Skip to main content

Evolution of Naija - Nigerian Pidgin

Evolution of Naija - Nigerian Pidgin
Egbilika, Josiah Chijindu

Over the years there have been the claim and proud emphasis on British being the first contact to Nigerian Pidgin, thus the dominance in the language. This has made it seem as though Nigerian Pidgin is a bastardization of English with so many Nigerians calling it “Broken Bottle”.
This notion has caused a let-down on the language and outright rejection from most Nigerians. The fact that the language is not even an official language in the country gives it another blow to its jaw.

Is Naija-Nigerian Pidgin purely English Originated?
An x-ray on the historical path of the language as written by David Esizimetor and Francis Egbokhare reviews lot:
The Portuguese were the first group of Europeans to visit and explore coastal Nigeria, especially around the area now known geo-politically as the Niger Delta. They started trading with the people of the region from as early as 1469AD. They established strong diplomatic ties between some of the great kingdoms of the region and Portugal.

They established schools and churches where they taught Portuguese and the doctrines of Christianity in the region. And this brought their language close to languages of the Niger Delta for an extended period of time. This, of course became crucial to the evolution of Naijá, which started out as a Portuguese-based pidgin in the Niger Delta.

Since the Niger Delta region was made up of diverse communities of Annang, Edo, Efik, Ibibio, Igbo, Ijaw, Isoko, Itsekiri and Isoko speaking peoples with no known or well-established common language of communication, it was therefore easy for many Niger Deltans to learn the Portuguese-based pidgin of the Niger Delta at that time.

After the Portuguese left the region, the Dutch followed and traded at the eastern end of the region for about half a century. They were then followed by the French who visited the region intermittently till even after the English arrived in 1650 AD to take effective control of trade in the region.

The English were initially interested in trade. But between the 1700s and the 1800s, this initial interest metamorphosed from trade to religion, from religion to education, and to a colonial focus. These changing interests came to mean change for the language situation of the Niger Delta.

With the introduction of English into the Nigerian environment, the existing Portuguese-based pidgin of the Niger Delta started evolving in the new direction of the language of the new politically dominant group, the English. In time English, the language of the English, supplanted Portuguese as the major lexifier of Naijá. By the 1900s, the now stable English-based Naijá started spreading across the emerging Nigerian nation.

And by the time Nigeria gained her independence from Britain in 1960, the language had not only become popular among those who could not speak standard British English but became commonly spoken among the multilingual populations of the big cities. Today the language has more speakers than any other language in the country.

The language is used in virtually all aspect of life and environs. Still there is a neglect and let-down on the language. The reasons are not far fetch. This is due to some misconception about Naija - conceptions that are not the true picture of the language (This is discussed separately). Naija-Nigerian Pidgin is indeed a full blown “Language”.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

20 More Nigerian Words Included In Oxford Dictionary

by: Josiah Egbilika  Just like in 2020 when 29 Nigerian words, such as danfo, okada, next tomorrow, and mama put were included in the Oxford Dictionary, another milestone has been achieved in 2025 as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a more collection of Nigerian words to its latest update. In this latest update, 20 new words were included into the dictionary with majority of them from being lexicons from Nigerian Pidgin.  The words added to the dictionary include: 1. 419 2. abi 3. adire 4. agbero 5. area boy 6. cross-carpet 7. cross-carpeting 8. eba 9. Edo 10. gele 11. jand (noun, verb) 12. janded (adjective) 13. Japa (noun, verb) 14. Kanuri 15. Kobo 16. Naija 17. suya 18. Yahoo 19. Yahoo boy, and 20. Yarn Dust These additions showcase Nigeria’s cultural diversity, daily life, and street culture while highlighting the rising influence of Nigerian Pidgin across Africa and beyond. The 20 included words are in addition to at least 57 Nigerian words already in the dic...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Global Call To Protect The Child's Right To Indigenous Language

by: Josiah Egbilika It is a well and known fact in Nigeria that May 27 of every year is used to celebrate the importance and existence of children. The day was set aside as a universal children's day every November 20 in 1954 but was first established for May 27 in Nigeria after the degree of 1964. The essence of the day is to create and enhance awareness of the rights of children in the society so everyone will adore and respect these rights and ensure children have a better growing life. Unfortunately, recent accounts have revealed a massive downplay to the protection of the rights of children in the country. A United Nations report shows that six out of every ten children experience some form of violence, one in four girls and ten per cent of boys have been victims of sexual violence with 23 million girls forced to child marriage. Beyond these abuses, one of such rights of the child that have received low attention over the years is the right to indigenous language. The right to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Babies Learn Language Earlier Than We Realized, Study Reveals

By Eylem Altuntas Babies are like little detectives, constantly piecing together clues about the world around them. If you've ever noticed your baby staring at you while you talk, it's because they're picking up on more than just sounds – they're learning how those sounds are made. Our recent study, published in Developmental Science, shows this amazing process starts as early as four months old, shaking up the old belief that babies learn these patterns only after tuning in to their native language between 6 and 12 months of age. It also gives us an earlier window to help children who might be at risk of speech or language delays. Sorting through a buffet of sounds By their first birthday, babies are already fine-tuning their ears to the sounds of their native language in a process called perceptual attunement. Think of it like their brain sorting through a buffet of sounds to focus on the ones that matter most. But in their first six months, babies can tell apart soun...
Post a Comment
Read more