CHAPTER ONE

THE IMPORTANCE OF PIDGIN ENGLISH IN BROADCAST / PRINT

1.1  INTRODUCTION

Pidgin English came into existence as a result of the coming of the colonial masters to Africa, the highly respected philosophers – said and I quote, “No language is an Island meaning that language only came into existence through a pre – existed one.  Pidgin English came into existence through English Language.

The coming of the white men to Africa really changed a lot of cultures, languages, norm, ethnics and non – ethics values etc in African.  The language pidgin English started during the colonial era, then, it was very essential for them to understand the white man’s language in order to be able to fit into the happening in the society.

Those days, if a black man manages to understand the white man’s language, he is given a big post ahead his fellow black men for instance is the film titled “The battle of Musanga”, were the major character was “Mr. Johnson because he understands the white man’s language, he was kept ahead of his people as a mediator, intercessor and interpreter between the two recess, and with that, his financial income was somehow above that of his people only his extravagant way of spending made him broke always.

Pidgin English took a solid stand when slaves were freed in Sierraloen (Freetown), when they found themselves in Freetown and having no other language to speak than the English they know, and also considering the fact that most of them has lost their mother tongue as a result of slavery it was then, they started broking the white man’s language (English) into smaller segments in order to understand the message of one another, otherwise known as pidgin / broken English.

Examples of pidgin English is as follows:

PIDGIN ENGLISH

MEANING

GOOD ENGLISH

Make I come

”

I am coming

Make I come?

”

Should I come?

I won go

”

I want to go

You wan fight

”

Do you want t fight?

Make I see person

”

I want to visit some one

I won shop

”

I want to eat

Hungry decatch me

”

I am hungry

Comot for road

”

Go away from the way,

She sabi book?

”

Is she brilliant?

You fit run?

”

Can you run?

E’m feet run o--

”

He might run

I won rest

”

I want to rest

Your head no correct

”

You are crazy?

Go carry my good come

”

Go and bring my food

You be devil

”

You are a devil

Forget my side

”

Forget about me.

Sometimes pidgin English can be mixed together with one native language examples are:

PIDGIN ENGLISH

MEANING

GOOD ENGLISH

You de kolo?

”

Are you mad?

You de yan dust

”

You’ve said rubbish

You deyamtuatin

”

You are saying rubbish

You be hua

”

You are a fool

You be sabi sabi

”

Mr. know all

You be gbeboru

”

A gossip

You don yan okpata

”

You’ve said non sense

All these idioms were used by our fathers then to make sure there was proper information dissemination.  Come to look at it, we shall need this pidgin English language to communicate effectively with a massive number of Nigerians who shall up till this time, do not understand good English because communication without response or feedback in the communication line or fraction simply means that communication has not taken place.

So since communication stands as the life wire of every society, at all spares of the society educational, cultural, industrial, even at the rural levels, the farmers, headsmen traders and labourers require constant dosage of information to function optimally.  The nature of this project narrows our means of communication to the broadcasting and print medium of communication.    

Communication occupies a key position in human existence.  It is the most vital factor in building or developing an organized, united and progressive nation.  Without it, there will be no national development.  It is an established fact that every human activity involves information and communication.

Truly speaking, for an average Nigerian to survive and function well in our modern and developing society, we need information.  He needs to communicate with other in the society just as his physical requirement of food and shelter.  He needs to know what other have in mind and what their feelings as on any particular issue.  He needs instant information about himself, about his government and about the economic state of the nation.  In a nut shall, pidgin English is what ever medium used for dissemination of information, be it in the electronic or print media will always have a positive effect on massive number of the audience or Nigerian community especially in the rural areas.   

1.2  ASSUMPTION

It is highly assumed that the Enugu urban is interest in verbal and print information / communication made in pidgin English.

It is also assumed that the degree of education in Enugu is still pretty low, hence Enugu urban ties usually understands the surface structure of an utterances and paid to come to grips with the underlying meaning of communicated messages in pure English.

1.3  STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS

There has been a lot of misinterpretation / misconception of communicated message by a good number of people in Enugu due to language used in disseminating this massages.

They usually do not understand broadcasting and print information made in pure English language and as such, try to ignore broadcast and printed information made in pidgin English language and develop a negative opinion or attitude towards the program or programmed massages on pure English language, they find it difficult to give a satisfactory and accurate meaning of the communicated messages on pure English language.

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