Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-fv566 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T21:10:04.475Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The function of Student Pidgin in Ghana

Why do Ghanian students who are proficient in Standard English choose to speak Student Pidgin?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Laura Rupp
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The emergence of Student Pidgin in Ghana is estimated to have started fairly recently: between 1965 and the early 1970s (Huber, 1999; Dako, 2002). Male students in high prestige senior secondary schools and universities have been credited with leading in the development of Student Pidgin. The use of Student Pidgin has since been spreading among some girls and is currently found in an increasing number of contexts, including the home. The fact that students use Student Pidgin seems unexpected, considering the fact that they are competent speakers of Standard English.2 In this context, the question to consider is what underlies this behavior? This has been the subject of recurrent debate. Educational authorities typically feel that Student Pidgin reflects the fact that the standard of English in Ghanaian senior secondary schools and universities has fallen. An example of this comes from a speech given by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, on 28 October 2002:

[He] expressed concern about the standard of English among university students and advised them to desist from speaking Pidgin English, which he said would not help them. Speaking at this year's matriculation of 7,959 freshmen out of the 10,301 admitted into the University, Prof Asenso-Okyere said there was evidence of deterioration in English Language among students in their examinations and theses, which some employers had also complained about.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 13 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albakry, M. A. & Ofori, D. M. 2011. ‘Ghanaian English and code-switching in Catholic churches.’ World Englishes, 30, 515–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asenso-Okyere, K. 2002. ‘Stop speaking Pidgin English – Vice Chancellor.’ Online at <http://www.modernghana.com/news/27264/1/stop-speaking-pidgin-english-vice-chancellor.html> (Accessed July 31, 2013).+(Accessed+July+31,+2013).>Google Scholar
Auer, P. 1999. ‘From codeswitching via language mixing to fused lects: Toward a dynamic typology of bilingual speech.’ The International Journal of Bilingualism, 3, 309–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BBC Focus on Africa. 2006. ‘Ghana appears united for jubilee.’ Online at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6173543.stm> (Accessed August 1, 2013).+(Accessed+August+1,+2013).>Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Gijsels, M. 1990. ‘On the functionality of English interferences in Campus Kiswahili.’ Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 21, 87–104.Google Scholar
Bobda, A. S. 2000. ‘The uniqueness of Ghanaian English pronunciation in West Africa.’ Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 302, 185–98.Google Scholar
Bucholtz, M. 1999. ‘“Why be normal?” Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls.’ Language in Society, 28, 203–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornips, L. 2006. ‘Intermediate syntactic variants in a dialect-standard speech repertoire and relative acceptability.’ In Fanselow, G., Féry, C. & Vogel, R. (eds), Gradience in Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 85–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. 2007. ‘RP and its successors.’ Online at <http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml> (Accessed August 1, 2013).+(Accessed+August+1,+2013).>Google Scholar
Dako, K. 2002. ‘Student Pidgin (SP): the language of the educated male elite.’ Research Review, 18, 53–62.Google Scholar
Erling, E. J. 2004. ‘Globalization, English and the German university classroom: a sociolinguistic profile of students of English.’ Unpublished PhD thesis. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Fuller, J. M. 2009. ‘“Sam need gun go war”: performances of non-standard-English in the construction of identity.’ Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13, 659–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guerini, F. 2008. ‘Multilingualism and language attitude in Ghana: a preliminary survey.’ Ethnorema, 4. Online at <http://www.ethnorema.it> (Accessed August 27, 2012).+(Accessed+August+27,+2012).>Google Scholar
Holmes, J. & Meyerhoff, M. 1999. ‘The community of practice: Theories and methodologies in language and gender research.’ Language in Society, 28, 173–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, M. 1999. Ghanaian Pidgin English in its West African Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, M. & Dako, K. 2004. ‘Ghanaian English: morphology and syntax.’ In Kortmann, B. & Schneider, E. (eds), A Handbook of Varieties of English. Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax. Berlin: Mouton, pp. 854–65.Google Scholar
Owu-Ewie, C. 2006. ‘The language policy of education in Ghana: A critical look at the English-only policy of education.’ In Mugane, J., Hutchison, J. P. & Worman, D. (eds), Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages and Linguistics in Broad Perspectives. Somerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 76–85.Google Scholar
Owusu-Ansah, L. K. 1997. ‘Nativisation and the maintenance of standards in non-native varieties of English.’ In Kropp Dakubu, M. E. (ed.), English in Ghana. Accra: Ghana English Studies Association, pp. 22–36.Google Scholar
Pipkins, D. 2004. ‘Pidgin make we hear you speak, Make we know why chaw students dey luv you.’ African Diaspora ISPS, SIT Graduate Institute. Online at <http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/african_diaspora_isp/57>. (Accessed August 27, 2012)..+(Accessed+August+27,+2012).>Google Scholar
Sekyi-Baidoo, Y. 2011. Ghanaian Pidgin English, Sentence Type and Structure. Lambert Academic Publishing. Available via https://www.lap-publishing.com.Google Scholar
Swigart, L. 1992. ‘“Two codes or one?” The insiders' view and the description of codeswitching in Dakar.’ Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 13, 83–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taeldeman, J. 2007. ‘Het Vlaamse taallandschap verschraalt.’ De Standaard, 7 July 2007. Online at <http://www.standaard.be/cnt/j41egt8e> (Accessed August 2, 2013).+(Accessed+August+2,+2013).>Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. 1974. The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar