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I want to make some comments on this discussion, sorry that I'm a bit late
on it.<br>
<br>
First, as Don notes, the article fails to make a distinction between creole
and pidgin language. I suspect that, in Nigeria, both are commonly used,
but there is a very important difference. Pidgins are very non-standardized
forms of communication which indeed hold serious limitations when compared
to other human languages. Creoles, however, are what happens when children
grow up speaking a pidgin, and something rather amazing happens: when spoken
as a native language, the former pidgin suddenly develops the systematic
syntax and complete grammatical system that all human languages have. They
tend to have somewhat limited vocabularies at first, but, like all natural
human languages, they possess the capacity to develop vocabulary, and if
they are used for a variety of purposes, they generally do just that. The
grammar also tends to be somewhat "simple" by some standards, but if we are
to assume that simplicity (always a relative concept when dealing with language)
equals limitation, then we would have to conclude that some of the world's
biggest native languages (Mandarin Chinese and Malay/Indonesian come to mind)
are "limited" as well. <br>
<br>
Now, if indeed, there are children growing up in Nigeria speaking "pidgin
English" as a native language or as one of their natives languages, then
what the article is really talking about is an English-based creole. It's
not equivilent to non-standard English, it is, in fact, a separate language
which would presumably be unintelligible to a native English speaker. Most
linguists would classify it as a separate language: not as a form of English,
but as a new indigenous language. For example, many estimates of the number
of native speakers of various languages in the world do not count Haitian
Creole as a form of French, nor do they not count Jamaicans as native speakers
of English, but rather as native speakers of their own indigenous languages
which happen to derive from colonial languages. Indeed, the Haitian and
Jamaican creoles are structurally far more similar to each other than they
are to the two colonial language which which they derive. <br>
<br>
As such, it is important not to stigmitize languages which the popular media
refers to as "pidgin," as they may in fact be the indigenous language of
an entire society, and the native languages of millions of people. <br>
<br>
Indeed, creole languages are often stigmitized. I remember reading an article
about minorities on the west coast of Nicaragua that face a familiar issue:
they live in a country where Spanish is the only official language, yet
they have their own traditional native language: an English-based creole.
Some schools have experimented with teaching in English, in order to stem
growing language shift to Spanish. However, the standard English used in
textbooks is, for practical purposes, a foreign language to these people.
So, on one side, the creole faces competition from the dominant national
language, and on the other side, being mislabled as a variety of English
puts it in danger as well. That is a terrible dilemma for a language to
find itself in. <br>
<br>
On the other hand, there is a growing movement to give certain creole languages
official status. In Jamaica, for example, the only official language is
English, which most Jamaicans can use to some degree, but as noted above,
most people speak an indigenous creole which is unintelligible to native
speakers of standard English. Because of this, there is now a movement to
make Jamaican Creole a second official language. For those who believe that
creole languages are somehow incapable of being used officially, we've heard
the same arguments in the past about many languages, and the reality has
always been that human languages, when used, turn out to be capable of the
task they are used for. There are, for example, newspapers in some societies
that are written in creole languages, and there are books that are translated
from other languages into creoles--"other languages" including the languages
that the creoles were originally derived from. So, there is no question
that creoles are "good enough" to be used for any purpose. <br>
<br>
Having said that, I agree with many of you that a society like Nigeria should
continue to develop and promote its traditional indigenous languages over
English-based pidgins and creoles. But, you can understand their situation:
although they contains some of the world's largest native languages, regions
tend to be divided linguistically. Some Nigerian indigenous languages have
far more native speakers than do European languages like Danish or Finnish,
but choosing one to be the national lingua franca might create ethnic tensions.
Standard English is supposed to be the lingua franca, but even by liberal
estimates, the majority cannot actually speak it. The "pidgin," whether
it is actually a pidgin, or a creole, or both, may well in fact be the most
common lingua franca already, at least, the one language which is understood
to a reasonably wide degree in all of the country's regions. <br>
<br>
Still, it remains very frustrating that many African languages, even those
with tens of millions of native speakers, cannot enjoy the same status that
much smaller European languages do. It's one of the most damning legacies
of colonialism that I can think of. <br>
<br>
Nevertheless, I do strongly support countries like Jamaica and Haiti giving
their creole languages official status, and developing them in the same way
that native languages of other societies are developed. Seeing that the
native languages of those countries are, unlike in a place like Nigeria,
the only existing indigenous languages that those societies have, it is important
to recognize that creole languages are, essentially, no worse than any other
kind of human language or dialect. <br>
<br>
Mattthew Ward<br>
<br>
Don Osborn wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid018801c3f808$bc00c620$ade4fbc1@gktg001">
<pre wrap="">I've been putting off responding to this item because I wanted to reflect on
it before responding. First the Webbook of African Languages at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html">http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html</a> has a profile of Pidgin along
with Krio (navigate the frames to look under the latter or go directly to
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Krio_root.html">http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Krio_root.html</a> ). Ethnologue of course has
something on it - see <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=PCM">http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=PCM</a>
On Nigerian languages, Ethnologue says "The number of languages listed for
Nigeria is 515. Of those, 505 are living languages, 2 are second languages
without mother tongue speakers, and 8 are extinct." (
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Nigeria">http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Nigeria</a> ) I have heard (no
citation) other estimates of Nigerian languages of ~350. At least part of
the discrepancy may be accounted for by how one defines language.
Pidgins of course are "contact languages" or "a simplified speech used for
communication between people with different languages" (the latter being a
Merriam-Webster def.).
In some measure I guess there may be a creolization of pidgin in parts of
Nigeria (leading to a more or less stable form) but the initial thought is
that a pidgin or even a creole has a limited vocabulary and range of
expression.
All that said, while it certainly makes sense to acknowledge the use of
pidgins, I wonder how helpful it would be to raise the status of a pidgin in
the way implied by the article. In effect where it exists it is there, but
otherwise it adds another layer of language in an already complex situation.
For people who may have one maternal language, use another regional one if
different from the maternal language (e.g., Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo), and learn
English, now they'd have to learn pidgin also.
Would promotion of pidgin mainly serve to 1) hasten the disappearance of
minority languages and 2) institutionalize "dumbed down" expression in the
process?
With regard to Resa's comments, one would be tempted to take the point a
step further - what about the many indigenous languages, and why raise the
status of pidgin more than those?
It is funny that I saw this article at about the same time I learned of a
statement by an African youth conference in Windhoek last year which called
for establishment of a "new panAfrican language." What this and the
promotion of pidgin would seem to have in common - however well intended -
is to complicate not simplify Africa's multilingual situations.
Don Osborn
Bisharat.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bizzaro, Resa Crane" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:CRANEM@MAIL.ECU.EDU"><CRANEM@MAIL.ECU.EDU></a>
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU"><ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU></a>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: Make Pidgin English Lingua Franca
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi, all. As a person who speaks standard English and at least two
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->regional
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">dialects from eastern NC, I'm in favor of incorporating dialects into
standardized tests. What would that do to the No Child Left Behind
Initiative, which is seriously affecting the schools in my county? :-)
Great idea!
Resa
-----Original Message-----
From: Hishinlai' [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:fnkrs@UAF.EDU">mailto:fnkrs@UAF.EDU</a>]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 1:00 AM
To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU">ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</a>
Subject: Make Pidgin English Lingua Franca
As we've all experienced from some other time, not too long ago, I think
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->we
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">know a "news article" hardly ever covers the facts. For me, given the
gravity of this statement "that there are easily 500 mother tongues in the
country, which can be classified under dead, dying, moribund or living
languages.", it would be interesting to see how he can back-up a "Pidgin
English Lingua Franca."
Maybe in the U.S., we could adopt non-standard English that is appropriate
regionally. Wow! I wonder what the NCLB initiative would think of that if
they had to institute those types of tests in the schools? Hishinlai'
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">===== Original Message From Indigenous Languages and Technology
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU"><ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU></a> =====
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Make Pidgin English Lingua Franca
>From Iyefu Adoba in Abuja
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20040218news31.html">http://www.thisdayonline.com/news/20040218news31.html</a>
A Director of research programmes from the National Centre for
Scientific Research in France, Professor Bernard Caron, has made a case
for Pidgin English as a lingua Franca in the country.
Speaking in Abuja at a lecture titled "Why Study Minority Languages in
Nigeria," Professor Caron, who has been in and out of Nigeria for the
past 17 years, regretted that despite Pidgin being an important Lingua
Franca, it is hardly mentioned in the language policy of the country.
"Why is the language policy silent on Nigerian Pidgin which is used in
families and is a first language for many children?" queried the
Professor.
He noted that English is the de facto official language in the
bureaucratic and educational system, while the 3 major languages of
Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa remain the major national potential languages.
Noting that Pidgin is commonly used in songs, the Professor however
observed that very little literature, if any at all, exists in Pidgin
and asked if there is any future literary for Pidgin which can be
easily read in Nigeria and even outside the country.
Caron said Nigeria is a well known country of many languages, adding
that there are easily 500 mother tongues in the country, which can be
classified under dead, dying, moribund or living languages.
The Professor said the study of minority languages helps provide better
knowledge of the culture of the people and helps fight illiteracy.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Hishinlai'
"Kathy R. Sikorski", Gwich'in Instructor
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Native Language Center
P. O. Box 757680
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7680
P (907) 474-7875
F (907) 474-7876
E <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:fnkrs@uaf.edu">fnkrs@uaf.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ANLC-L@www.uaf.edu/anlc/">ANLC-L@www.uaf.edu/anlc/</a>
Laraa t'ahch'yaa kwaa k'it tr'agwah'in. Nigwiinjik kwaa k'it juu
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->veet'indhan
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">veet'indhan ts'a' nak'arahtii kwaa k'it ch'andzaa. or
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt, and
Dance like you do when nobody's watching."
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
</pre>
</blockquote>
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