Englishes?

It was Sir Shina Peters who sang ‘Grammar, grammar no be my language’ some years back. Obviously, a grammatical blunder he committed led him to be on the defensive. If I still remember correctly, he wished someone who was sick at the time quick recover instead of quick recovery. It was a good headline for many tabloids and soft-sell magazines at the time. It was even rumoured that Wole Soyinka, the master of the English language himself, who one should expect to be allergic to bad English, endorsed Shina Peters’ grammar. A kind of re-creation or is it re-invention of language, you’d agree?

Truly, that is just what many of these igilangos (for so are those who have a mastery of the English language are called) have done to a language handed down to them by the colonial masters. The likes of Chinua Achebe beautifully re-create the English language to accommodate some syntax of their different indigenous languages.

Lately, there have been many issues regarding the English Language. Even in the Queen’s country, The Great Britain. Recently when I was in the U.K, a friend expressed her concern about the quality of spoken English in England. And she worries her four year old son will end up picking up the bad English.        Can you imagine someone saying:  “Init?” instead of “Isn’t it?”

In Nigeria has been accused of fast colonising the West African region with Pidgin English. But is that the case with Britain too?  I can make a case for Pidgin English in Nigeria but how do one do the same for the variant spoken in Britain? Pidgin is a common language everywhere in Nigeria today. And I must say that we have been really creative about it. There are now variants of the language now such that when a Warri, Yoruba or Hausa man speaks pidgin, you will know instantly where he is from.

The origin of Pidgin is a combination of several languages resulting from contact between European traders and local peoples. Although the history origin of Pidgin in Nigeria is remarkably unknown, it is believed that the language may have originated in the present south-south region of the country.

Really, the English language could be a bit confusing at times and you will agree with me that na wa for this language of colonialisation which most times we try to re-invent, re-create, or re-adjust to suit our communication needs. We are in the days when mistakes are quickly seen or turned into style— grammatical errors inclusive!

FUNKE OSAE-BROWN