The Role of Nigerian Pidgin English: A Case Study of Army Day Secondary School, Sokoto
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives of the Study
The thrust of this work is largely sociolinguistics and it has the following objectives:
- To show the role of Nigerian pidgin in secondary schools, using Army Day Secondary School,
- To assess the extent of its popularity and the communicative situation within which it is
- To show who uses pidgin and for what
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The issues of pidgin English, its uses, growth and advantages in Nigeria, have been under discussion by different scholars, but not many have examined the role of Nigerian Pidgin English in Secondary Schools. The findings of earlier researchers are however of great benefit to this work. This chapter will therefore be looking at related Literature on Pidgin. The review touches on definitions, the uses, functions and the nature of Nigerian Pidgin.
Definitions of Pidgin
Attempts have been made by different authors and linguists to come up with the definition of Pidgin. Authors, such as Decamp (1971), have been interested in the number of languages needed to produce a true Pidgin. In that stride, Decamp (1971:22) defines that any two languages
In contact can result in ‘interlingual improvisation’ but the development of a true Pidgin requires more than two languages in contact. Whinnom (1971) says: “a Pidgin crops up from a situation involving a target language and two or more substrate languages, but the socially superior target language is usually inaccessible to the substrate speakers”.
It is true as stated that the development of a true Pidgin requires more than two languages in contact. A pidgin language consists of a base language, which continues to be modified by other languages termed as substrates. These substrates vary from place to place. In the Nigerian situation for instance in Lagos, the major substrate would be Yoruba, while in Sokoto, it would be Hausa.
It is important to note that the socially superior target language is now accessible to more substrate speakers because of the influence of formal education. Some substrate speakers are now educated, so they have access to the target language, English.
This reflects the fact that people can be compelled to communicate even if they speak different languages. They do this by coming up with a compromise language, which may not be from any of the languages belonging to any individuals. Although, Pidgin is not only used among people who do not share a common language but is also used among friends (for instance in Army Day Secondary Schools), who share a common goal. Decamp (1977:3) asserts that “There is no agreement on the group of languages called Pidgin and creoles. Linguists all agree that there is such a group, that it includes many languages and large numbers of speakers and that Pidgin-Creole has now become an important field within linguistics.” Todd (1984) opines that “Linguists who over emphasize the birth of a Pidgin in a governed situation overlook the fact that many Pidgins have evolved in non-colonial situations.’’ This is true because, prior to colonialism, various people of different languages have had contacts through trade, military confrontations or various social contacts. All these meetings required communication which means that irrespective of their language disparity, they still communicated somewhat effectively.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the research procedure. The researcher provides the detail of the method of research used in collecting data for the study which also include the instrument used. It defines clearly the target population for the research, the data gathering, instrument used for research, the procedure for data collection and also the data analysis technique.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
The population of this study is the entire students of Army Day Secondary School, Sokoto. However, the sample of one hundred (100) respondents were randomly selected from different categories of students that make up the secondary school. Fifty (50) students were selected randomly from JSS I to JSS and another fifty (50) were selected from SS1 to SS3.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter deals with the summary of the view of the respondents on the research topic, “The Role of Nigerian Pidgin English, Case Study: Army Day Secondary School.” The information contained in this chapter are details of data collected through the use of questionnaire. The questionnaire contains two sections, namely Section A and Section B. Section A showed the demographic characteristics of the respondents while section B contains the questions raised to achieve the objectives of the research.
The data collected are analyzed and tabulated below.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This work centered on the role of Nigerian Pidgin English and how it plays a role in the language use among students of secondary schools, specifically in Army Day Secondary School Sokoto where the research was conducted.
The chapter one of the research is the introductory part that contains the statement of the research problem, significance of the study, aim and objectives and justification. Chapter two is the review of related literature to the topic of this research. It contained the definitions, use, growth, benefits and the roles of Nigerian pidgin.
Chapter three showed the methodology adopted for the research. It contained the population of the study, sampling techniques, tools of data collection, method of data presentation/analysis and justification for choosing the method.
The results of data obtained from the questionnaires administered to the students of Army Day Secondary School Sokoto were analysed in Chapter Four of this project. The chapter composed of two sections – Section A and Section B, while Section A showed the demographic characteristics of the respondents and Section B contains the major questions of the research directed at achieving the aims and objectives of the whole project.
Conclusion
Pidgin English is a language which is spoken by majority of the students of Army Day Secondary School, Sokoto. But, Standard English is the language that is used in the school as the language of instruction and is the language that is accepted by the school. The students believe that Pidgin English has positive effects in their academic performance and it is the language that they use mostly when communicating with their fellow students. Thus, they prefer the language more than Standard English. However, they are of the opinion that Nigerian Pidgin English should not be adopted as the Nigeria National Language.
Recommendations
- The curriculum planners and stakeholders of education should try to come up with a curriculum that will incorporate teaching of Nigerian Pidgin English in Secondary Schools since the language is being understood more than English.
- Since the students use the Nigerian Pidgin English, therefore it is advised that the use of the language should to some extent be allowed in the school while teaching some topics like Mathematics that students often perform poorly in
REFERENCES
- Adekunle, M.A. (1972). The Multilingualism of Language Use. In Lansing E. (ed.), African Studies Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 23.
- Adetugbo, (1990). Nigerian pidgin communicative: New Trend Towards Sustaining. Ibadan: Heinemann Publishers.
- Akinluyi, T.O. (1977). The Place of Pidgin in Nigeria and its Educational Implication. Unpublishd M.A. Thesis, Institute of Education, University of London.
- Alabi, R.O. (1999). Towards the Standardization of Nigeria Pidgin. In Olarewaju, O. (ed.), Advance Studies in Language and Literature, School of Language, Federal College of Education, Birnin, Vol. 1, p. 83-89.
- Crystal, D.C. (1988). The Place of Culture in the Teaching. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell.
- Decamp (1977). Creole Discourse: Exploring Prestige Formation and Change. London: Cambridge University Press.
- Decamp, D. (1971). The Study of Pidgin and Creole Language. In Hymes, (ed.), Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.
