Basics of Pidgin English - Naija Version: 2011

getting started...

I recall several years back when, in the company of a group of friends, we attempted to assess our varying proficiencies in Queen's English-Pidgin English cross-translations.

The deal was to translate complex pidgin expressions without losing any of the integral meanings in the process.

So, "ee don tay sins day break" became 'it's been a while since dawn' and "i no send!" we figured out to be 'i don't give a damn!'

That got me thinking, especially as these days there are no clear rules for pidgin grammar - sometimes you just make it up as you go along.

Let's scratch that, as it's not particularly true. You still have parts of speech in pidgin, with the verbs 'dey' and 'don' featuring as staple devices and also such regular nouns as 'peele' (or paale), and 'oga'.

The most difficult aspect I'd say to constructing pidgin-English expressions is simply the fact that there are many regional variations and there is also the struggle to absorb them all into a generally accepted syntax regime. My best bet would be to regard same-meaning variants in a synonymic fashion - as is the case with other formalised languages.

So, as we begin our journey into the language of pidgin, there are a few points to note:

- the language is in a continuous state of evolution, so no rules are constant.

- our focus would be on pidgin in its true form as spoken in the Niger-Delta region (with occasional forays into the province of variant models)

and ahem... there will be more and more pidgin expressions and less and less proper english phrases as we go on.

Oya, make we carry go!

Saturday, 16 July 2011

1st, second and 3rd person(s) in speech

As subjects:
I - 'ai' or 'ah'
You - 'yu'
He - 'ee' or 'im'
She - 'she' or 'ee' or 'im'
We - 'we'
You (pl.) - 'una'
They - 'dem'

As objects:
Me - 'me'
You - 'yu'
Him - 'am'
Her - 'am'
Us - 'we' (wafi variant) pr 'os'
You (pl.) - 'una'
Them - 'dem' or 'den'