth century onwards by
administratively separated from Sierra Leone. of
(Spencer
In 1672 the British seized from the Dutch a number
1971:8). of
(Holm 1989:410).
for
the
labor,
which
Krumen
from
(Trutenau 1975:21-23 quoted by Holm
The low-level jobs Africans. were
The
were
demand
the only ones that was
largely for unskilled
first filled by Ghanaians and then by
Liberia.
were
41
English has been the official language of Ghana since Britain colonized the Gold Coast This
1844.
the
was
English
colony.
bond
by the bond of
which made the Gold
imposed
was
(now Ghana)
a
British
the language of
as
administration by the British;
Coast
their immediate practical aim
being to bring together the separate political units which they had won either by conquest or treaty its
After
Ghana
1957,
English is still
had
adoption of franca made
has
the
Ghana The
cohesive force internally.
a
been
and is not envisaged.
easy
and
external
educated
educated
(ibid.
understood
in
English is
one
the
is
one
a
foot
on
We may distinguish
a
of
the
least
internationally
one
is the most widely
Pidgin
of the varieties that is associated with the of
English in Ghana.
Pidgin English dates from the time
the
coast
of
the
Gold
Coast.
population, mostly illiterate workers
exclusively from the northern
territory.
English in
graded continuum between them.
It
relatively small and identifiable section
almost
This has
English-speaking world (ibid. 51).
uneducated varieties
Ghanaian
50).
uneducated varieties
though there is
even
least
and
uses
acceptable and the most educated
set
The
English language the most obvious choice for both
internal between
independence from the British rule in
of the 45 local languages as the lingua
one not
(Boadi 1971:49).
These workers
were
was
of
the
limited to
the
of various
categories,
sector of the
mainly those who
British
colonial
served
in
42
various
capacities directly under mostly English but also
Ghanaian and other African
some
who
needed
some
communication with them.
of
means
"masters"
Pidgin gradually structure
of
arose
standard
through simplifications of the
English and adaptation to native
languages among these categories of workers.
They tried to
reproduce what they heard and retained of the fast speech of the
English masters, The
categories of people who learned this kind of
simplified English
were:
Police corporals.
offices,
courts,
the Ghanaian and Asian masters.
or
They were employed as guards at the
parliament,
government places.
"people's" houses,
"People" in this
sense
and other
means
the
expatriates and high-ranking government officials who qualified to employ Watchmen.
These
and
private houses.
the
houses
those
of
and
some
a
office
guard. were
employed in government departments
They
were
security officers who watched
buildings of the government
They
were
employed in government departments
-usually daily rated—like Public Works Department,
boys.
Water
Electricity, and Housing.
Domestic were
as
private individuals.
Laborers.
Works,
well
as
staff.
invariably male, They
employers.
were
The were
domestic
cooks,
staff,
who in those days
steward boys,
and garden
usually called "small boys" by their
They in turn called their employers "masters",
43
the
hence
popular expression in Ghana:
("Yes sir, master.") "Masa
dey"
(He's present)
or
The
the
workers
from the
northern
part of Ghana was to promote the
families with them
the
northern
away
North
were
of
some
in the
south;
even
own
in the
villages.
the people were late in
That is why the employees from first
the
since they did not
from their
part of Ghana,
receiving formal education. the
"I
employment of these categories of
they could be far
In
and the reply:
(He isn't present).
"I no dey."
loyalties to their employer,
their
north,
for
reason
undivided have
It was usual for a visitor to ask:
(Is your master present?),
dey?"
"Yes sa, masa."
speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin
English. Second
World
In
our
War
sixteen informants,
survey,
or
respondents, mentioned the second World War events
that
have
English in Ghana.
5% Of the as
one
their
of
the
contributed to the emergence of pidgin
This is especially true of the older
respondents because of their association with the Soldiers
of
the
Gold
Coast
war.
Regiment fought alongside
British counterparts during the Second World War
(1939-1945).
They served
soldiers.
These
efforts
communicate with
to
porters
Pidgin English evolved. with the
Pidgin English.
porters for the British
as were
illiterates; hence in their
their
British
counterparts
These soldiers returned to Ghana Some of them joined the Armed
44 and
Forces
retired to
others
live
the civilian
among
population. retired soldier
A
soldier
made
was
to
informed
learn
us
police recruits
who
on
parade and training
the
went
to
are
pidgin type. the
is
There
made to learn pidgin for the
are
trainers
The
reason.
is
every
A police officer at a training depot also told us
grounds.
know
formerly
pidgin English since it is the
language used to drill soldiers
that
that
Second
illiterates
the
English they
This training started with those
World
War.
story in Ghana about
a
and
same
a
laborer who
was
brought before the colonial courts in the early months of the
Second
was
that
the
astounding blitz of the advancing German forces.
defence "If
he
say
the
má m^f bi gon?") a
a
charge of sedition.
The charge
impressed by
win the
go
(if
a
war,
na
my mouth be
t^k sey Hitler go win de
w^,
na
("If I say that Hitler will win the war,
is
gun?")
Pidgin English has been used in the Ghanaian since
use
gun"
Media
News
an
In his
following statement in Pidgin English:
Hitler
(Eyi-Acquah 1985)?
my mouth
on
said Hitler would win the war,
had
he made
talk
I
World War
the
1950s.
There
was
evening newspaper—which of
jokes.
pidgin English.
a
column
was
in the
news
media
"Evening News"
strictly reserved for the
It was used to present vernacular
-
45
There 1950s
the
was
called
was
pidgin English. entertain the would so
be
Abongo" by the late Leo Riby-Williams.
"Isa
there
1960s
in pidgin English in the
radio program done
a
a
television
In
comedy series also done in
These were comedy programs meant to
rank
and
file
mostly illiterate workers who
-
expected to understand or speak pidgin English and
appreciate such
in pidgin.
programs
Contrary to the assumption that the majority of illiterate workers understood
from
all
over
pidgin English and
so
the
country spoke and
would welcome such
it turned out that pidgin English
programs,
was
limited to
only a small section of the population and that the rest would
better
enjoy
withdrawn after
a
audience research
Ga,
of
the
large towns it to
deal
short
and eventually,
run;
survey,
These
programs
were
and
are
says
much
enjoyed by all
was
that with many educated people in the
not necessary
Ghanaians
were
for the illiterate people
always at hand to act
interpreters and "letter-writers"
could
like Variety Show Case in
directly with the English speakers for bilingual
educated
This
through
population.
(1973:3)
Sey
of the local Ghanaian
and other Ghanaian languages were
Ewe,
substituted. sections
one
The radio and television programs were therefore
languages.
Akan,
in
programs
was
not
one
of
the
spread.
reasons
for the
as
uneducated
ones.
why Ghanaian Pidgin English
46
Current
of
Emergence
Ghanaian Pidgin English:
Within the past ten or twenty years,
early 1970s,
Factors
that is,
from the
it has been noticed by the informants in this
survey
that more Ghanaians are speaking pidgin English than
in the
1950s
and
This
1960s.
be
can
from
seen
table
3.3
and
figure 3.3. Table Number
of
Years:
0
Speakers: %
:
Years
44
14.5
-1
1-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21+
8
0
23
90
70
22
7.6
29.6
23.0
7.2
Years of
RIG. 3.3
should be
2.6
0.0
No
Res 47
15.5
Speaking G.P.E.
NUMBER OP YEARS
Figure 3.3.
It
3.3
Speakers Have Spoken Ghanaian Pidgin English
noted
Years of Speaking G.P.E.
that
23%
pidgin English for the past ten
of
the
years,
spoken it for the past five years.
speakers have spoken and that 29.6% have
This shows
an
increase of
47
6.6%. the
research
attitude
of
Table and
7.6%
Just
an
had
period.
spoken it for less than a year during These ratios are due to the current
people toward the GPE. and
3.4
figure 3.4 offer further statistical data
illustration to show the
that
consensus
Pidgin
English is spreading fast in Ghana. Table Rate
of
The
3.4
Spread of Ghanaian Pidgin English
Dying Out
Slowly
Fast
21
258
6
0
1
18
6.9%
84.9%
2.0%
0.0%
0.3%
5.9%
Not Found
Rate of the
Other
No Response
Spread of G.P.E. FAST SLOWLY NO RESPONSE DYING OUT
OTHER NOT POUND
3.4
Figure 3.4.
Whereas
84.9%
of
the
Rate of the Spread of G.P.E.
respondents said that the Ghanaian
Pidgin English is spreading fast,
spreading slowly.
only 6.9% said that it is
48
with Other West African States
Contact
main
The
Ghanaian recent
given for the fast spreading of the
reason
Pidgin English within the past twenty
increase of
contacts
African states where scale.
These
between Ghanaians
pidgin English is spoken
countries
especially Nigeria.
are
Liberia,
contributed
English?"
toward
and
on
is the
other West
wider
a
Sierra Leone,
and
This increase is evidenced by the
of informants to the question:
responses
years
the
"Which events have
introduction and spread of
Out of 304 questionnaires,
236
pidgin
informants
responded to that question,
77.6% of the total survey.
of
that is,
the
236
respondents 127,
Out
53.8% mentioned
immigration of Ghanaians to other West African countries. The
Nigerian Of
factor
105,
the to
Influence 127
the
respondents who mentioned immigration
current
that is 82.6%,
said that Nigeria has been responsible.
spent three months in Lagos in 1981,
Nigerians speak standard English only private conversations.
Nigerian languages The
the
oil
boom
early 1970s,
Ghana,
a
spread of Ghanaian Pidgin English,
Pidgin English is spoken everywhere in Nigeria.
the
as
Otherwise, or
The writer
and found that on
rare
occasions in
they speak either
one
of
pidgin English.
brought economic improvement to Nigeria in and people from many countries,
immigrated there.
Ghanaian workers went to
including
Both skilled and unskilled
Nigeria to look for
green
pastures.
49
in Ghana, and often took whatever
They spent their holidays they acquired to Ghana. back
to
Ghana
In
the
nationals
The
early 1980s, many Ghanaians and other
use
expelled from Nigeria.
After
and
in
1981
"To
Be
a
His
second
his first
which caught the attention of many
album,
fans
was
"Jealousy."
The following is part
song: JEALOUSY
Don't
do my thing be jealous
If
do
jel^s
Don't
du
a
mek yu
no go
jel^si
ti
ma
If
(a song)
mek yu no jel^s if a du ma tin
if
n
she(m) wayo go she(m) jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go se(m) There
was
a
English when she one
in pidgin English, titled:
song
(It is a struggle to be born a man).
Wah"
Na
Ghanaian music the
in elementary school, middle form
sojourning in Nigeria, he formed a guitar band sang
Man
These returnees
The boy spoke no pidgin English at that
in 1972.
time.
foreign
pidgin English in Ghana to its ascendancy
of
writer taught a boy
four,
of
pidgin English.
was
were
raised the
One important thing they brought
year,
Ghanaian
The
thing jealous jealous one will be ashamed
The
trickster will
I
a
my
be
be
The
jealous
The
trickster too will
woman
in Ghana.
was
she wrote
I
who
one
ashamed.
will be ashamed
never
be
ashamed
spoke pidgin
After staying in Lagos for
letter which contained both pidgin
English and standard English, using the pidgin English
joke. wrote
as
a
The sample below is an unedited part of a letter she to
the
writer.
The
Yoruba
words
are
underlined.
50
Well
I dey happy I received your letter, but dey tell me to come home, wetin I fit take to enter motor? I dey hear your advice goun and I dey trowey thanks for you for your advice. as
oga
you
big
I was happy when I received your letter, telling me to come home, what thing (money for transportation) can I use to enter a vehicle? I have heard your advice very well and I give you thanks for your advice.
Well,
for
man,
but
as
you
are
One
of
our
interviewees,
the
reason
current
this
for
my
he
When they come,
first husband,
A
came
he
gave
this explanation
you
know,
And this man,
started
he a
see,
was
to leave
teacher,
pidgin English from
had
known
the
Nigerian boy had been in Ghana for only two
a
know,
ten year old Nigerian boy whom he
They live close to each other,
years.
primary school female teacher said
A
you
she
she
why she thinks
answered:
"Well,
some
we
started
were
asked
to
When
Ghanaians speak Pidgin English,
speaking it formerly, but I
were
think to the greater extent Ghanaians
come
it
was
from
during the time the Nigeria.
That
was
the
peak of the pidgin English in the country." In
a
pidgin English conversation in Kumasi,
claimed she could speak
Nigeria friend.
and
years.
speaking pidgin English after she had been to Nigeria. asked
a
primary school boy said he learned
his
two
I know
you
speaking that sort of English."
thirteen year old
for
"Another
pidgin English is because of these people
Saturday for Nigeria. when
nurse,
spread of Ghanaian Pidgin English:
going down to Nigeria. teacher,
a
a
woman
pidgin English because she had
a
51 So
Man:
yu,
lak
haw kam wey yu fit spik ptjm English
dat?
(So you, how come that you can speak pidgin English like that?) Woman: A get s^m Nigerian fren. (I have a Nigerian friend.) Other
Factors
important factor which has contributed to the
One
spread of GPE is illiteracy.
population in Ghana persons
lack
of
formal
important factor, 238,537 sq.
Yet only 20 out of the 236,
that is
none
education.
since
a
Nonetheless,
this is
an
small country like Ghana (Area:
km.) with nearly 14 million people has 44
(refer to Appendix B for the Ghana Language Map)
languages and
literate and 69% of school age
were
literate.
only 30% of the adult
respondents attributed the spread of GPE to illiteracy
8.5%, and
were
In 1980,
of
them
is the national
language.
This fact
compels people to use English as the means of communication in
inter-language conversation.
therefore,
The illiterate ones,
have to recourse to pidgin English.
Military regimes in Ghana have also contributed to the spread of pidgin English.
Ghana has had four long-term
military regimes in the country's history. respondents that
the
streets
civilian
The 12
(5% of the group) who mentioned this factor said
military regimes have brought the soldiers into the and
involved them
population.
in the day-to-day
life of the
The civilians have therefore been
imitating the pidgin English which most of the soldiers speak.
52
factors
Other
schools, of
of GPE are trade,
the spread
for
boarding
and the increasing number
urbanization, prisoners,
magazines which feature pidgin English,
and the
increasing interest in reading such magazines. Summary
being prompted by the
After
in
in Ghana
having realized that
and
1984
linguistic work had been done on
the
emergence
it,
on
no
formal detailed
started a research
we
Within nine months,
language.
of pidgin English
sent out 400
we
questionnaires and received 304 of them responded to. audio tape
used
recorded
recorders to interview informants; we and collected magazines and books which
songs,
contain Ghanaian From
the
Pidgin English (GPE).
informants
our
We
and
history of GPE and the
books,
we
learned
more
about
for its current
reasons
emergence.
GPE dates back from 1631 when the British built
their
fort
first
members
of
the
Gold
British soldiers soldiers who
with the well
between where
Cormantine
with the people.
traded
as
at
also
were
language. as
the
Coast
The second world
contributed to the
emergence
which
saw
spread of GPE.
mostlly illiterates returned from the
The war
It became the language of the military
and
the
The increase of contacts
people of
pidgin English is spoken is
current
war
Regiment fighting alongside the
police service.
Ghanaians
in the then Gold Coast and
a
some
West African states
major factor in the
and the fast spread of GPE.
Other factors
53
are
illiteracy, military regimes in Ghana, urbanization,
boarding schools, feature
GPE,
increase in the number of magazines that
and increase in its
use
for fun.
CHAPTER A
PHONOLOGICAL,
4
MORPHOLOGICAL,
SURVEY
OF
GHANAIAN
SYNTACTIC, PIDGIN
AND SEMANTIC
ENGLISH
Introduction Ghanaian two
Pidgin English (GPE)
can
be classified into
types:
educated pidgin and uneducated pidgin.
uneducated
pidgin is also called "houseboy pidgin"
"motorpark pidgin". its
of
these
houses
called
It is called uneducated pidgin because
of
uneducated educated
"houseboys".
people,
who
English speakers where they
It
travel
work in
are
is the type of pidgin that they
pidgin that is spoken at the
passengers who do not
mostly men,
are
speak that has been named after them. of
or
speakers have not had any formal literacy education.
Some
the
The
own
car
It
and
vehicles go
is
this
same
type
lorry stations where
for transportation to
with, hence the pidgin spoken there is
called
motorpark pidgin. The
its
other
pidgin type is called
speakers have had formal
educated
pidgin because
literacy education.
Some
people call it "intellectual pidgin" because of the reason.
This
is
the
pidgin that is spoken by
especially the students been
of Ghana.
Over
continuum of the types of English spoken 54
young people,
Intellectual
influenced by standard English.
a
same
pidgin has
range of
in Ghana,
55
intellectual pidgin will be the closest to standard English whereas
houseboy pidgin will be the farthest from
standard
English. should
We
note
that
nowadays there is not too much
difference between houseboy pidgin and because most
formal
of
the
speakers have had
days is not
1950's. as
The GPE that
towards
This has made
have
a
changed.
pidgin.
a
some
there
for
many years;
inclined
any
other
it has just
pidgin and intellectual
found
one
a
very
few
poems
analysis of the language
In
or
a
order to minimize
spoken medium of
and cartoons that
pidgins,
There may
overgeneralizations here such
dangers,
language in this chapter has been
can
This makes the
heinous task.
some
a
Like many other
standardized orthography.
oversimplifications
will most
visits Ghana.
in the written medium. no
one
Pidgin English is primarily
communication, with
the
little bit
This is the type of pidgin that
Ghanaian
there.
a
was
people think that Ghana does
blend of houseboy
frequently hear if
has
is
pidgin that
The type of GPE that will be analyzed in this
chapter is
GPE
It
being spoken
pidgin that is original, but like
language, GPE has been
be
is
intellectual pidgin but not close to standard
English. not
free education
close to the houseboy
spoken in the early 1950's.
form of
some
education because of the compulsory
policy of the late these
GPE
intellectual pidgin
taken
be
some
and
the analysis of from
informants
56
of
homogeneous background
a
the
level
standard the
of
education,
English).
(considering such parameters
hence
an
item
is
chosen
often
in most
of
the
common
for
pidgin and the educated
A
planes:
the cover
items
in
the
of
the
occurs
speakers, occurs
very
interviews, etc.
selected
as
being
a
in both the uneducated
one.
from
the
occurred
in the
English will be discussed
on
The form
phonological, morphological, and
whereas the content plane will
analysis of these
meaning which have
lexicon
to
form plane and the content plane.
syntactic analysis, semantic
of
songs,
is
word
linguistic change that has
plane will
the
most
discussion when it
representative of GPE if it
two
to
conversations,
which have been recorded.
derivation of GPE
exposure
We have also taken into consideration
type of GPE which is
The
profession,
age,
as
occurred
words.
in the
These
are
focus
the
on
shifts
English derived
GPE.
Many definitions of pidgin include simplification of the
superstrate language.
In the
say that
the superstrate has been
say that
GPE has
substrate of
the
has been
languages which
other
45
native
is prevalent at the and
semantic
levels.
case
of
GPE,
simplified.
I will I
will
not rather
influenced in many ways by the are
Akan,
Ga,
Ewe,
languages of Ghana.
Nzema, This
and
some
influence
phonological, morphological, syntactic, Words
and
sentences
from
GPE
will
compared with their counterparts from Akan which is the
be
57
Ghanaian language spoken by the author. is
the
most
common
Akan-influenced
GPE
spoken in Ghana.
one
Phonology GPE
has
official
not
orthography.
few words
can
be
vowel
Vowels
of
some
of
the
the
phonology of
has
twelve
vowels,
are
ai,
au,
has
nine Table
consonants,
syllable
features such
FRONT
HIGH
and
oi
G.P.E.
.
These
diphthongs it
CENTRAL
i
BACK
U
u
e
o
a
are
appear
Monothong Vowels
e
LOW
tone,
nine monothongs and three
i
MID
as
underlying vowels. 4.1.
of
This phonological reflection
sometimes separated by semi vowels which makes GPE
most
GPE
diphthongs which
that
no
Ghanaian
quite similar since
are
in its suprasegmental
and
it has
harmony.
of
GPE
languages which
in the GPE vowels,
seen
such
as
The lexicon is mainly English with
from the Kwa group.
structure, and
and
Phonologically, GPE reflects
the Ghanaian come
standardized;
from the vernaculars
languages.
them
been
58
Table BI¬
LABIAL PLOSIVE
4.2.
NASAL
Consonants
LABIO¬ PALATODENTAL DENTAL ALVEOLAR
b
P
G.P.E.
t
GLOT¬ PALATAL VELAR TAL
d
m
k
ñ
n
AFFRI¬
e
]
CATE
LATERAL
g
1 r
FRICA¬
f
V
s
s
h
TIVE SEMI¬
w
y
VOWEL
The vowels
standard
in the Ghanaian
quality. that
English vowels have been replaced by
languages that
Diachronically, introduced
was
to
Received Pronunciation
Gold
(RP)
Coast
to
came
using RP.
Since
of
will compare the vowels of
GPE,
we
Table
4.3.
are
GPE
RP
and
RP
/kaet/ /abawt/ /w a: rk/ /bAS/
a a: A
Consonants
of
has
a
a e : 3
the
all
was
the
the
country
were
with the current emergence
Vowel
RP with
those
of
GPE.
Substitution
GPE
ae
GPE
concerned
not
in
English
(now Ghana)
English since
British sailors and traders who we
close to them
cannot say that the
we
the
are
ENGLISH
/kat/ /abaut/ /we:k/ /b^su/
EXAMPLES cat
about work bus
GPE
twenty-one
fricative, /v/, has
very
consonants.
limited
The
voiced labio-dental
occurrence.
It
is mostly
59
replaced by its voiceless counterpart, from the
/3/
chart
that
the
RP
It
be
can
seen
English consonants, /0/ and
not part of the GPE consonants.
These
/t/,
/z/ is replaced by
are
bY /d/,
below
/f/.
or
/f/.
In the
same
manner
are
replaced
/s/ in many instances. Syllable
Structure has
GPE
of
GPE
eight possible syllabic shapes,
examples
SYLLABLE
GPE
ENGLISH
V
a
IIJII
CV
mi,
VC
i m
CVC
tif,
CCV
tri
VCC
aks
CCVC
plis,
is very rare
It
"me,
go
"tree" "ask"
fren
clusters
of
which standard
clusters
are
simplified
or
glides
are
initial and final
English makes sometimes
in order to
a
achieve this
phenomenon also works in GPE;
f e rst
prifekt
These
altogether
some
a
Ghanaian
syllabicity, vowels
examples
This
syllabicity
are:
GPE
don fes
"don't"
"first"
prifet
"prefect"
fi lm
b=>ti>l fi li m
fayr
faya
"bottle" "film" "fire"
botl
as
syllabicity of CV-CV-CV.
inserted in the clusters.
ENGLISH dont
friend"
consonant
use.
lost
tendency which operates in
a
languages to approximate to Sometimes
"please,
to find Ghanaian languages which
kind of complex
of
go" "his/her" "thief, sin, get
get
sm,
contain the
result
are:
or
60 In
some
cluster has vowels
and
instances,
if
consonant
a
or
a
consonant
it is replaced by nasalized vowels
nasals,
glides; examples
or
are;
ENGLISH
GPE
maynd nayt fayn
máí
"mind"
nal
"night
fáí máí
may
"fine"
"my"
Tone
is
GPE
becoming
tone language because it
a
uses
pitch of individual syllables to contrast meanings in cases.
Native Ghanaian languages,
main tones, not
have
high [']
(H)
and low
[
]
(L).
The low tone will
any accent mark.
TONE
AKAN
LH
pápá papá
LL
papa
father fan
HL
pá:pa:
to
above
has
been
some
especially Akan, have two
HH
The
the
tone
WORD
ENGLISH
good(ness)
slap
phenomenon of the native Ghanaian languages
transferred to GPE,
e.g.:
L
go
H
will /
gó
go
LLH
a
go
gó
I
L
dé
H
de
LHH
dé de gó
L
no
H
nó
LLH
a
no
nó
LLHHLLH
a
no
nó sey
I
don't
shall
will go
they copula, continuous aspect they are going negative marker know I don't
know
i go gó. know that he/she
will go.
61
Vowel
Harmony number
A
of
in which vowels
systems,
harmonic sets all
the
the
other.
lax
(i,
Holm are
In
(e.g. in
vowels For
e,
3)
u,
divided
are
according to height will
word
a
the
or
laxness)
belong to either
tense
or
(i,
e,
one
(Williamson
o)
u,
so
set
dialects of Akan,
1965
like Ibo,
there
two
are
sets
of
vowels
Advanced Tongue Root
and those without Advanced
[+ATR],
[-ATR].
This is horizontal e
ae
u
o
e
a
u
3
or
more
of
one
of
two
[mini] "here
which
Fante
occurs
rounded
[+RD]
unrounded
vowel
syllables,
I
.
harmony.
only the vowels
[-ATR] [wubebu] "you'll beat. ." [=>si] "he/she sharpens." [mini] "I mean ."
."
am."
.
dialect of Akan has labial vowel harmony
together with the horizontal vowels will
[-RD]
those with
occur.
[+ATR] [wubebu] "you'll break [osi] "he/she washes." The
tongue root:
i
any Akan word
will
the
i
In
set
in
and Akan.
of
[+ATR] [-ATR]
or
Ewe,
according to the advancement
Tongue Root
that
This type and other types of vowel harmony
in other Kwa languages
found
into mutually exclusive
example in Ijo all the vowels will be either
1988:124).
all
African languages have harmony
West
ones
will
one.
occur
in
occur
in another word.
one
word
and
This the
means
62
Table
Labial
4.4.
[+RD]
Horizontal Vowel Harmony in Akan
and
[+ATR]
[-ATR]
[murukotu] going to dig."
"I'm
[mirikedzi]
mi ri
"I'm
"I'm
[muruk^tuw] going to throw."
"I'm
[-RD]
going to eat."
The vowel sentences
is
vowels word
and
kegyi ] going to get."
harmony in Akan operates between in compound words where
followed by a word with
assimilates the
word with
a
[-ATR]
vowels.
immediate preceding vowel
corresponding [+ATR] vowel. The following Compound
There
is
vowels
no
and
+
male
+
[ahm] + chief
are
in
[+ATR] The
[+ATR]
into the some
examples:
words
[akuko] + [nini]
chicken
words
[di] to
be
-> ->
-> ->
[akukoninij rooster
[ahindi] chieftaincy
assimilation if the first word contains the
second
contains
[-ATR]
vowels;
here
[+ATR] is
an
example
[aehuhuro] + heat
+
[bire] time
-> ->
[¿ehuhubi
re
]
hot weather
Sentences
[=>d=> mfuo] -> [r>do mfuo] "he/she cultivates farms." [tu tuo] -> [to tuo] "shoot a gun." but
[di asem] The
That
vowel
is why
->
[a]
[di asem] is neutral
[oñami] "God"
"settle to
the
a
case."
vowel
has mixed vowels.
harmony in Akan.
63
The
The
horizontal vowel harmony
following examples from
singer
[+ATR]
conversation
a
representative of
are
most
WORDS
"what
b=>row di sko
"borrow" "disco"
d3kjument
"document"
evridey
"everyday"
GPE
WORDS
thing
ENGLISH
sofa
safar
"suffer"
moni
mam
bodi nobodi
badi nobadi
"money" "everybody" "nobody"
evri
noticed that the vowel harmony can go through a
phrase
or
clause.
The
following is
an
example from
a
song. bifo yu "Before
We
a
ENGLISH
evi ri
GPE
GPE.
speakers:
boro
[-ATR]
whole
GPE
had with
waSll]
eviridey
have
of
we
wetin
disko dokument
We
in Akan also works in
notice
from
go liv na yu go no you will live it is
from the
"bifo"
and
above
end
at
vowel the
[a]
harmony got broken with
sentence
is
sentence
its vowel
that
second the
examples of
the
part.
word
that
will know."
[-ATR] vowels begin
[+ATR] vowels begin from
vowel harmony systems,
to be neutral to vowel harmony.
seems
on
and
In many
Another observation
the
sentence
"na",
"yu" and end at "no".
you who
will
[-ATR]
is
"you".
[-ATR],
This depends fall
That is why
"na".
from the
pronoun
the
into.
above vocalic
on The
vowel harmony:
first part of the
In the
but it has
harmonic
a
[+ATR]
vowel
in
the harmonic set of vowel
following
are
more
64
luk yuo
han welwel ("Look at your hand well").
"Be careful with your hand."
don
mom
kos
am
"Money has caused it." Morphology
inflection system in GPE is limited,
General the
therefore
grammatical information is manifested through other
devices
like tone,
reduplication, word formation, and the
syntactic system. Tone
is used to
differences
bring about lexical
in GPE.
well
as
grammatical
as
This has been discussed under tone
as
a
phonemic entity in GPE. Reduplication
Reduplication is the repetition of all lexical
item.
lexical
item
GPE
is
reduplications
repeated.
are
in
complete.
Among other things,
indicates such concepts as plurality,
part of
or
a
The whole
reduplication
repetition,
increase
size, added intensity, and continuance. Reduplicated
indicates
Examples A
plurality.
rumorumo
heard
Haw Misa
wey
a
GPE
noun
It may also indicate frequency.
are:
hie
"I
Reduplication of
nouns.
some
sey
de go kam 19th.
rumour
that
Danquah tok sey,
wi bi English studen.
they will
come
mek wi stop di
on
s
the
19th."
piiinpiim.
65
"Mr. Danquah has told us that we should stop this frequent use of pidgin because we are English
students."
i min sey Asamoah de
A:
So
B:
Eeh.
A:
Aftanun-aftanun
A:
"So
B:
afternoons." "Yes."
A:
"Afternoon
it
means
fok
that
mek
no
Asamoah
love-makings
Reduplicated verbs.
repetition.
i
fok aftanun-aftanun. fok.
makes
are
no
love
in the
love-makings."
Reduplication of
a
GPE verb
It may also show action continuity.
shows
Examples
are:
A:
So
yu, yu get mom eks'mas?
at
03?
Yu get m^ni
fo de
B:
Oh,
A:
De
moni yu get, yu kam spen fo skuul hie. Wey yu de invayt-invavt ledis soso las wik.
A:
"So
de
eks'mas die
litil
for B:
"Oh,
A:
"The
do you have money the Christmas?"
at all?
Do you have money
for the Christmas ...." little money you have, you have in school. You were always as
women
spent it here
inviting all these
last week."
Wey 03 de akawntin pi pul, dey dey, eviribodi dey dey de moni top a, dey de rayt som tins, ravt-ravt som tins den dey de tietie som.
sabi
sey
dey de
"All the accounting people everybody knows that when they are in charge of money, they write some things and they write some things again, and then they cancel some of
them."
De
fes tarn wey twins fo grawn. "The
first time that my wife twins onto the ground."
away
Den
má wayf bon-bon lak dis,
a
si
03
televishin,
ma
fren
friji,
dem, en
som
gave
birth,
i jos tro awey
she just threw
dem bigin bav-bav sterio, de
man.
66
"Then
I
all
saw
televisions,
my
friends beginning to buy stereos, some were marrying."
fridges, and
don woku-woku-woku-woku
A
"I
have worked
A:
Bat
B:
De
all
over
fo
di
s
weld.
the world."
de
top dee nu a, i ren finish? top dee, a tink i bi naw i de ren-ren
smosmo.
A:
"But
B:
In
in the North,
the
North,
has it stopped raining?" I think that it is now that it is
raining moderately." Reduplicated adjectives.
intensity of "very", this
an
"much",
Standard
English shows the
adjective by adding degree words "many" to the adjective.
or
GPE
intensity by reduplicating the adjective.
such
as
indicates
Examples
are:
Tumorow
eli
tsitsi,
fál -fál
morn n
a
sen
wumáí
tu yoo moda.
"Tomorrow early
,
yu bak tu yu no sabi
"When
we
bi
smosmo
were
shows
action
the
yu bak
I'll send you back to
Reduplication of
intensification Examples
of
the
manner
the
adverb
in
in which the
are:
luk yo han wel-wel.
"Remi, be very careful about Mek
Fál -fál sen
very little children."
is performed.
Remi,
a
pikin dem.
Reduplicated adverbs. GPE
notm;
in the morning I'll send you back to lady, a very beautiful
your mother. A very beautiful woman, you don't know anything. your mother." When wi
yoz> moda.
your
hand."
everebode put in ay fo de tin wey in pikin de do bik^s if yu bon yo pikin yu no tich am wel-wel: las
67
minit yu go si am sumowk wiiwii, tek dr:=>gs; yu go si am anda bri j , wey i crez.
las minit
"Everybody should watch the things that his or her child does, because if you have your child and you don't teach him or her very well, last minute you will see him or her smoking marijuana,
last moment you will see him when he or she has become
Mi
a
crazy
person."
buk pr^pa-pr^pa
bikos
no
vileji
go
sabi
dey fo
rna
taking drugs; and a bridge,
her under
or
wey
a
no
káí
skuul
i
wey
bifo.
"I
know the academics very well because there is in my village that I have never attended before."
no
school
Functional
category of
words
some
reduplicated in
("lie")
shift reduplications.
GPE.
"wumal"
nouns
the
In
"fayt"
("woman").
following
But
("fight"),
the
no
the verb
song, an
"lay"
adjective to
"evereb^de
de
class
or
are
"máí" ("man"),
in the clauses
("everybody is lyinglying" and "a lying"),
function
change when these words
has been reduplicated and become
qualify the
of
The
laylay"
and de
("I
laylay" am
not
"lie" has been reduplicated to show the intensity
action.
It
W3s
wan
nayt,
insayd
sz>m
rum-k^na.
i bi
laylay
mal.
den
"so no
de
fayt. mal
evereb=>de de lavlav.
"It
was
corner. was
a
said
the "so
lying."
tuu
de
de paspas ssm k=>na. Pi pul de fayt Mi a ti nk i bi propa fayt; at las Brada, a hi e dc wumal sey "yu laylay sey
"yu lavlav
lavlav";
hahaa
wumal: den mi fo de stori :
night when I was passing by People were fighting in a room.
one
proper
Brother, then
a
fight.
At
last
it
was
a
a
fake
sey a
street I
thought it
fight. a liar",
I heard the woman saying "you are too said "you are a liar"; then I everybody is lying". For this story,
man
a
mi
also
I am not
68
realize
We
from the
above
examples that there is
a
morphosyntactic phenomenon that brings about the functional shift of the reduplicated words the
reduplicated verb
functions NP
it
as
functions it
reduplicated
a
as
in the
after
noun
a
verb
in his
(VP).
as
an
it
NP, as
In both
an
adverb
cases
the
aftanun-
noun
plurality that is
adverb, but
uses
it in his second
adjective.
A:
So
i
B:
Eeh.
A:
Aftanun-aftanun f=>k i
A:
"So it means that Asamoah makes afternoons?"
min
sey Asamoah de
B:
"Yes."
A:
"Afternoons
is
an
a
as
it
(NP),
after the
where speaker A uses
an
most
when
This is illustrated
as
In
phrase
occurs
before
occurs
signifies plurality.
first sentence
functioning
sentence
noun
cases
word.
phrase
following conversation
aftanun
which
noun
most
adjective, whereas it functions
an
occurs
In
adjective whereas when it
an
reduplicated
also
before the
occurs
just intensifies the action When
when
in GPE.
"soso"
no
love-making
instances, when occurs
before
degree adjective "many"
or
a
f=>k aftanun-aftanun? mek
are
f^k.
no
love
in the
love-making."
reduplicated form an
NP,
it functions
"plenty".
of as
"so" a
This phenomenon is
illustrated in the following examples
Leg^n de.
Onli
Education,
a
sey
taya.
a don' layk Cape Vas ageyn. G^d sef sabi sey a taya.
Soso
"Legón is available. It is only that I don't like Cape (University) again. A lot of Education, I am tired Vars.
of
it.
Even
God
knows
that
I
am
tired of it."
69 A:
Shuga no dey yo haws o sey . . (LAUGHING) Shuga no dey rna haws
B:
Soso
oo.
ristrikshins. A:
"Is
B:
"(LAUGHING)
there
no
in
sugar
Layf "Life
De
"The
m
bat
no
or
go
short,
but there
fo mi,
mek
a
are
tek am,
let
si, de hoo tebul don
me
na
soso
take
ful
ap
wit
In
occurs
anaphor with
discourse. A:
So
am? Yu
B:
A:
B:
soso
antecedent
after
in the
an
same
for there
soso
was
NP
gels.
filled up
it
functions
sentence
mek
studen.
moni?
or
are:
yu get moni wey yu entetein yuo frens, wey wey yu go tek chop eks'mas a i min sey yu
plenti A:
an
Examples
dey B:
when
promts.
it,
the whole table
cases
house;
troubles."
many
"Before I became aware, with many girls." some
my
trobuls.
soso
thing that is for me, promises."
a
.
in
sugar
too many
Bi fo
an
is very
tin wey
are
as
shot oo,
na
house
your
there is plenty of restrictions." No,
Yu
Na
mek
so.
studen. I
bi
Haw
soso
a
de
yu de tok.
som
tif
get
Yu
shuo? bi in? Enewey dey de treyn yu fo hie haw yu de stil de moni. I no bi so? De akawntin pi pul i no bi soso yu de du? I
no
"So if you have money that you entertain your friends with, and you have some left that you will spend the Christmas with, does it mean that you stole it?" "You
are
a
student.
You
are
a
get plenty of money like that? talking about."
student. How do you That is what I am
70
A:
"Are
B:
"Isn't it? Anyway they are steal money. Isn't it so?
sure?"
you
accounting people Má haws
swit mi.
no
are
bi
I
training Is
doing?" soso
dey hie.
a
"My house is not enjoyable for
That's why
me.
here." Word
Compounding There
of
these
are
compounds
few word compounds in GPE.
The compounds
following speech t^kabawt which
free forms.
are means
verb-preposition, but the compound is
S^m
same
pul dey,
pi
"There
are
gossips; In
which
the
mean
"a
and
De
-wumái
i dey .
is
married is money
and
"a
i
nsayd
a
a
noun.
t=>kabawt;
very are
jealous. all
soso
and
Many
these?"
man-wumái
married woman" are
up
of
noun.
mari , na man -mál en bi k=>s even tin wey
i bi dem sabi
of
"backbite"
"money affairs" is made
means
compound is
bi m^ni-mata. "What
soso
up
dis?
==
people who are backbites. What
which
the
tin wey
man
the
made up of verb-noun but the compounds
are
M^ni -mata
noun-noun
jel^s dem bi;
married man"
In
Bakbavt whose
noun.
following sentence, man-mál
respectfully nouns.
soso
some
many
a
but the compound is
wetin bi
Na
meanings
"gossip" is made
that of standard English
as
noun-verb,
bakbavt.
The
different from those of their
are
individual parts.
is made up of
I am
in GPE
very
meaning is the
you how to it not what you the
yu
go
do i
inside marriage, it is the married man and the who know; because every thing that you do
woman
affair."
71
the
In
en1-wumál
following speech, the adjectival compound máí-
which qualifies
"fayt"
("fight")
is made up of
noun-conj unction-noun. Jo, dis no bi yu^ palava. Dey k^l am laylay fayt.
"Joe,
fight.
I bi
máí-en1-wumál
this is not your business. It's They call it a fake fight."
a
fayt.
man-and-woman
Syntax
There GPE
and
is
those
not of
too much the
other West
(Schneider 1966 and Todd
Barbag-Stoll 1983
The
1984
African English pidgins
on
Cameroon;
Mafeni
1971
and
Nigerian).
Basic Sentence Structure The
basic sentence pattern of GPE
Predicate are
on
difference between the syntax of
(Object)
is
(Complement) where the
(Subject) bracketed elements
optional: Rid! "Read!" Rid de pepa. De
De
Tense-Modal-Aspect The
"Read the paper."
b=>y de rid de pepa. "The boy is reading the paper." b=>y de rid de pepa pías im spetakils. "The boy is reading the paper with his spectacles." (TMA^
following is how Givon
Modal-Aspect Tense
(TMA)
of
a
has
briefly explained
Tense-
language:
involves
primarily - though not exclusively - our experience / concept of time as points in a sequence,
and
thus
the
notions of precedence and subsequence.
Aspects of various kinds involve
our notion of the various configurations of beginning, ending and middle points. But in the semantic space of aspect, nearly always some element of tense is also involved, in terms of establishing a term
boundedness of
time-spans, i.e.
72
of point-of-reference
along sequential time.
Finally,
modality
encompasses among other things our notions of reality. in the sense of "having factual existence at some real time" ("true"), "having existence at no real time" ("false"), or "having potential existence in some vet-to-be time" ("possible").
Synchronically, diachronically and ontogenetically, TAM categories interconnected.
(Givon 1984:272)
Bickerton
has outlined
including
(1975)
a
classical TMA system as
preverbal AUX to mark anterior tense
one
(simple
past for states and past-before-past for actions), mark
irrealis mood
mark
nonpunctual aspect
further
("future" and conditional)
suggested that
should conform to The
TMA
this
of GPE
to
English.
Bickerton.
But
having
any AUX
this
verb without
a
or
is taken out of a
"I
go go
a
to
He has
description and order.
is expressed
Some
GPE
one
prototypical creole TAM system
a
as
syntactically.
it is done in
lexical
the TAM of GPE
express
and
to
one
(progressive and habitual).
expressed morphologically as standard
are
It is not
some
cases
in
items precede the main verb
has been
expressed by
departs from Bickerton's analysis by not
marker to express a
anteriority.
Because of
preverbal AUX has two meanings if it
discourse context;
for example:
skuul. to school." OR
"I went In
the
the
to
school."
following example the discourse
event
context
shows
that
happened in the past.
Charlie, Way yu
no
a
hie wz>n'
sey yu go
kam skuul?
horn wey yu go spen tu wiks.
73
"Charlie, I heard that you went home to spend two Why didn't you want to come to school."
weeks.
Adverbials
of
time
are
also
used
to
show
time
relations,
for
example A
go
"I A
"I
go
skuul eviridev. to school everyday."
Aspect
school
GPE
prominent. of
las wik.
go skuul went to
is
aspect-prominent rather than tense-
The
AUX
progressive aspect, de
"I
go
am
I
de
I
de
week."
GPE aspect conforms to the classical TAM model
Bickerton.
a
last
de
is used to denote nonpunctual
or
for example
skuul.
going to school."
chop de tarn a go im haws. "He/She was eating when I went to his/her house."
chop eni tam a go im house. "He/She is eating every time I go to his/her house."
The
AUX
de
at
times denotes
habituality, like in the
following example: A
no
go
lov bia.
A de
lov ginis rada.
lov.
I bi
ginis
a
de
will not like beer. I like guiness rather. It's guiness I like." "I went to school last week." "I
Perfective
aspect
The
perfective
(or completive)
aspect is expressed by preceding the main verb with the don which A
"I
always carries
don go skuul. have gone to
a
high tone.
school."
AUX
74
Mood
model.
GPE
The
mood
The
also
conforms
irrealis AUX go
This
auxiliary always carries
from
the A
verb go
will
go
The "be
able"
with AUX
"I
go
de
fit
can
A
go
I
will
The
which
If
it
means
occurs
"can"
or
together
("fit"):
VERB.
school.
/ I could go to school."
skuul. to school."
go
fit go skuul. be
able
modal
"fo"
to
to school."
go
This modal
replaced with
go skuul. should go to
Yu
ms
[m=>]
stands
for
obligation.
It
.
Focus
know."
marker
"na"
focussed by
immediately de
Any constituent in
being fronted
after the word
go
and
am
Na
skuul a de is school
na.
going to school." go. that
I
am
a
GPE
making it
skuul.
"I
"It
school."
now.
"You must
A
This modal
fo
"I
be
"fit"
skuul.
go
sometimes A
can
modal
go to
can
"I
is
to school."
MAIN
+
fit
A
high tone.
a
precedes the main verb.
FIT A
TAM
low tone to differentiate it
auxiliary, the auxiliary precedes "fit"
an
+
classical
gó skuul.
go
"I
the
is used to denote "future".
a
which carries
to
going to."
sentence
occur
75 Na
go
Na
"It
This
a
is
"It
de go skuul. going to school that
I
mi de go skuul." is I going to school." is
na
also used
in Akan
as
a
focus
immediately after the fronted
occurs
doing."
am
marker,
but it
constituent which
is
being focussed. AKAN
me-re-ka
nokware.
I-PRES-speak truth. "I am speaking the truth." nokware na me-re-ka. truth FOCUS I-PRES-speak. "It's the truth that I am If
we
A
de am
Na
tru
are
not
speaking the truth." a
the
de
tok.
truth
that
I'm
claiming that this
done
for
such
the
form this
a
some
Another way of
focus
which is used
na
We have just shown that the
influence that
form
speaking." in
English pidgins originated from the
phenomenon do exist in Akan. be
their GPE
tru.
other West African
language.
to
will have the following:
we
t=>k
"I
"It's We
the above Akan sentences
compare
counterparts
speaking."
claim. of
Further
What
the
has
Ghanaian
same
copula BI
[bi]. The
focus marker.
These
been shown
constituent that is being focussed.
will have to is
the
languages have
pronoun two
syntactic
research
of focus in GPE is the
use
I
of
on
GPE.
the present
[i] precedes
elements precede If
the
Akan
the
focussing
BI
to
76
constituent Here
are
I
bi tru
bi mi
bi
case
is chosen.
I
am
speaking."
tru.
go
horn.
they going home." de go horn. he/she going home."
im
"It's I
the objective
speaking the truth."
dem de
bi
tok. that
truth
tok
I
"It's I
pronoun,
de
a
the
"It's I
a
examples:
some
"It's
I
is
bi wi de t=>k tru.
"It's
speaking the truth."
we
Negation
Negation is false. the
proposition that is
item
like
the
"no."
fit. NO NEG
The TAM
+
+
MAIN
MAIN
VERB
means
as
being
"no"
and it will precede
will be:
VERB.
go skuul. don't go to
school."
OR
"I
school." de
+
A
NEG
+
MAIN
de
no
"I
am
"I
was
+
"I
go
no
skuul.
not
go
going to school." not going to school."
go
didn't go to
VERB
+ MAIN VERB
go A
an
no
"I
NEG
precedes
irrealis
It will precede an aspect marker
aspect de,
sequence +
A
This
future go.
like the nonpunctual like
asserted
Negation is expressed in GPE by preceding TAM with
lexical
marker
a
skuul.
will not go to school."
OR
a
modal
77 NEG
+
fit + MAIN VERB no fit go skuul. "I can't go to school."
A
NEG
+
no
go
will
"I The
fit + MAIN VERB fit go skuul.
+
go A
not
be
able
the
like
go
Instead
"yet"
a
negative
("yet")
is added
construction to show the negative perfective aspect
in the
following example.
dz>n
A
go skuul. have gone to
"I *
a
A
no
"I
d=>n
no
go have
school." skuul.
go
skuul yet. gone to school yet."
not
Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) English the
to school."
perfective aspect d^n does not have
counterpart that takes "no". to
to
(CPE)
use
"neva"
("never")
and Cameroon Pidgin as
the negative
form of
perfective aspect. NPE/CPE A
"I GPE
It
does
not
neva
have use
is used by GPE
go
skuul.
not
gone to
"neva"
school."
the way
it is used by NPE and CPE.
in the way standard English
uses
it.
GPE A
"I The
go skuul. don't go to school."
neva
negative form of the copula is expressed by
preceding bi with "no" dummy i: I
no
"It
I + NO +
which
in turn
is preceded by the
BI.
bi mi bit
am.
wasn't/isn't I who
beat
him/her."
78
Imperative Imperative is from One
hearer.
a
is
by the
In
attempt by a speaker to elicit action
an
this
GPE
is done
in two different ways:
of the verb phrase alone without any
use
subject; examples: Go! Go
tel
am! Go brin dem! The
other way
"Go
(away)!
"Go
and
"Go
and
is by starting each command,
exhortation with the word the
mention of
"mek".
the
In most
this method;
seems
("make").
or
This
requires
one
imperative with the copula verb
cases
uses
examples:
bi gud ticha!
Negative "mek"
"mek"
request,
subject which follows the imperative word
Mek yu go! Mek yu go tel am! Mek yu go brin dem! Mek yu tel am! Mek yu brin dem!
Mek yu
tell him/her." bring them."
(away)! /
"Go
and
"Go
and
"Tell
be
the
one
"No go!",
tell
(get away)!" him/her!"
bring them!" him/her!"
"Bring them!" "Be
imperatives
to
imperative.
"Go
a
good teacher!"
The
imperative form starting with
most
commonly used in the negative
"No tel am!",
etc.
do not sound quite
appropriate. Mek yu
no
go!
Mek yu Mek yu Mek yu Mek yu Mek yu
no
go
no
go farm tel am!
no no
no
tel am! dem!
brin dem! bi bad ticha!
"Don't go
(away)! /
"Don't "Don't "Don't "Don11 "Don't
and tell him/her!" and bring them!"
go go
(get away)!"
tell
him/her!" bring them!" be
a
bad
teacher!"
Interrogative
Interrogative is from
a
hearer.
There
a
request by a speaker of information
are
two ways
of expressing
79
interrogative in GPE. a
statement,
One
is by changing the
and the other is by using interrogative words.
STATEMENT A
A
fit
no
"I
gó skuul
can
"I
de
A
to school."
go
fit
gó skuul
gó skúúl go/went to school?" fit
gó skúúl
"Can
I
A
de
no
to school?"
go
fit
gó skúúl
can't
go to
school."
The word
"wey"
is often used for the question words
"where", are
A
go/went to school."
"I A
QUESTION
gó skuul
"I
intonation of
"when", in
used
and
"how".
I
go
The words
to school?"
themselves
certain contexts.
(tin)
Wey
"what",
"Can't
go du? you do?"
yu
"What will
Wey i dey? "Where
is he/she?"
Wey i bi? "Where
is he/she?"
Wey i go kam? "When will
he/she come?"
Wey tam i go kam? "When will
he/she come?"
Wey kál pesm kam hie? "Who comes/came here?" The In
this
focus case
depending
na
hu bi "And who
is?")
is sometimes used with the question words.
means
upon the
interlocutors; Na
na
"and",
and it
is used for emphasis
preceding statement by
any
of the
e.g. im?
is he/she?"
("Who does he/she think he/she
80
The
above
question. about
question is
This shows
the
an
third person.
an
example of attitudinal
attitude
that
the
The questioner may have an
unhealthy attitude about
third person perhaps
the
being talked about
has been very boastful,
blowing his
own
or
her
horn.
The
showing both the cohesive
song
and
focus
If
a
hus
na
mi
"If
I don't do well for my own is whose fault; is I who has caused it."
it It
beta folt k^s am
fo
Exclamations
and
rna
own
uses
are
in GPE
at the end of
or
vowels
like oq or
emphasize the emotional Plenti
palava kam
"There's
of
a
lots
na.
a
are
or
commonly conveyed
expressions either
proposition, and
of
aa
are
concern
of
added
the
are
Prolonged sounds
to
expressions to
speaker.
oq.
trouble!
I
fan
"It
/ We've got real trouble!"
hard / difficult / trying!"
pr^pa.
/ He / She is very nice / handsome / beautiful!"
I
vcks qrqqa. "He / She is
very
angry!"
I
gud tuu m^ch. / She is a very good person! good!" "He
at
always
I
had oo. "It is very
GPE
life,
expressed with the appropriate intonation. which
has been
Emphasis
by the addition of particular words
beginning
one
layf,
Exclamations and emphasis
the
or
the
following is part of
na
no
questioner has
/ He / She is
so
81
sev!
A
I
fal
"My word! lady!" A
ch^p
"I I
ate
it
/ She's really a fine
immediately / at once!"
rained
Personal
m^ch.
taro.
am wan
plenti
ren
"It
tuu
It's really nice!
plenti.
a
lot
/ great deal!"
pronouns
Table
4.4
shows
the
personal pronouns
in Ghanaian
Pidgin English: Table
4.4.
Personal
Pronouns
of
G.P.E.
SUBJECTIVE
OBJECTIVE
1st
Person
Singular
a
mi
2nd
Person
Singular
yu
yu
3rd
Person
Singular
hi,
1st
Person
Plural
wi
wi
2nd
Person
Plural
yu
yu
3rd
Person
Plural
dey,
i
am,
dem
im
dem
Possessives The before
"ma",
transitive possessive pronouns which
the
"yu",
possessed element
"im/in",
"yu",
like
"wa",
in
and
standard
occur
English
respectively;
I
and
e.
bi má haws. bi in haws. I bi yz> haws. I bi wa haws. I bi dem/dea haws. I
are:
"dem/dea" for "my",
"your"(singular), "his/her", "your"(plural), "our", "their"
just
"It's my house." "It's his/her house." "It's your (sg./pl.) house." "It's our house." "It's their house."
82
intransitive possessive pronouns
The
"his/hers",
"yours",
"ours",
and "theirs"
"mine", in GPE
are
expressed by adding the word "own" to the transitive
possessive
pronouns;
bi má bi in
I I
"It's mine." "It's his/hers."
own own
is
There
morphological possessive marker in
no
it
is
or
"Joe's house".
in English _|_s,
occurs
on
e.g.
the
between left
papa Joe
Rita
possessor
the
latter
I
and the possessed, the
right;
"the children's
get di
former
e.g.
father"
/ It belongs to me."
house." "Whose house is this?
haws.
s
the
e.g.
bi mi get am. "It's mine. bi wi get de haws. "It's
Hu
The
transitive possessive pronoun
expression with the word "get" is used to
possessive;
express I
whole
"Rita's child",
"Rita's child"
in
a
on
as
"father's house" "Joe's book"
buk
pikin pikin dem papa Sometimes
the
GPE
haws
m m
In
the
and
like "father's house",
GPE
our
Articles There
Both
articles
English. used usual
two
are
are
used
in the way
The only difference
instead of
"a",
meaning in
instead of Dc
main articles
"a."
pies
no
some GPE
gud.
even
they
"de"
are
and
used
is that many times
"a".
in standard "s^m"
is
though "s^m" is used with its
contexts. does
in GPE:
not
use
"Wan"
is
sometimes used
"an."
"The place
isn't good."
83
brin S3m pikin plas am. "He/She brought a child with him/her."
I
Dey sey dem bri A
n
"They
s^m.
get wan d^g.
say
"I have
a
they brought some." dog."
Prepositions and Postpositions The "f=>".
in
only word which is used is
It
of
some
items
"top," has
a
preposition in GPE is
always accompanied with
a
syntactic phenomenon
the
occur
locative
as
Ghanaian languages,
after
lexical
the
noun
they gualify.
items postpositions.
"inside," "outside," and
both
whereby
an
Akan
Some
"under."
no
to
sentence
and
lexical
We call these
prepositions and postpositions.
comparison between
some
a
examples This
are
GPE
means
The
following is
GPE
sentence.
AKAN Fa
nwoma
take book the "Put the book
pono
no
so.
put table the on/top on
the
table!"
GPE Put
de
buk £3 de
"Put the book The
following
are
some
on
tebul t3p. the
more
postposition phenomenon from
table!"
examples of the prepositionsome
of
the
recordings
we
have
made.
Wey dc
pi pul kam biliv am £3 de haws 1nsayd. "That the people came to believe him/her inside
house." I
the
go W3ka £3 dee soso; i de slip £3 bri "He went and roamed about; he was
bridges." Wey 3D de akawntin pi pul dey dey, dey dey m3ni t3p.
j anda dem. sleeping under
everib3di
sabi
sey
a
84
"That all are
the
accountants, everybody knows that they top of the money (they control the money)."
on
Complementizer "sev" Verbs
sensing
of
saying,
thinking, knowing, remembering, and
followed by the complementizer
are
"sey"
("that").
This
complementizer might
come
from the Akan language which
uses
"sc"
same
syntactic position
1988:186;
("that") Turner
in the
1949:201;
(Holm
Cassidy 1961:63).
AKAN
Joe
ka-a
sc
3-be-ba.
Joe
say-PAST that he-will-come "Joe said that he will come."
GPE Joe
tz>k
"Joe
sey i go kam. said that he will
come."
AKAN
Me-nim sc. Joe be-ba. I-know that Joe will-come "I
know that Joe
will
come.
GPE
sabi
A
"I
sev Joe go kam. know that Joe will come."
AKAN
Me-te-e
sc. o-be-ba. I-hear-PAST that he/she-will-come
"I
heard
that
he/she will come."
GPE A
hie
sev i go kam heard that he/she will
"I
Comparative There of
/ are
come."
Superlative Expression no
morphological markers
for the
comparative and superlative notions in
"pas"
("than")
GPE.
is used to express the notion
of
expression The
word
comparative.
85
It
immediately after the adjective
comes
being used to Joe
big
"Joe
sabi
I
the expression
the two entities.
compare pas
is
or
John.
bigger than John." buk pas
im fren. "He/She is smarter than his/her friend."
If
the
superlative notion is being expressed,
quantitative adverbs like "everib=>di"
"eventin"
("everybody"), and "33"
then
("everything"), ("all")
are
used
together with "pas". Joe
big
"Joe
sabi
I
pas
is
everibodi.
bigger than everybody. / Joe is the biggest." buk pas
33
im
fren.
"He/She is the smartest among his/her friends." The
notions This
expression of the comparative and superlative in GPE
follows
is how the
above
the
syntax of
sentences
are
some
Kwa
languages.
expressed in Akan:
AKAN Joe
so
kyen John.
Joe
big than John "Joe is bigger than
John."
O-nim
nwoma kyen n'-adamfo. He/She-knows books than his/her-friend
"He/She is smarter
Joe
so
than
his/her friend."
kyen obiara.
Joe
big than everybody "Joe is bigger than evrybody."
O-nim
nwoma
kyen
ne
n-namfo
nyinaa.
He/She-knows book than his/her PL-friend all "He/She is the smartest among his/her friends." Some can
more
be
GPE
found
common
complex constructions
in Appendix C.
and
expressions
86
Semantics
Semantics and
is
sentences.
from
English,
additional
the
of
Some
G.P.E.
study of the meaning of words,
Although the basic vocabulary of GPE
GPE also has
caiques which have been made from
from
There
Portuguese,
languages.
meanings. this
are
some
Yoruba,
words
Hausa,
loan translations of
some
the
or
or
Ghanaian
which have been borrowed
and
some
of the Ghanaian
The above semantic phenomena will be discussed in Since many of the word and sentence
described
caique,
comes
These words have retained their original
section.
to be
phrases
of these words have acquired different
some
meanings.
languages.
Words
are
affected
in
one
it will be appropriate for
way us
to
or
meanings
the other by
know how Bynon has
defined caique. In
loan
translation
or
caique
"copy"),
(literally "tracing”,
the form and meaning of a foreign word, instead of being carried over into the recipient language as a unit is merely employed as a model for a native creation. For this to be possible it must be both morphologically complex and semantically transparent, and the process consists in substituting for each of its morphs the semantically closest morph in the recipient language and combining these according
to
the
its own native rules of word-formation. choice of constituent
Thus
while
morphs and the overall
meaning of the new construct will be modelled on the foreign source, the constituent elements themselves and the rules governing their combination will be native. (Bynon,
Plas
1983:232)
The
word
"plas" which
"add/addition" has maintained acquired the
new
means
these
"and"
or
meanings in
GPE and has
meaning "with", which is unique to
GPE.
87
The
this
following examples from the recordings
we
made will make
meaning clear. plas
("with")
Yu
shua
de
go
sey a de go y=> haws pías yu? Mi, dos hu awt plas mi a no de go dem haws plas dem.
"Are you sure that I For me, those who go house with them." A
f^ go
"I A
slip plas
should
dey de
"I
go sem
ma
going to your house with you? out with me, I don't go to their am
b^yfren.
and sleep with my boyfriend." h^l plas yu.
am/was in the
same
hall with you."
MALE
(SPEAKING STANDARD): How did you pick up pidgin English? FEMALE (SPEAKING GPE): Aaa, a no sabi oo. Wey a dey skuul a rid sayans so de b^ys wey a de stadi plas dem nu dem oo spik pi jin so a pi k am welwel.
MALE:
"How did
FEMALE:
you
pick
up
pidgin English?"
"Well,
I don't know. When I was in school I read science and all the boys whom I was studying with spoke pidgin so I picked it up easily."
Yu
de
W3>ka
k^neshins "You are
are some
plas s^mb^di ; a dey? A go sabi!
no
go
fi t sabi
walking with somebody; Can't connections?
I
will
Region Students Union Region Students Union. to
the Volta
Region Students Union Region Students Union." Wey yu get ted yi ese plas yz> k^s.
a
a,
know that there
plas Western
and
the Western
onli yu de k^nsentreyt
"If you get to
third year,
long essay and
your
course
s^m
know!"
plas ("and") Mek yu go Volta
"Go
I
sey
fz> yz> lz>n
you only concentrate work."
on
your
88 We
other
observe
creoles
"with"
both
both words Sef
from the
and
and
pidgins,
"and".
in the The
way
"sef"
examples that GPE, the
uses
Akan
same
word
meaning in GPE.
above
same
the word
uses
that "olas"
("self")
an
of
word,
a
somebody is
phrase,
The
"sef"
said
for
or
or
something.
sentence.
GPE.
is
identity
or
It follows the
This
The constituent
can
syntactic structure is
in which the words
moo
koraa
or
are
following example which shows this meaning of
at
the
word
she
was
fed up
level
is part of a discourse by a
with Education
as
a
lady who
course.
AKAN
Onyame mpo nim God
se
m-a-bre
knows
that I-PERF-tire "Even God knows that I am tired." even
GPE
God sef sabi sey a taya. God even knows that I tire "Even God knows that I am tired."
Legón de.
Education,
Onli sey a don' layk Cape Vas ageyn. a taya. God sef sabi sey a taya.
"Legón (University of Ghana) is there only that I don't like Cape Vars
It's
University).
I
tired of all am tired."
am
God
knows
The
following is part of
author
and
a
This meaning is "even"
being emphasized.
akin to that of Akan used.
([ni])
It has acquired another meaning which
constituent that be
"ne"
is used above in
intensive element to emphasize the
character
"plas" for
has retained its reflexive
caique from the Ghanaian languages. as
word
like many
a
that
I
steward who does
a
this
Soso
(available). (Cape Coast education. Even
conversation between the
not
speak Akan.
His usage of
89
"sef" GPE
here
who
that
steward, to
answer
it
is
not
in this way.
"sef"
use
another
his
shows
I was enquiring about
and this is his
its
only the Akan speakers of
answer.
will
We
compare
counterpart in Akan.
GPE
Yestadey se f i kam. Yesterday even he come "Even yesteday he came." AKAN enora mpo o-ba-e Yesterday even he-come-PAST "Even yesteday he came."
JOE
(STANDARD ENGLISH):
days. ALHASSAN (GPE):
I don't
I dey.
see
Akosombo these
Yestadey sef i kam.
JOE:
"I don't see Akosombo these days." ALHASSAN: "He's around. Even yesterday The
following is
phrase level.
an
he came."
example of the usage of "sef" at the
This will
also
be
compared to its Akan
counterpart. GPE
Leta
sef
dey show am agen. they show it again "Even later on they showed it again." sn
Later
on
even
AKAN
Akyire yi
The
wo-yi-i bio. they-show-PAST again on they showed it again."
mpo
Later
on
"Even
later
even
following example of the
level
comes
from
a
playing.
are
of
"sef"
conversation by two
expressing their views players
use
on
how Ghanaian
at
the
sentence
participants who football
were
(soccer)
neglected after they have retired from active
90 GPE
Dey no go mal yu se f. They NEG will mind you even "They will not even think about you." AKAN
W^-m-mua
wo
moo.
They-NEG-mind you even "They will not even think A:
Fo
di
A:
"In Ghana
B:
retire, nobody regards you." "They will not even think about
Sometimes
some
using both "sef" "self"
is
"Tamale
Tamale
sef
("tear") "Even
In
used
and
koraa.
GPE,
"m^nch"
use
in the
sentence.
same
In
"Hearts"
Real
the
At
times
following example
("Hearts of Oak")
United koraa,
Real United
the word "ch^p" standard
sense.
are
"spend",
fz>k,
a
dey de tie
English.
Instead
"sguander", man
are
makes
of
does not have the "Cut"
or
languages which "food",
love
Some
to
a
and
the
are
and the
derogatory
woman.
Some
Some
even
speakers also
"ch^p",
"fell"
"chcp" is used with
for the last meaning.
clipped form
beating Hearts."
("chop")
from the Ghanaian
which sounds milder.
is the
any more."
oo.
even
in that
of saying that
speakers
you
teams.
Tamale,
"eat/feed",
which
"koraa"
Hearts
meanings it has
way
and
meaning it has in be
if you play football and you
speakers make the emphasis stronger by
United"
soccer
Ch^p
here,
replaced with "koraa".
Real
Ghanaian
will
you."
s Ghana hie, layk yu pley yo bo^l wey yu finish, nobodi de ri gad yu. Dey no go mal yu se f ene mo^.
B:
same
about
some
use
use
use
"cho"
"chos"
for
91
food. Akan
In
Akan,
the word for "chop"
is "di".
The following
phrases show how "di11 is used. AKAN
di di di di di di
aduane sika
"eat
food"
"spend/squander money" "spend Christmas" "spend holiday/vacation"
buronya afoofi
"settle a case" "make love to a
asem
obaa
The
following examples show the
GPE
is akin to that of A:
"di"
woman
way the usage
So
yu get mom wey yu entetein dey wey yu go tek chop eks'mas Yu
mek
plenti A: B:
studen.
moni?
Yu
Na
of "chop"
in
in Akan.
frens, wey som i min sey yu tif
yuo a
am? B:
(derogatory)
mek I
so.
studen. bi soso
Haw a
de
yu de
get
tok.
Yu
shuo? bi i n? Enewey dey de treyn yu fo hie de stil de mom. I no bi so? De akawnti n no bi soso yu de du? I
no
haw yu pi
pul i
A:
if you have money that you entertain your friends with, and you have some left that you will spend the Christmas with, does it mean that you stole it?"
B:
"You
A:
get plenty of money like that? talking about." "Are you sure?"
B:
"Isn't
it?
money.
Isn't it so?
"So
are
a
student.
You
Anyway they
accounting people
Is
are
are
are
a
student. How do you That is what I am
training how to
doing?"
A:
Wey yu
B:
Eeh,
A:
"And if you are not loaded (with have anything you'll eat." "Yes you don't have any money to
B:
De
mek
chos a
no
lod tuu,
yu
yu no get mom
nu, wey kal de oyibo
mek
no
yu de
yu won?
tayp?
steal
it not what you the
get enetin yu go chop. chop on.
Yu
won
money),
you
don't
feed on."
de
indijinos
wan
Z>
92
"The
food,
kind do you want? Do you want the type or I should prepare the whiteman
what
indigeneous type?"
Wi go chop naw;
bele-ful.
"We'll
stomach-full
eat
now;
God
exists." I
sit dawn,
go
"He will beat
dey.
(satisfaction).
chop kenke mek sombodi
kam bit
sit down, eat kenkey, and let him (talking about a boxer)."
and
tru sey dis weld i dey bita tu stey. sofa put fud tugeda, bat dey no agiriy Yu si am; Monki de wok, babun de chop. Na
God
am.
somebody
come
When yu don mek yu chop am.
"It is true that this world is a bitter place to When you have suffered to put food together, but don't agree to allow you to eat it. You see!
works, A
"I
but baboon eniovs."
sabi
no
monch.
don't
The
live. they Monkey
know how to make
above
and
the usage
how
a
love."
comparisons between of chop in GPE
are
the
usage
further
substrate
language has influenced
Peyn
usage
The
limited to distress
of "peyn"
and
suffer.
("pain") It
also
of di in Akan
illustrations
of
pidgin.
a
in GPE is means
not
disturb
and
kam
am.
jealousy. A:
I
B:
I
A:
go bi
im
de
pevn
chop kenke mek sombodi
bit
mi.
"He will
sit down, eat kenkey, and let somebody him (talking about a boxer)" "That's what disturbs me."
come
B;
sit dawn,
Swiyt
meanings in
and
beat
The word "swiyt" GPE.
It
"enjoyable", "good",
means
("sweet")
"sweet",
has
some
"pleasant",
"swollen headed",
etc.
additional
"nice",
This phenomenon
93
is also similar to that of the Ghanaian word
has
above
all
the
meanings.
recorded A:
above
shown
are
in the
"sweet''
from
following examples:
mi, rna haws no swivt me. I bi soso layk a go l^n taym. (JOKINGLY) Shuga no dey msayd y=> haws, ^ sey (LAUGHING) Shuga no dey má haws. (LAUGHING) A si.
B: A: B:
one
In Akan,"de_" has all the
Four of the meanings of
conversations
Onli hie;
meanings.
languages where
sey,
a
.
dey .?
A:
Soso
B:
Demdem.
A:
A:
"It's only that my house isn't enjoyable. That's why I am here. I would have gone long time." (JOKINGLY) "Is there no sugar in your house?" (LAUGHING) "There is no sugar in my house." (LAUGHING) "I see." "Many restrictions and a whole lot of "
B:
"Things."
B:
A: B:
ristrishins
en
hoo
e
Yu
B:
Hmm.
A:
Wey i go kam wey dem de
B:
Dem de
A:
Yu
si
B:
in
hed
A:
"Do you "Yes."
A:
3f
.
.
.
A:
B:
l^t
rimimba
D.K.
mek
am
.
.
Poison?
.in
sin
hed go
.
.
swivt
am.
oo.
go
swivt
I bi
am.
Poison?"
remember D.K.
"When he
returned
huma! bin.
(from winning
championship) people
were
B:
"They made him become swollen
A:
"You
B:
"Yes
see!" he would become
a
singing
swollen
boxing .
.
"
headed." headed.
He's
a
human
being." Lecturer Amoako
i
no
yus;
swivt. "Lecturer Amoako isn't is nice/appropriate." S=>m
wey
i bi ticha Amoako wey i
good.
It's teacher Amoako that
polisman tuu i dey de wey i kam; i kam a t=>k, den i sey oo ma mata i swivt.
"There
was
case.
When
policeman who
a
I
told him he
as
de
mata
came and asked me about the said my case was good."
94
Kwench or
The
meaning of "kwench"
("quench")
is "put out"
"extinguish", but in GPE this meaning is extended to
include A
"stop" and "suffer". sabi de tin wey i kwench dis program. risin way dey kwench am.
no
de
A no sabi
"I
don't know the thing that stopped this program. don't know the reason why they stopped it." Mek yu no won oo Wan dey, wan dey wi de
en
rich
oo
I
enjoy,
go
pul dey go kwench.
pi
"Don't worry One
day, we'll all enjoy, the rich people will suffer."
And
If
yu no yus
"If
you
yo
don't
hed,
use
yu
your
go
kwe nch.
brains, you'll suffer."
Jelosi Wavo
"The The
"be
jealous
one
will be ashamed,
trickster too will
Kach are
go sheym, tuu go kwench.
Other
at",
Tumorow
meanings that "kach"
"reach", a
"Tomorrow
fo I
("catch")
has in GPE
and "enough".
kach Accra.
should be
A:
Tuu
kach?
B:
Tuu
no
A:
it two?" "It is not two; be two."
B:
suffer."
kach;
in Accra."
rimeynin
sis
minis
wey tuu go
kach.
"Is
it
is
six minutes
more
when
it'll
De
skolaship seketeriet, dey go pey de balans. De pul rayt bak sey i no rich. i no kach. bi kos wey rip^t fz> August 1st. nu, den dem go tek dem aw3d. pi
"The The
scholarship secretariat Iowa
went
and
people wrote back that it is
Iowa a
no
paid the balance. not
enough,
and
95
if
I
award
don't report back."
Grow
person
he
"Is
GPE
a
she
or
wumál
De
I
When
i
"He/She is Yus
you
grow?
a
Another
its traditional
I
are
grow
old?
Is
mek
ova
I
smo.
they will take their
speaker tells you that you
means
the woman
grow
by August 1st.
little old.
grown
Doggie?
pas
older
teti
a
old person.
an
she
are
than
Doggie?"
.
He/She is
meaning of "yus"
over
("use")
meanings is "good"
or
thirty."
in GPE apart from
"nice".
Fes
taym wey wi de pey nayn fifti-eit nu a, a ti nk sey i yus; bik^s naw wi de pey omos fayf handred sidis, wey, dat's f=> lzsjin alown; wey a ti nk sey i no yus. Dey de chit wi.
"First time when we were paying nine fifty-eight, I think that it was good, because now we are paying almost five hundred cedis which is for lodging; lodging alone, which I think that it is not good. They are
cheating us." Rap
In
convince him
her;
or
an
in
"rap"
her".
or
In
the
A
man
raps
a
woman
following example,
returning to school,
discussing the plight A;
"to talk to somebody to
means
by trying to
woo
offender raps his or her boss to avoid
punishment. late
GPE,
some
students
and two other students
were
are
of these latecomers.
Mi,
a tink sey if yu go kam a, i tuu i bi fada so pr3blem wey i mek yu che nu a, yu rap am wey i mek genun a, a fil sey i go fit k^nsida yu. Haw kam dat yu figa sey so dis pi pul go fit go stan in skin wey dey de go rap am wan wan wan.
de
B;
A:
....
"For me, he's
a
I think that if you go and come; he too father; so the problem that made you late,
if you tell him and able to consider
it
you."
is
genuine,
I
fell he'll be
96
"How do you
B:
think all these people will go and by him to talk to him one after the other?"
stand
Words
from Other
Languages
English supplies the bulk of the vocabulary of GPE. few
loan words
the
European languages,
Portuguese is
a
the
loan words
Some
Portuguese words
sab;
have
in GPE.
(know), pikin
and
been
contains words
(master,
jga
a
Yoruba
few
are
(bonus),
from Akan
(and,
Some
of
There
are
Some
of
are
are
present),
a
more
it's), etc;
languages,
words
words
from man
or
or
a
from Hausa
speak Hausa,
yanga
Yoruba
whereas only
borrowed nvanga
than
from
Hausa
(vanity),
jara
(trouble).
in GPE
die
African
(a white
the words
(tricks, trickster),
words
Among
major contributor to
the
and ovibo
because many Ghanaians
and wahala
Some
languages.
(gift, give
from other West
superior),
speak Yoruba.
wayo
these
dash
Yoruba.
light-skinned person). from
other
(quarrel).
especially Hausa and are
of
(a child),
palava/palaba GPE
borrowed
A
come
from Ghanaian
(as for ...), and
from Ga
oaa
is
native
(very),
cho
languages;
koraa
(even),
(very).
Orthography We
have
used
in this work. make
it easier
phonemic orthography
There
for
writing system, and
two
main
reason
those who
want
to write
are
2.
to make
people
users
know the
for
aware
different language from standard English. the
much
as
as
possible
this:
GPE
to
1.
have
that GPE
to a
is
a
This will help
situational usages of both languages.
na
97
Summary
have
We
Ghanaian
discussed the
linguistics structure
Pidgin English in this chapter.
vocabulary of GPE is mostly English, is
of the
Though the
its phonological system
highly influenced by that of the Ghanaian languages,
especially Akan. vowels
are
in
The qualities of the consonants and the
line with those
instead of standard English. characteristics of Kwa
of
Ghanaian
the
languages
Phonemic tones which
languages
are
found in GPE.
are
Vowel
harmony is also part of the phonological system of
Morphologically, the general inflection system in very
limited.
The major morphological process
reduplication which is
used
to
denote
intensity, and functional
shift.
another GPE
process.
not
morphological
follow Bickerton's
does
not
have
tense-prominent. moods.
Its
Ghanaian
Some
also
Yoruba,
frequency,
Compounding of words is
Syntactically, GPE does because GPE
aspect-prominent instead contains
Semantically,
acquired additional
caiques that have been GPE
is
of
irrealis and conditional
syntax is influenced by those of the native
languages.
in GPE have are
GPE
is
GPE
in GPE is
plurality,
classical TMA system,
it
TENSE;
GPE.
words
Hausa,
that
and
have some
or
made
differnt meanings.
from
the
been borrowed of
the
GPE
from
Ghanaian
from
Ghanaian
maintained their oirginal meanings.
orthography to differentiate
of the English words
some
There
languages.
Portuguese,
languages have
We have used phonemic standard English.
98
Notes 1.
There
ongoing controversy on the status of M in English-based pidgins and creoles. It is c that fo is behaving as a modal in all cases.
(•'for") clear
is
an
CHAPTER
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
5
GHANAIAN
OF
PIDGIN
ENGLISH
Introduction
discussed the
I
linguistic details of Ghanaian Pidgin
English in the previous chapter. substantiate the This I
pidgin is spoken in Ghana.
chapter is a further contribution to the demonstration.
will
the
use
research
English
data
from
the
informants who
of
answers
(3)
assertion that
This has helped
to
discuss
(GPE);
(2)
(1)
guestionnaire interviewed
were
as
well as the
during the
the speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin
the places where the language is spoken;
the spoken and written uses of the language;
people's attitude toward it. above
issues,
we
But before
we
and
(4)
discuss the
should familiarize ourselves with the
meaning of the concept "sociolinguistics" since this is the branch
of
linguistics that deals with what is to be
discussed.
Sociolinguistics is that part of linguistics which is concerned with
it
language
as
a
social and cultural phenomenon;
investigates the field of language and society (Trudgill
1984:32).
Fasold has given a more detailed definition of
sociolinguistics: It is obvious that language is supposed to be used for transmitting information and thoughts from one person 99
100
to another. At the same time, however, the speaker is using language to make statements about who she is, what her group loyalties are, how she perceives her relationship to her hearer, and what sort of speech event she considers herself to be engaged in. The two tasks (communicating information and defining the social situation) can be carried out simultaneously precisely because language varies - speakers can choose among alternative linguistic means, any of which would satisfactorily communicate the propositional
information. alternatives
It
that
is the selection among these defines the social situation.
The
study of the interplay between these two facts about language is exactly sociolinguistics. (Fasold 1984:3) Fishman defines characteristics of
their
of
as
language varieties,
functions,
speakers
sociolinguistics
"the study of the
the characteristics
and the characteristics of their
these three constantly interact,
as
change one another within
a
change,
speech community"
and
(Fishman
1970:4). Speakers In
this
and
Places
section
I
of
will
Ghanaian
discuss
Pidgin English
the
current
speakers of
Ghanaian
Pidgin English and places where it is spoken.
Table
illustrates the number of respondents who have or
have our
5.1 not
spoken the language.
survey was is
a
304.
further
question. GPE
answers
given by
respondents to the question "Have you spoken pidgin
English before?".
5.1
It shows the
before.
The total number of respondents to the
All of them answered this question. illustration of the
Most of them
(81.6%)
answers
to
the
Figure same
said that they had spoken
Only 18.4% said they had not spken GPE before.
101
Table You
Have
5.1
Spoken Ghanaian Pidgin English?
Yes
No
No
248
56
0
304
(81.6%)
(18.4%)
(0%)
(100%)
The
high percentage of respondents saying they have
spoken Ghanaian Pidgin English might be due to procedure. informants
To compensate asked
were
''Yes"
to
that
selection
our
for any possible skewing,
the
if they had heard other Ghanaians
speaking Pidgin English. answered
Total
Response
Of the 304 respondents,
question.
Table 5.2
and
301
figure 5.2
illustrate this. Have
Heard
Table 5.2 Ghanaians Speak
Pidgin English
Yes
No
No
301
0
3
304
(99.0%)
(0%)
(1.0%)
(100%)
Response
Total
102
The who
next
issue to be considered
speak Ghanaian Pidgin English.
informants
were
is the type of people
In the survey,
requested to mark who they think speak
Pidgin English in Ghana, and where.
Names of the people and
places
were
their
were own
people, The
provided, and informants
observations.
Table
5.3
shows
requested to add the
types of
and table 5.4 shows the places where it is spoken.
numbers
on
these
particular category
tables was
represesnt the number of times
selected by the informants.
a
The
percentages have been calculated by comparing the numbers with the total 5.4
are
further
of
respondents which is 304.
illustrations of these facts.
Figures 5.3 and
103
Table "Who
5.3
Speaks Pidgin English?"
Affirmative Responses
Males
Females
Policemen
Policewomen
232
140
254
132
(76.3%)
(46.0%)
(83.6%)
(43.1%)
Family
Friends
Elders
Youngsters
69
213
39
207
(70.0%)
(12.8%)
(68.1%)
(22.6%) Lecturers
Masters
Tutors
Teachers
16
43
36
75
(14.1%)
(11.8%)
(24.7%)
Students
Age-mates
Priests
Drivers
257
198
3
220
(84.5%)
(65.1%)
(1.0%)
(72.4%)
Co-Worker:.
Gov't.
234
20
(5.3%)
Soldiers
247
(81.3%) *
Female
Traders 173
(6.6%)
(77.0%) Male
Officials
Soldiers
93
(30.6%)
Farmers
74
(56.9%)
(24.3%)
Border Guards
Navy Men
211
(69.4%)
108
(35.5%)
Others 73
(24.0%) laborers, prostitutes, seaport ship's crew, stewards, bookmen or vehicle loaders, bandsmen and comedians, prisoners and prison officials, fire service workers, currency traffickers, and miners. *
Others
workers,
include watchmen,
104
Speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin English 300i
250
>-
§2 a
50
8«£ «0
1M1
tM1
-7-
ABCDEFGH I JK LMNOPQRSTUVWXY FIO. 53
Figure 5.3.
SPEAKERS
Speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin
English
Note; A=Students, B=Policemen, C=Male Soldiers, D=CoWorkers, E=Males, F=Drivers, G=Friends, H=Border Guards, I=Youngsters, J=Age Mates, K=Traders, L=Females, M=Policewomen, N=Navy Men, 0=Female Soldiers, P=Teachers Q=Farmers, R=0thers, S=Family, T=Masters, U=Elders, V=Tutors, W=Government Officials, X=Lecturers, Y=Priests
105 Table "Where
Is
5.4
Pidgin English Spoken?" Affirmative Responses
Schools
Universities
Homes
Streets
224
199
109
230
(73.7%)
(65.5%)
(35.9%)
(75.7%)
Churches
Mosques
Dances
Parties
6
8
188
147
(2.0%)
(2.6%)
(61.8%)
(48.4%)
Villages
Big Towns
Rural
192
83
156
(27.3%)
(63.2%)
(27.3%)
(51.3%)
Airports
Lorry Stations
Harbors
Borders
91
233
155
175
(29.9%)
(76.6%)
(51.0%)
(57.6%)
Work-
Entertainment
Drinking
Cinema
Places
Places
Bars
Houses
198
184
226
210
(65.1%)
(60.5%)
(74.3%)
(69.1)
Play-
Military/Police
Army/Police
Radio
Grounds
Depot
Barracks
Ghana
157
181
190
46
(51.6%)
(59.5%)
(62.5%)
(15.1%)
Areas
Urban
Centers 83
*
Others 34
(11.2%) *
Others
beaches,
include markets, and prisons.
railway stations, hotels,
shops,
106
Ghanaian
Figure 5.4.
Pidgin English Speaking Places
Ghanaian Pidgin English Speaking Places
A=Lorry Stations, B=Streets, C=Drinking Bars, D=Schools, E=Cinema Houses, F=Universities, G=Work Places, H=Big Towns, I=Army/Police Barracks, J=Dances, K=Entertainment Places, L=Military/Police depot, M=Borders, N=Playgrounds, 0=Urban Centers, P=Harbors, Q=Parties, Note:
S=Airports, T=Villages, U=Rural Areas, V=Radio W=Others, X=Mosques, Y=Churches.
R=Homes,
Ghana, Age
Groups
Ghanaian the
5.4) use
Pidgin English is currently the language of
for whereas younger people scored 68.1%
youth;
their elders had only 12.8%. pidgin English
fun.
use
it.
Male
and
The
younger
This will Female
be
The few older people who
they use it mostly for essential
say
communication purposes. for
(Table
It is just a few of them who use it
generation have
many reasons why they
discussed
on
later
in this
chapter.
Speakers
Respondents to the questionnaire claim that both males and
females
speak Ghanaian Pidgin English,
but there are
107
Based
police and the armed forces, where a
Pidgin English is used on
Whereas 83.6% of the respondents
large scale.
they have heard policewomen speak
soldiers obtained 81.3%,
marked that
speak pidgin English, 43.1% marked
they have heard policemen that
speakers(46.0%).
questionnaire, this ratio is also seen in the
the
on
speakers than female
(76.3%)
male
more
it; and whereas male
the female soldiers
received only
30.6%. Based be
so
the
responses
from Tables
seen
more
on
soldiers,
than
because
5.3
it
from our questionnaire,
and 5.4 that
border guards,
can
police speak pidgin
and navy people.
This is
respondents have closer contacts with the
the
police than with the others. Table more
are
represents further data suggesting that there
5.5
male
speakers of the language than female.
requested to mark the sex group that speaks
informants
were
pidgin the
more.
This is further illustrated by Figure 5.5. Table
Sex
Group That Speaks
Male
Female
281
3
(92.4%)
(1.0%)
The stems
reason
from the
language.
for
fewer
5.5
Pidgin English The More No 17
Response
Indifferent 3
(1.0%)
(5.6%) female
attitude Ghanaian
speakers of the language women
have
toward the
The Ghanaian females tend to prefer the more
elegant form of a language. we
The
discuss people's
More reasons will be given when
attitude towards the language.
108
Teachers
general,
In
others the
teachers do not like to speak or hear
speak pidgin English because they see themselves as
custodians of standard
reasons
which will be
seen
English. later,
in this
some
language.
'Teachers'
lecturers,
technical college tutors,
teachers.
As
one
moves
up
the
users
teachers
English.
This
falls. is also
Normally,
a
include university and elementary school
the percentage of pidgin
means
factor
the level of education of
in the spread of pidgin
university graduates do not teach in the
elementary schools of Ghana. institutions.
sense
teachers speak this
from elementary school teachers
through university lecturers,
English
But for some other
They teach in the second cycle
109
Family Members and Friends
Pidgin English is not a language spoken among
Ghanaian of
members
a
it for the fear that it will affect their use
children speak of
standard
the
Parents do not want to hear their
family.
English.
family scored only 22.6% is
(Table 5.4).
Instead, the language
spoken among friends of the same age group. is
this
member of
a
communicate
be
own
a
Friends
use
peer group
it among themselves, and if a
that uses GPE is not able to
in that language,
This person
member.
he is not considered as a
will learn how to use GPE if he wants
the peer group.
member of
slang which helps to bring
exclude
other
Traders
and
One
traders
Some groups develop
their
solidarity to the group and
people who do not belong to it.
Farmers
might expect a higher percentage than 56.9% for speakers of GPE,
as
because trade brings together
people who speak different languages and pidgin expected to emerge. the
They say
they use it mainly for fun and
because
so
solidarity.
to
This might be the reason why
traders
instead of
tend
to
pidgin.
might be
Trade in Ghana is more localized hence use
one
of the Ghanaian native
languages
It is mostly in the urban areas that
pidgin English is used at times. Most
among rare
Ghanaian
farmers
are
illiterates,
people who speak their own language. occasions that
one
hears them
and they are
Hence,
it is
speaking English.
The
on
110
24.3%
who
are
reported to use GPE represents a
farmers
literate
or
school-dropouts who have taken to
literate absentee farm
Included in this group are
farming.
communicate with farm workers
owners
who
native
language.
few semi¬
with a different
Ordinary Workers Co-workers
on
table 5.4 was chosen by
respondents as a group that uses GPE.
The percentage is high
these
workers
in the
factories,
governmental ministries and
find the bulk of the
departments.
It is here that we
unskilled and
semi-skilled labor force.
low educational
to
language.
show that
matter
Government
they can also speak English.
standard
it is standard
or
pidgin English It does not
not.
Officials
Government educated.
if they are not using a Ghanaian
Some of these workers use
them whether
to
As most of them
background, pidgin English is the
language they use mostly native
middle class
include mainly lower and a few
because
have
77.0% of our
officials are,
as
a
general rule,
highly
They usually deal with people who can speak
English and hence are not compelled to use pidgin.
They also have interpreters to translate standard into the native
languages if the need arises.
English
This is why
only 6.6% of the respondents claimed that government officials
are
speakers of pidgin.
Ill
Drivers
in this
"Driver" more
a
survey means
drivers who transport people and
chauffeur.
Ghana has
goods for hire than
people who operate their own vehicles for personal use. Most
low educational
drivers have
to communicate with their passengers,
Hence,
of our respondents as being a group
high percentage (72.4%) uses
to
are
the
also
used
as
are
The lorry
different things are
a person may
not be
to the lorry station to look for
travelling but will
go
something to buy
eat.
or
markets where
Sometimes
passengers.
why
apart from drivers,
speaking pidgin at the lorry stations.
stations
reason
is slightly higher than that of
(Table 5.4)
drivers because other people,
heard
sold
This is also the
(Table 5.3).
GPE
lorry stations the
they tend to
That is why "drivers" was chosen by such a
speak pidgin.
that
speak different languages.
with many people who
contact
background and come in
An informant had this to say:
lorry stations are the producers of this pidgin English because there are so many people there; and you don't know the people, and you don't know what language The
to
speak to them.
Priests Priests
or
religious ministers of the religious
in Ghana
do
Ghanaian
languages.
not
priest, pastor,
speak pidgin.
or
This
They normally use the local
Standard English is used only if the
preacher does not speak the local
language of the congregation, it.
groups
is why only
1% of
and an interpreter translates
our
respondents claimed that
112
priests where
GPE and only 2% said that churches are places
use
GPE
is
(Tables 5.3 and 5.4).
spoken
Churches scored
slightly higher than priests because some interviewees said while they do not
that so
on
with
the
or
they do
premises with their friends rather than
church
priests
speak pidgin in the chapel,
pastors.
Students From
be
to
the
Table
it
5.3
largest group
be
can
seen
(84.5%)
that
students are claimed
of Ghanaian Pidgin English
Schools also received 73.7% on Table 5.4.
speakers. main
reason
then
one
is the
fashion in Ghana that
should know how to
if
one
made
an
effort
learn
to
pidgin English
was
illustrated
a
For example,
pidgin English when I entered the
in
not perfect at that time.
short
story about students'
Ghanaian secondary schools that appeared Ghanaian weekly newspapers. SLEDGE
student
My roommate used to tease me that my spoken
university.
'THE
a
speak pidgin in order to be
accepted as a member of the student community. I
is
The
BROTHERS:
their habit;
Pidgin
and they had no
in
This is also behavior in one
of the
The title of the story was was
their language, bullying
time for their books.'
The
beginning of the story shows that Pidgin is the language of the
students.
term
It
was
of
the
the
day for the re-opening for the second
academic year, and at Astor Secondary in Accra, a group of students known as the
School, Sledge Brothers couldn't help hailing their friend,
113
waiting for since
Akpatse Sledge whom they had been arrival.
"Akpatse; Sledge Akpatse; Jah Jah Akpatse!" they as they rushed out to meet him. Eight form one
shouted
his trunk whilst another
boys were called to carry
eight carried his mattress to the dormitory. "But Charley why you keep long for house so?" Lugu asked in the dormitory. "Ho, but I no be kid wey I for come school six a.m. on re-opening day. "Weytin you want talk?" Toyas questioned. "You want mean say we wey we come quick be kids?" (The Mirror, 1984:6) Others
'Others' of
GPE
on
Table
5.3,
was
chosen as a category
by 24.0% of our respondents,
users
includes those
of people which the informants added to the
groups
provided
on
the questionnaires.
prostitutes,
stewards,
vehicle loaders
comedians,
currency
list
These include watchmen,
seaport workers,
laborers,
and
which
ships'
crew,
(also known as bookmen),
dealers, and miners.
bandsmen
All the
respondents who mentioned prisoners and prison officers were
prison officers themselves and thus were in a position to know what Most
class
of
within the prison yard.
on
the
informants mentioned watchmen
left
the
armed
forces.
Some
are
also
lower
people with little or no formal education
part-time watchmen. contact
or
security
Watchmen are mostly former service personnel who
guards. have
goes
with
who are
Their work usually brings them in
speakers of standard English,
English they know is pidgin. by Ayi Kwei Armah,
working
and the only
This is illustrated in
where he quotes a watchman who had
a
novel
114
recognized to
of the ministers of the Nkrumah
one
when the regime was toppled by a
escape
Ah sabe sey you be You no fit pass (Armah
party man. 1969:173) .
think that I don't know. of Nkrumah's party.
"You
member
should note that there
We
military coup.
tink say ah no sabe.
You
Nkrumah
a
I know that you are You cannot pass by."
is statistically significant
and places of
correlation coefficient between the speakers When
GPE.
test
results value
were
hypothesis of significant at
no
significant relationship, the
pc.Ol.1
The observed statistic
This shows that there
.80.
was
rank order correlation to
used the Spearman
we
null
the
regime trying
is 99 percent
probability that the observed relationship between the two variables,
speakers and places,
accident.
We
it
because
of
the
have
and
is this test
actual
interval t-test
chose the
did not occur by chance or
Spearman rank order that
allows us
correlation test
to use ranks
the actual scores of our data do not
scores,
scales which other tests
like the Pearson rho
demand. Uses
of
Ghanaian
Pidgin English
This section deals with the different usages Ghanaian usage,
instead
Pidgin English.
that is,
of the
A major concern is the mode of
whether spoken or written.
Written Usage Table that
5.6
shows
the
number
of
respondents who indicated
they have written Pidgin English before.
115
Table
5.6
Pidgin English
Writers of Ghanaian Yes
Ño
46
256
No Response 2
(84.2%)
(0.7%)
(15.1%)
Table
5.6
suggests that Ghanaian Pidgin
written mode:
84.2% of the respondents
used
in
that
they have never written the language
15.1%
a
said that they have done so.
illustration of the
use
English is not
of GPE
Have You Written
indicated
before, and only
Figure 5.6 is a further
in the written mode.
Pidgin English?
300-,
RESPONSES no. s.«
Have You Written Pidgin
Figure 5.6. Literature.
There
is not much written
English? literature
in
Ghanaian
Pidgin English.
No book has been written in only
Ghanaian
Pidgin English.
Ghanaian writers write in either
one
of
the
writers who
native use
languages or standard English.
the
Ghanaian native
Pidgin English in their books.
Generally,
languages do not write
116
Writers who write
English sometimes include
in standard
passages
to represent the speech of a character.
example,
Kofi Anyidoho (1985a:88)
an
illiterate moslem
pidgin English in
used
exile,
remains
a
The
When the president died in
there was a debate on whether Ghanaians should go for not.
or
In
a
poetic
way
the writer has the
speak pidgin English when the latter was invited
character as
treason trial in the 1960s.
a
by throwing a bomb at him.
Ghana
Region of Ghana who
attempted to assassinate the first president of
moslem had
his
quoted in one of his poems
Northern
from the
For
witness: aleikum
Salaam Me
be
I
And
Malam
Malam
no
fit tell
lie
bigi bigi men - You sabe dem name Dey dey for back Dey put Malam for flont Dey put hot bomb for Malam pocket
Some
So
dey push Malam and push Malam and push Malam which side Malam dey!
Now
see
Our
Bigi Man the Masita imsef
The Me
-
who
one
I
Dat
say bomb
idie
now
be stron man proper
e
trow
we
ino
fit kill
am
Some
bugabuga mans come take Malam for contaback bigi bigi afraidmens dem all run away But the Bigi masita imsef icatchi dem sharp sharp he put dem all for detention De
So
today me I stand I say somebody tell you say our masita imhead strong too mush iputu plenty peoplo for detention for notin Me I tell you say dat man imhead ino collect Lak
lie
All
dem
Ibi
so
And
derefore
Wetin
be so
lie
tief
men
chop chop dem wan chop lak
you
ass
me
jus
now
do Bigi Masita and imdead body? I go say make you bringam home one tarn Me alone I fit digi bigi hole and buryiam proper we
go
117
finis
Palaver Ibe
Malam Mama Tulale.
mea.
(Anyidoho, with you
"Peace
be
I
moslem
a
am
And
a
1985:88)
moslem
cannot tell
a
lie
big men - you know their names They were behind They sent Malam in front They put a deadly bomb in Malam's back pocket So they pushed Malam and pushed Malam and pushed Malam Now see where Malam is: (prison) Our Big Man, the Master himself Some
The
who
one
say he was That bomb we I
is
now
dead
a very strong man threw couldn't kill
him
police escorts came for Malam placed him at counterback (jail) The coward big men, they all ran away But the Big Master himself, he caught them at once He put all of them in detention So standing here today, I say if somebody tells you that Some
Our
he for
Master's head was too much strong (he was cruel) put a lot of prominent people in detention
nothing
you that man's head isn't correct (he's crazy) They are all liars and thieves It is only sguandering that they want to do And so, if you ask me just now What thing we will do to the Big Master's dead body? I will say bring it home one time (at once) I alone can dig a big hole and bury him well The trouble is finished (There is no problem) It is me, Malam Tulale" tell
I
Anyidoho another
book,
(1985b)
has written another poem in GPE in
A Harvest of our Dreams.
personal letter he wrote to interviewed
Anyidoho, who is
a
This time it
long time friend. an
When
in the
case
a
we
English professor at the
University of Ghana, why he had written these GPE said,
was
of the illiterate moslem,
type of English that the character
can
poems,
he
that is the only
speak.
He said he
118
wrote
the
poetic letter to his friend to show the
GPE
intimacy between them. time,
They have been friends for a long
and even though they speak the same
language, Ewe,
in his own words, "it comes to matters of
they use GPE when,
intimacy." The books of
His
use
is
rare.
such written Ghanaian
find Anyidoho's
We
Pidgin English in
first GPE poem as one out
sixty-two poems in that book and on one page out of 122.
poetic letter to his friend is also one out of
poems
in that book.
Armah's with
(1968)
sixty-six
Another instance occurs in Ayi
Kwei
novel The Beautvful Ones Are Not Yet Born,
Pidgin English found on eight pages out of 180. When
who
of
Ghana
former
a
is also
writer and
a
secretary for culture and tourism, a
university professor, was asked
why he would write GPE in his works,
this is how he
answered:
Incidentally, I happen to be a writer; and every writer is looking for new avenues of expression. So, to me, the pidgin language is one of the most expressive; it's much closer to our way of life and our expressions, our sensibilities, and our feelings, than the standard English, (I personally interviewed Mr. Asiedu-Yirenkyi with a tape recorder). Entertainment.
magazines cartoons
because The cartoons
appears are
of
The
written usage normally
in cartoons.
gaining popularity
the
current
cartoonist
in Ghana,
of
found in
In recent years these GPE among
the reading public
popularity of pidgin. the
three
"Mugu Yaro",
most
popular pidgin English
"Gyato",
and "Baba Dogo",
119
at first used
said that he
cartoons
could read standard
they used to when the language was
a
household name
Mugu Yaro was
A)
magazines more
standard English.
of the cartoons, is
the major character of one
Mugu Yaro, now
He, therefore,
English.
People began to buy the
changed to pidgin. than
interested in
the readers who were
realized that not all
He then
standard English.
especially in the big towns.
in Ghana,
guoted on the research
to indicate to the informants
guestionnaire (Appendix
what is meant by Ghanaian
Pidgin English. kid wey dey go fit catch me; fit catch Yaro? Walahi! dey no go fit da. I
go
I
not a child that they catch Yaro? swear! they can never.”
a
Hausa word
"I
am
who
Walahi
is
be
no
who
for
"never”.
can
be
found
Extracts
Once
for "I
swear” and da is an Akan word
from Mugu Yaro,
Gyato,
a
while,
and Baba Dogo
GPE appears in the
A journalist and reporter of a
said if
newspaper
catch me;
in Appendix E.
Newspapers.
newspapers.
can
can
pidgin English,
one
one
Ghanaian
is quoting a watchman who speaks
has to quote him in that language.
The
professional ethics and techniques of journalism allow this. It
makes
a
better
actually said. call
the
across
"stiff
the
impact and gives the readers what the man
It also serves to break out what
language approach” to journalism.
journalists I came
journalist's observation when I graded an English
120
by an examinee of the
paper
Council.
following quotation from the
pira. boa. kwa, and hunahuna. are
paper, mean
In the
West African Examinations
Akan words which
"just", and "threaten"
"help",
"hurt",
candidate's
respectively.
Unfortunately we heard a sudden noise. It was the school watchman, "hei! if you move, I go pira you". I was shaken so I shouted, "Watchman, I no dey among oo. I came to boa them kwa. Ah! it was Jakadu, Nana Oku
watch-tch-tch-m-ma-ma-
Siboree who hunahuna me oo,
and
man!!"
"Unfortunately we heard a sudden noise. It was the watchman, "hei! if you move, I will hurt you". I was shaken so I shouted, "Watchman, I am not among
school them.
I
Oku
Nana
Writings themselves
just and on
came
to help them.
Ah! it was Jakadu, watchman!!"
Siboree who threatened me, vehicles.
Ghanaians express
Some
in GPE by writing GPE on
their vehicles,
especially lorries and buses which are used to convey Some of such
passengers.
Chop",
"Sea Never Dry",
"God Dey",
"Jealousy Go Shame".
"Do Me I Do You", and
"One Man No Chop" literally means "A
person
does not eat alone".
should
all
work together
Its actual meaning is that we
and enjoy the fruit of our labor
"God Dey" literally means "God
together. available".
Its
"One Man No
expressions are:
is always
actual meaning is that once God
exists his
providence is always available and that he will help both the to
poor show
and the rich to survive. how
strong someone is.
"Sea Never Dry" is used
It is a simile denoting a
person's power and immortality like the sea. You"
means
"If you
hurt me I will retaliate".
"Do Me I Do "Jealousy Go
121
Shame"
will
"Any person who
means
be
is jealous of another person
disgraced or put to shame. Spoken
Ghanaian a
written
Pidgin English is far more a spoken mode
one.
As we
saw
respondents to the survey before,
Usage
from Table 5.1,
than
81.6% of the
said they have spoken the language
whereas only 15.1% said they have
Figure 5.7 and Table 5.7 illustrate the
written it.
difference.
Comparing Spoken and Written Modes
SPOKEN
WRITTEN MODES
Comparing Spoken and Written Modes
Figure 5.7.
Table
Comparing the Spoken and Written Modes of G.P.E.
5.7.
Written
Spoken GPE No No
Response
Out
of
304
question "Why do Ghana?".
Their
GPE
56
81.6% 18.4%
46 256
15.1% 84.2%
0
0.0%
2
0.7%
248
Yes
respondents, you
276
(90.8%)
responded to the
think people speak Pidgin English in
answers
have
been
grouped into three main
122
(Table 5.8)
categories:
a.
because it helps
communication;
standard English;
b.
because
pidgin English is simpler than
c.
because
pidgin English has become fashionable
and
speakers use it as a means of
in Ghana
socialization and
solidarity. Table Reasons
for
5.8
Speaking Ghanaian Pidgin English Socialization
Simplicity of Pidgin English
Communication
and
Fun
147
122
110
(53.3%)
(44.2%)
(39.9%)
Reasons for
Speaking G.P.E.
200-i
COMMUNICATION SIMPLICITY OF G.P.E 150
SOCIALIZATION & FUN
►< H M
H
100
K •< P
O'
HO. 5.8
Figure 5.8.
Reasons for
Speaking G.P.E.
Communication It
can
be
seen
from Table
for
any
other language,
for
the
use
of
5.8
and
Figure 5.8 that,
communication is the major
pidgin English in Ghana.
as
purpose
When people from
different
language groups meet and do not have a common
language,
they must use pidgin English if some of them have
123 low
This
educational background.
type of people worker who Ewe
in the conversation.
comes
Dagbani
of Adult
president of
or Hausa,
with because
the languages spoken in the
Education,
a
Two workers of the
university bursar,
a
Student Representative Council and other
a
interviewees agreed that whenever class
and speaks
his language and he does not
Region of Ghana where he works.
Institute
lower
For example, a social
from the Volta Region of Ghana
they do not understand
Northern
will depend upon the
speaks GPE with the people he works
said he
understand
usage
labor
they are dealing with
force they use GPE
to facilitate
communication. another
As
School was
example,
a
speaker used GPE at a New Year
during his speech.
(explained in chapter 3)
asked
why he had used pidgin
When he
English, he had this to
say: Yes I have to speak pidgin English because not all participants have formal education. Others have
informal education. Others haven't been to school at but they just pick this English as what we call
all
pidgin English. So to make everybody feel at home, at times I must jokingly speak the pidgin English and then to crack some jokes just to make the thing lively (Mr. Hunnour T. K. Bobobee, a fisherman, and native of Bator in the Volta Region of Ghana) Simplicity
of
GPE
Many speakers of Ghanaian
Pidgin English
speak it because it has a very simple grammar. 304
say
that they
Out of the
questionnaires, 44.2% respondents said that they
communicate
in GPE because of
its simplicity.
They often
124
of
phonology and syntax of any
the message
make
this
idea because
that
GPE
does
not
communicative.
GPE has
phonological rules.
particular language, for
with
We do not agree
its syntactic as well as
What has made the respondents
require
aim is
They say the speaker's
standard English.
instance, to
need to follow the rigid rules
that the speaker does not
say
any
think
strict syntactic or
phonological rules is that these rules are similar to those of
the
speakers are familiar
Ghanaian languages which the
with.
Socialization and Fun About
(39.9%)
forty percent
of the speakers surveyed
say
they speak GPE to be accepted into a group that speaks
the
language.
socialization,
the
of Ghanaian Pidgin English is for
usage
GPE is spoken as a
and fun.
This is
language. of
This
so because
Ghanaian languages
in
solidarity
the speakers have one or two that they can use but
common
they choose to use GPE as one of their registers to show the
solidarity speakers, of
GPE
is
among
them.
This
usage
will depend
among
the
The solidarity usage
the topic and the situation.
prominent
upon
the youth especially the male
students. When
Ghana
was
a
female
asked
in
one
of
there
are
any
teacher
whether
the
high schools in
rules in her school
prohibiting the students from speaking GPE, and whether the
125
punished if they spoke GPE,
students were
this is how she
replied: there
Well
no
are
rules as such.
We just try to
convince them not to, because we find that whether there are rules or not, whether they are punished or
they still
not, it as Mable
a
form of
Komasi,
a
continue speaking it. They look upon fashionable way of speaking, (Miss secondary school teacher)
Politics It
is not only
in discourse that Ghanaian
English is used as an important means Apart from using
Pidgin
of communication.
it on political platforms once in a
Ghanaian
politicians use the language in sending
messages
to the people.
the
The
when many of the youths became
following is
Ghana
as
a
a
People! People! Revolution!
people make we wake up, fight for our right.
we
Response: We
no
Make Ghana Make
go dem
sit down cheat we
workers we
make
fight for
everyday we
our
wake up
right
Response Ghana Make
which began in June
involved in politics.
signature tune to one of the revolutionary
Revolution!
Ghana
fishermen make we
in
typical example, which was aired on Radio
programs.
Make
radio
The tactic became very prominent
revolutionary era of the nation,
1979,
while,
fight for
our
we
wake
right
up,
126
Response No
Response Dabida
Response Walahi Response
People! again time with the PDCs and you're welcomed. Stay tuned in for the next twenty-five minutes for your program "The People's Revolutionary Program''.
Once
above
The us
wake
and
let
for
"no"
can
be
paraphrased as:
We will not sit down
and fight for our rights.
up
them cheat us or
"never",
everyday." and walahi
"Ghanaian people, let
(Daabida is an Akan word is
a
Hausa word for "I
swear".) Entertainment Telling jokes.
entertainment
in the spoken mode
But
it
makes one
funnier than
low educational
tell
their
use
Akan
telling it in standard English.
thing about these comedians is that most of them
have
English.
in the areas of music and
People tell jokes in GPE because they say
telling jokes. that
Ghanaian Pidgin English is used for
backgrounds so it is easier for them to
jokes in GPE instead of telling them in standard Members of a comedian group called Osofo Dadzie
language but once a while they will use GPE.
Music. interviewed
All
say
the
Ghanaian musicians who have been
that they sing in pidgin English in order to
127
their message not only to
send
they want their messages to be can
One
of
They also say that
English speaking countries.
in other
who
Ghanaians but also to people
and those who cannot them
understood by both listeners
understand standard English.
said:
Pidgin English in Ghana hie, in Afrika; Ghanaian myuzishiens lak dis, most de rek^ds wey dey do, wi no go bi lak dem, so wi tuu fo fal awa own wey. Awa own wey tuu bi, sey, Twi o brokin so dat pi pul, most of de Afrikan pi pul, Afrikan English kontri wey dey spik brokin, dey tuu dey go andastan; bikos as yu no, sey plenti pi pul no go skuul bat brokin die dey fit andastan. (Source: personal interview of Mr. Ernest Sarfo-Baidoo, alias Afro Moses, of the "Third Eye" Band) tin abawt
wan
sey,
thing about Pidgin English in Ghana or in Africa, musicians like this, most of the European they do, we will not be like them; so we must find our own way. Our own way is Twi or broken (Pidgin English) so that most of the African people, English speaking African countries where they speak broken, they too, they will understand; because as you know many people haven't gone to (attended) school, but they can understand broken (Pidgin English) . (Die. "One
say, Ghanaian records which
is Akan word Another musician to
more
for who
"as
for").
shares the
people by using GPE in his songs further said that
this
is his aim that
sang
the same message in Akan,
deliver the in It
one
same
is why
in
one
Ewe,
song,
"Yellow Tsitsi", he
Yoruba, Hausa,
standard
There are other Ghanaian musicians who
English, and GPE.
GPE
idea of communicating
same
in different languages including
message
song.
is not only the
musicians who
communicating to wider audience using GPE in their
songs.
as
express
their main
the idea of reason
of
When an elderly headteacher of an
128
elementary school who
why he thinks old
asked
GPE,
vehemently opposes the use of GPE was
musicians of his age would sing in
he expressed the same reason of
Since the interview with this headteacher
wider audience.
summarizes what many people
musicians sing
communicating to a
in GPE,
we
would say about why the
Ghanaian
think it will be appropriate to
quote part of the interview here:
(INT): E. T. Mensah, this Ghanaian singer fairly old, I think he may be 50, do you not hear him singing in pidgin English? HEADTEACHER (HDT): You see, that is his profession. You know he wants to put across the language of his music; and by that if he is able to speak pidgin English in the music it will be easily adopted by everybody, whether you speak good English or pidgin English; so he likes using pidgin English to embrace all those who either speak good English or pidgin English. INT: Apart from him, in modern times, do you hear some Ghanaian singers also singing in pidgin English? HDT: Oh yes; in fact, what you are saying is true. Most of them don't actually compose their music with very good English. They contain a lot of INTERVIEWER who
INT: HDT:
is
now
pidgin English. Why do you think they compose in pidgin English instead of composing in standard English? One thing is: it may be the composers, their educational background may not be so good enough for them to produce some good English in their compositions. Then, secondly, as I've already indicated, they wanted their language in the music by those who speak good English and those who speak pidgin English. (Source: Personal interview of Mr. Enning;
to
embraced
be
headteacher
and understood
of Atomic
Energy Commission
Experimental Primary School, We GPE
may
wonder the type of music in which we can hear GPE is used in Ghanaian Hi-Life songs.
being used.
Life
Kete,
songs
Kwabenya, Ghana.)
are
not traditional or folk songs like Adowa,
Nnwonkoro,
Fontonfrom,
Boboobo,
Agbaja, Adenkum,
Hi-
129
and others, which are
Kpanlogo,
ethnic groups
in Ghana.
African countries
There
Hi-Life.
lyrics
two types
are
The
be heard.
can
use
GPE
lyrics.
slow Hi-Life and fast
low-tempo beat whereas the fast
around the world, young and old, rural and urban,
and those who like
There is no wonder why the
of GPE.
musicians choose to convey and
and Benin.
Hi-Life songs are enjoyed by all
and many people
dislike the
Cameroon,
It is in the fast type that GPE
and uneducated,
educated
It was
found in some West
Ivory Coast,
of Hi-Life:
slow one has
up-tempo beat.
Ghanaians
or
like Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, Gambia, Togo,
Liberia,
has
Hi-Life is nonethnic.
but these days it is
unique to Ghana,
one
associated with particular
their
messages
through Hi-Life
This indeed enables them to reach a wider
audience. People's Attitude We
requested respondents in our survey to not
they like to speak
whether
or
the
respondents,
304
survey.
indicated to
Toward Ghanaian Pidgin
"no".
speak GPE.
indicate
pidgin English.
96 indicated "yes".
A larger number of 208,
English
Out of
This is 36% of our
which is 68% of our survey,
This shows that many Ghanaians do not want
Table 5.9 and Figure 5.9 further explain this
statistics. Table
5.9
Responses to "Do You Like to Speak Yes 96
% 36%
Pidgin English?" NO 208
% 68%
130
Do You Like to 300
-i
Figure 5.9.
We
Speak Pidgin English?
Do You Like to Speak
Pidgin English?
reguested our informants to give reasons for
like to
indicating "yes" or "no" to our guestion "Do you speak pidgin English?" those who
indicated "yes"
communication,
interesting. mentioned
ease,
solidarity and fun, and
Of the 96 informants who said "yes",
as
solidarity and fun
their
given by
into four categories:
simplicity and
communication?
pidgin English
said the
We summarized the reasons
27
used
reason
among peer
simplicity and
38
ease
of
to like to speak GPE; 36 gave groups as
their
language sounds interesting to them.
reason;
and 18
Table 5.10
and
Figure 5.10 indicate the statistics of the reasons why
the
respondents like to speak GPE.
131
Table Reasons
Liking to Speak Ghanaian Pidgin English
for
Communication 40%
38
5.10
Simplicity
Solidarity
and Ease 27 28%
and Fun 36 38%
Reasons for
Interesting 18 19%
Liking to Speak G.P.E. COMMUNICATION SOLIDARITY A FUN
¿Ti
SIMPLICITY k EASE
>
o" literally "You think I am blockhead". It helps most illiterates to speak at least a bit of English. It brings a little bit of modification and breaks monotony (female). Yes
because
serves
as
a
it sounds nice to listen to. Secondly, better communication medium than proper
it
thus it limits the incidence of class different classes of people and people express themselves better in it.
English,
distinctions among
Some
the
do need
not to
all the Ghanaian languages and communicate may compel such people to use understand
pidgin English. Helping in communicating information across where the person does not speak one's dialect.
141
The
the
on
all
12
pidgin English has or will have
of standard English is the
usage
the
effect that
adverse
main reason given by like to speak
respondents who indicated that they
pidgin English but they do not like to hear others speak Only one of them added another reason, times
at
We
not
or
that
it
"It sounds crude and
raw."
requested our informants to indicate whether
further
they think GPE should be encouraged or
from Table
and
it.
5.15
should be
and
discouraged
Figure 5.15 below most of them think
discouraged. Table
5.15
Encouragement of Pidgin English in Ghana
Discouraged
%
Encouraged
15%
46
Encourage 300
%
No Response
77%
235
or
% 8%
23
Discourage G.P.E.
-
RESPONSES
PIQ. 5.15
Figure 5.15. During us
our
Encourage or Discourage G.P.E.
interviews,
we
their attitude towards GPE.
asked We
our
found
informants to tell out
that
many
of
142 them wished he
has
it
me". of
adversely. not
she simply said,
A social worker said apart from
it
is
influencing the
"It
using GPE as a
it should not be used at
communication, he thinks,
because
would
When a female nurse was asked to
her attitude towards GPE,
express
all
formal
speaking GPE, but he is against its use by those
is not necessary.
means
journalist said that
A
speak standard English but choose to speak GPE when
can
annoys
not exist.
problem with those who have not had any
no
education who
that GPE did
usage
Many of the students we like GPE to be eradicated.
of standard English
interviewed said they Their
concern
is that
speakers of GPE should know when it should be used and when standard
English should be used.
A managing director of a
regional development corporation had this to say when he was requested to express his attitude towards GPE.
Certainly the language is not ours. It assumes a goal by dimension; and quite naturally one would like it properly in order to communicate with other peoples all over the continent or all over the planet earth. My attitude to this pidgin English is certainly not healthy. I think, as a former teacher, I've realized that this language has affected the writing of most of our
students
in schools.
No
doubt
the
results
of
English Language in most of our schools, and even the universities, are now becoming appalling. I wouldn't like this to be continued. If I can help it, I would like it to be discouraged entirely from our institutions in the first place and that will naturally effect those in our working places. (Source: Mr. Ayeh, Managing Director, Central Region Development Corporation, Ghana) Summary
This
chapter is a further demonstration of the
assertion that
pidgin is spoken in Ghana.
We have discussed
143 the
speakers of Ghanaian Pidgin
the
language is spoken.
areas,
The major speakers are males,
military and police personnels, youngsters, co¬
students, workers,
Educational institutions, urban
and friends.
lorry stations, military and
work places,
and entertainment places are the
barracks,
places where one will hear GPE. in the
The
most obvious
The usage of GPE is mostly
no
book that has been written
Authors like Kofi Anyidoho and
included
have
is
There
entirely in GPE.
police
There is little usage of GPE in the
spoken mode.
written mode.
Armah
English and the places where
a
page
or
Ayi Kwei
two of GPE in their works.
major written usage of GPE that has received greater
attention
of
the
Baba Dogo,
Mugu Yaro,
communication, fun.
reading public is found in the comics of
Speakers of GPE use it for
entertainment, politics,
socialization, and
attitude of Ghanaians toward GPE
The
is not
Many people do not want the language
encouraging.
spoken or written. usage
and Gyato.
to be
Their major reason for opposing the
of GPE is that it has some adverse effects on both the
written and spoken usages of Ghanaians The
say
standard English.
Most
that GPE should not be encouraged.
methodology used for this research might have
contributed
toward
the
negative attitude towards GPE.
The
respondents claim not to like to speak pidgin because the survey was researchers
part of an education project where they expected not
to
like
pidgin.
Perhaps they have applied
144
an
argumentum ad populum policy,
researchers
what
that is, telling the
they want to hear.
145
Notes Spearman
1.
Rank-Order Correlation
Coefficient
Spearman's rho is used when an experimenter or a whether two sets of rank-
researcher wishes to determine ordered data are related.
we asked informants to think speak Ghanaian Pidgin English (GPE), and also the places where they see or hear GPE being spoken. We used Spearman's rho to determine whether the ranks of the speakers and those of the places As part of our research, indicate the people who they
related. Table 1 shows the scores of speakers and places of GPE and Table 2 shows the ranks of the scores, the difference of the ranks, and the square of the difference of are
the
ranks.
Table
1
Scores
on
Speakers and Places of
Ghanaian Pidgin
English SCORES
Matched
Speakers
Scores
Places
Scores
Pairs A
Students
257
Schools
224
B
Police Barracks
190
D
Policemen Priests Drivers
254
E
Farmers
C
3
Churches
6
74
Lorry Stations Villages
233
69
Homes
109
220
83
F
Family
G
Co-Workers
234
Work
H
Age-Mates
198
Entertainment Place
184
Streets
230
I
Friends
J
Gov't.
213
Officials Guards
K
Border
L
Youngsters
20
Places
Radio Ghana
198
46
211
Borders
175
207
Cinema Houses
210
146
Table
2
Ranks
of Speakers
and Places of Ghanaian Pidgin
English RANKS
Matched
Places
Speakers
*1
d12
Pairs A
12
10
2
4
B
11
7
4
16
C
1
1
0
0
D
9
12
-3
9
E
4
3
1
1
F
3
4
-1
1
G
10
8
2
4
H
5
6
-1
1
I
8
11
-3
1
J
2
2
0
0
K
7
5
2
4
L
6
9
-3
9 58
We
the
used
data 6
=
1
to
compute the value of rs.
(58)
-
(12) =
in table 2
-
12
.8
of critical values of rs, the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient, .8 is significant at p
"I A
tel
sey, mek i no kam leyt. must/should tell him/her not to be late." am to tell him/her not to be late."
"I
dz>n
"I pay
am
sey, mek i no du am, bat i no máí mi. him/her not to do it, but he/she doesn't attention (to me)."
tel
have
any
OR
am
told
156
Wey bi de
tam? time?
the
What's
aks mi ba(t) mi, a tel am sey, a no no. "He/She asked me, but I told him/her that I don't/didn't know.” I
I
bi
so
"That's
tel
a
am,
what
I
i no 'giriy. him/her but he/she wouldn't hear of
ba(t)
told
it."
Wey mun day, shall
"I
a go go
f=> rna k=>ntri / tawn.
to my hometown at the end of the month."
go
go pey wi wey mun day, den a go go f=> má kz>ntri pies. "They'll pay us at the end of the month, then I'll go home /to my hometown." Dem
beg yu tu borow mi y=> pen sm^. "Please lend me your pen for a short
A
while."
(at z>z>) ? (anyway)?" OR looking for around here (anyway)?
Wey tin yu de w^n f=> hie "What
do
"What
are
you
i
Weyt am; "Wait
want here
you
for
go kam j=>s naw. him/her; he'll soon be here."
i veks f^ mi pr^pa! him/her from here, he/she
Wey a sak am f^ hie, "When
I
sacked
with me."
OR
"When
him/her with me."
very
I
drove
angry
from here,
away
was very
angry
he/she became
t=>k sey i sabi yu. Yu tu yu sabi am? "He/She says he/she knows you. Do you also know
I
him/her." Mek dem
kam
"They should
kwik.
come
soon."
OR
"Let them
come
soon."
fa pies. I kip l^n(g) (naw). I fo kam horn si mcda/fada. I de grow (old). "He/She has gone abroad for a long time. He/She should come home and see his/her mother/father. He/She is getting old." I
go
im
157
D
APPENDIX SOME
The
Lexicon;
GPE
CONVERSATIONS AND SONGS
of the Ghanaian Pidgin English some of the English words take on
of the words
Most
(GPE) come from English, but different meanings in GPE. e.g.
GPE
English
fit
(line 34, 37, 39, (line 43, 45)
say for
(line 51, 58, (line 12, 59)
plus
CONVERSATION
A
with can, have the ability to do something say, complementizer 'that' and,
60)
61)
must,
should
BETWEEN TWO STUDENTS ABOUT A FUTURE
DATE
L=Lady; M=Man. 1.
L:
5.
no
a
de
a
M:
ginis?
L:
i
M:
L:
bi
a
is Guiness
tek bia o ginis a,
Me,
then my
fo mi.
for
me.
You
see,
yu yu
ays
it
wey wi tek tek de ogoqro na
si
o,
tek
yu won
de
is
M:
nadisko? de bes
L:
a
w=n
bushwa
a
won
bushwa
eyes
ogoqro
should
we
You
is
know,
disko
158
like.
are
closing,
so
which is good
when we take, and I go
for
dancing,
to a disco. me, my problem
just dancing disco.
will go to a What kind of disco so
we
is
it that
want us
Nadisco;
wan.
I
you take the ogoqro I take the Guiness,
you
es
that
if I take beer or Guiness
de klos so i bi ogoqro wey i yus
a
15.
will not like beer. like Guiness rather.
It
de lov.
mi ginis a wi fo go disko. yu sabi mi die may problem i bi dansin, soso dansin so wi go go disko. wot kay disko sey
10.
20.
I
Guiness?
ginis
mi, a den má
I
lov bia. ginis rada.
go lov
I
want
a
I
want
a
the best one.
bourgeois bourgeois disco.
159
M:
den wi
diasi L:
a
swe
dat
25.
de
L:
insayd hoi, siti hotel. go
go
ei
Ei,
so
yu shwo sey go yuo haws
40.M: L:
mi, dos hu de go aut plas mi, a no de go dem haws plas dem.
afta
M:
mami
words
tok mi
come
dat.
wot
abawt
yuo
wayf?
ihii yu tok sey
M:
L: 55.
and drink
can
go
and drink
water. as
for that one,
it
is not good.
As
for
my
mother didn't teach me that
that
one,
native languages; die paa (line 31) means 'very'.
from Ghanaian
(lines 13, 46) means 'as for ...'; (line 10) means 'and'. 50.L:
I go to
you can go water.
No,
e
in GPE
to their house
that, house.
You
die
no
go
how?
some
wan
yus. dat wan di
Some
don't
some
no
ma
I
with them.
So
drink
wota. dat
those who go with me,
After
go
fit go drink
mm
i
a
how?
out
my
yu fit go som wot a. som
L:
mi
so
yu 45.
dat,
haws.
ma
that,
Me,
Oh
haw?
ou
you are sure that going to your house you?
so
am
Oh,
haw?
like any other place.
from there too, is very near to my house.
it
with
dat,
ou,
don't
Because
I
plas yu?
L:
to talk to you about is the place I like.
It I
which,
want
I
de
is the place
right place
the
tu
City Hotel.
Hall,
swear,
that
pleys wey rayt pleys
will go inside
we
Dease
I
,
won
a
35.M:
then
tok tu yu. i bi de pleys a de lof. a no de lak eni ada pie bikos from de tu i nia ma haws paa a
30.M:
Bourgeois disco,
disko,
bushwa
What
about
your
wife?
yu
get wayf.
Ahaa, you said that you have a wife.
ma
wayf?
My wife?
a
sey,
wey
wey
i de?
i de?
I see, where is Where is she?
she?
na
160
M:
Oh
fit tek
a
ou
na
de,
a
And you,
t=>k sey
yu
yu,
I'll,
f= go yuo haws
a
There
are
means
'to
'child'
yu
forgot that
You
your
some
or
wife is present?
Portuguese words in GPE, e.g. sabi and pikin (line 63)
How many children do you have, side
meni, pikins get, sayd ishus
mi,
ou,
wan
mo
65.M:
A
a
get
Me?
Oh,
one
more
tu ten.
SONG
BY
OKUKUSEKU
to
Suffer
eviribodi
si
wid
ay
everybody will see with his/her naked eye in this world.
go neked
m
in di
s
we
Id
bi fo yu
go liv no haw yu go do
before
na
it
bi fo yu
before
yu
go
go
hapi
will live will know will do.
you
how you
you'll be happy will know, nobody will know. is you who
soso
it
is
eviridey
everyday
yu
no go no
go
nobodi
tayataya ma de taya soso tayataya eviridey ma de taya soso tayataya eviridey ma de sofa ey papa
it
is
tiredness tiredness
all
man
all
is always tired,
tiredness tiredness
everyday man is always tired, it
is
all
tiredness tiredness
everyday man is always suffering. how?
chika
legos gay
Papa Chika Lagos Guy
haw wi
how
go muv
ten.
is you who
it
na
issues?
Suffer
everybody will see with his/her naked eye in this world.
in
means
I have
go si neked ay in dis weld
eviribodi d
(line 13)
INTERNATIONAL BAND OF GHANA
Sofa
Sofa
wi
said that,
'to understand', 'children'.
or
haw
L:
also know'
you
I must go to your house
with you,
plas yu, yu foget sey yu= wayf de?
60.
can
bypass her.
bapas am. L:
I
shall
we
move
161
in dis na
legos
wao
tayataya
soso
eviridey
chika
moni
don
kos
am
oo
moni
don kos
am
oo
moni,
moni
is tough.
it
is
(this)
Lagos? tiredness tiredness
all
everyday man is always tired,
de taya soso tayataya eviridey ma de taya soso tayataya eviridey ma de sofa ma
papa
in it
it
tiredness tiredness
is all
everyday man is always tired, it is all tiredness tiredness everyday man is always suffering. Papa Chika.
has really caused it. has caused it.
money money
don kos am oo it's money that has caused
wondaful
wonderful.
remi,
Remi,
luk yuo han
it.
(look) be careful about your hands
welwel a
I
beg you. (your) time, little by little.
beg
tek
take
tam
wayo wayo moni
don
kos
am
oo
moni
don
kos
am
oo
moni
don
kos
am
oo
eviridey
ma
de taya
bifo yu go chop
eviridey
ma
ma
everyday man is always tired, you'll eat everyday man is always tired, before you'll get business everyday man is always tired, before you'll sleep everyday man is always tired.
before
de taya
bifo yu go get bisines eviridey ma de taya bifo yu go slip
eviridey
de taya
eh
aha
remi
Remi
luk yuo
han welwel oo
so
a
lak
J:
be careful about your hand,
little
T.K.
and
am
INTERVIEW
1.
(look)
little by
wayo wayo t.k. na
has really caused it. has really caused it. has caused it.
money money money
WITH
KOFI
that
is how I
like
it.
THE SINGER OF "SUFFER SUFFER" (J=Joe; K=Kofi Sammy)
SAMMY,
naw yuo "sofa sofa" yu sin som son wey yu sey sofa sofa way yu sin dis son
now
your
'Suffer Suffer'
you
sang
a
song
in which you say
'Suffer Suffer' why did you sing this song?
162
5.
K:
yu no bifo de go
bon yu no wot yu go do
yu go
you know before you're
born you'll know what you'll do.
J:
mhm
yes.
K:
yu, as yu de yuo papa go tich yu
and
your
J:
mhm
yes.
K:
i go
en
10.
tich
finis teaching you
J:
mhm
yes.
K:
yea
20.J:
a
yes. way
sin
yu
K:
sin
sin
a
fo hwe
am am
thus
....
A
SONG
fo onisa
BY
APOLLO
why I sang.
you sang I
oni.., najeria
sang
On..,
KING
she(m) she(m) jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go she(m) go
wayo go
i
f
a
du
tin
mek yu no jelos if a du ma ti n mek yu no jelos
jelosi
15.
ma
she(m) wayo go she(m) jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go she(m) go
it at Onitsha Nigeria.
JEALOUSY
if a du ma tin mek yu no jelos i f a du ma ti n mek yu no jelos
jelosi
it at where?
INTERNATIONAL BAND OF GHANA
JeLoSI
10.
live,
you'll know that yes, father was spaking the truth. so this thing which father was saying is suffering suffering.
das
5.
you
yu go no a papa de tok tru oo so di s tin wey papa de tok na sofa sofa
15.
1.
as
father will teach you.
he'll
finis
yu se.
you,
If
I
Don't If
I
Don't
do my thing be jealous do my thing be jealous
will be ashamed.
The
jealous
The
trickster will be ashamed.
The
jealous
The
trickster too will be
If
I
Don't If
I
one one
will be ashamed. ashamed.
do my thing be jealous do my thing
be jealous jealous one will be ashamed.
Don't
The The The The
trickster will
be
ashamed.
one will be ashamed. trickster too will be ashamed.
jealous
163
sista
20.
Sister
ee
mek yu no br^da e
jel=>s
mek
yu no sista ee
jel=>s
mek
jelos
yu no
yu
si ma haws yu no jelos if yu si ma wok mek yu no jelos if yu si ma s^n oo mek yu no jelos jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go kwench yu
mek 35.
40.
bi drava
yu a
ma
45.
a
oo
di fi
ren
oo
mek yu no jelos if yu jelos yu
go
If
you
Don't
If
you
Don't If
she(m) go she(m) tu go kwench
ashamed. be
ashamed.
see my thing be jealous see my wife be jealous
you see my son be jealous
Don't
one will be ashamed. trickster too will be finished
The
jealous
The If
you see my house be jealous
Don't If
you see my work Don't be jealous If you see my son Don't be jealous The
one will be ashamed. trickster too will be finished
You
are
The
jealous
a
driver
bus/car conductor.
a
am
is different is different
work
Mine
are
a
teacher
retailer Your work is different Mine is different I
wok di fi ren on
trickster too will
You
bi treda
yuo ma
difiren
bi ticha
yu
The
Your
wok di fi ren own
be jealous jealous one will be
I
bi aboro
yuo
The
Don't
ma son oo no jelos jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go kwench if
jealous
Sister
si
yu
mek
be
Don't
if yu si ma tin mek yu no jelos if yu si ma wayf mek yu no jelos if
30.
jealous
Brother
jelosi go she(m) wayo tu go she(m) 25.
be
Don't
a
am
Don't
be
jealous
you are jealous You'll be ashamed If
will be
ashamed.
jelosi
The
jealous
wayo
The
trickster too will be
one
finished
APPENDIX
GHANAIAN
COMICS
GYATO HOMOTTA
IN
E
PIDGIN
MAGANI presents:
ENGLISH
165
166
hey-sp7money sin/ne.
SINCEY PPOPN. N7E /¡SONY/ / NO PE SPEC T MONEY. NtE Pllrs Pot/EQTY INESE ENEM/ES LlfE
.
MUGEN! GYPTo„ SPECtPl SICK ? PEN i>£ íNORLE SPOIL. YOU SICK POP. INHERE ?mP*E/GO
SR/NO HP.c.You |
NOGOTPUC? / SPY INHERE YovPEY y
ár
167
168
sev¿" bCYFfT r/rr so/^,
smJs&kl) Tt
169
CO/VSIDERIIUG THRT GYPTo'S OPE DESIRE /P THE WORLD /s 70 SLEEP Op P P/OP7PP L/p£ Bfl&Y WPYOj ¡PWT PCT/OP P/LL RE TPKE WOP/? /F HE EXPOSES TVE G/RL, HERJ/SSES THE BODY HE LO /,ES/ (REVER MISS THE NEXT ISSUE. GYPTO SPEC/PL J
170
fdftSS* fto
co/fT'P
171
172
f
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0-V/W'V7^ ¿C
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C£/, Yot;/? £Wí t>£M M VI
B¿-//Y¿> 7-wm..
173
HdMOTTfl
v
p9fe¡-« og
presents:
^MAGANI
174
175
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>...
MAKE
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Tomorrow, / go ask
AGYA BoPkyE him PikiH IHEY E-PEYpoR
MAKE ABOUT ACCRA. OAT...,.
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V
AUMUl/AS/TY, e- B£ HIM
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talk
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NOW, HE £>/£ GO ■ ME. TOO, / NO SABE (NATORf
Go GO POR ACCRA- THEN Nt£ ANP my 8ROPA Go TRAVEL Go
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181
fíLLU/J. DPT POOMPP SPBC M8k£ ) SOUP WELL-WELL - W£lL £-&[ ) prop» u/ll ROE Soup
SuDjtEhlL.^
r.n VJ£ YT/rJ£ O/s’/YR LORRY ff/S'tX Toe you
C¡£Y mfíKB
CHVRcHfl j
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182
183
NI Li 9
3A01
184
FUN
LOVE&
185
FUN
LOVE&
189
sndaa
wnDn
Avao
187
SUPER
Contd.
on
PdfeM?*
188
SUPER
WW9
•.. my mother talk', fear, woman ANb livelong, true. But me Super MUGU
-
TARO, /&£ INTERNATIONAL /MAM.
/ sabe Black woman white woman, chínese woman. Korea wornan.
C 'MON,
YARO PONT SNUB ME. AT
LEAST. / CAN RECOGNISE YOUR BRIEFCASE. SUPER MUGU YARO OF GHANA ANO AFRICA... NA LIE? rtf
^
rrW
SO YOU PONT REMEMBER ESI THE GHANAIAN'WOMAN WHO TOOK‘you To HER HOUSE THE PAY YOU ARRIVAL ■>
YOU SEE IF YOU NO USE YOUR HEAP, YOU GO GíUENCN.PEOFY E BE SMART. BUT ME, SUPER MUGO YARO OF GHANA ANO AFRICA. /BE SMART PASS ALL. •
I
mi
lil.
un
I*. 16
189
i
tVhy did Super Áíugu Yaro International tell the Hotel Manager he was called Alfredo PetT Do youthink Ghanaian gUI betray YaroT Get the answers fromWollO
Yaro has something to/üdet Will the
J--i-
'
irr.—.PMT—i ——
““TSSlSS
190
j
r\
SUPER.
191
192
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