Nigerian Pidgin: A Solution to the Language Situation in Nigeria and Its Developmental Processes

Abstract

English language has become a medium for communication among people of diverse cultures and tribes in Nigeria. The use of language if looked into, is quite embedded in people’s culture or their way of life. English language serves as a unifying factor for a country like Nigeria with more than (250) two hundred and fifty ethnic groups and well over (525) five hundred and twenty-five indigenous languages without a well articulated language policy to foster unified integration and peaceful co-existence among its member states. Nigeria as a multilingual and multi-cultural country, make Nigerian language communities a diverse and complex society to survive in. This is because people of different ethnic groups, tribes and tongues live together without a common language or culture except for English language which is not spoken by at least 40% of its populace especially when one considers the proficiency of the users of the language. This as a result, made the Nigerian Pidgin language a lingua franca in some geo-political zones in Nigeria and a non-standard in some areas. Linguistic Relativity theory was adopted for this study. This research is a qualitative research with heavy dependence on library sources and interview sessions. Four questions were raised for interview purposes. This interview took place at Choices, an eatery at Awka road Onitsha where twelve persons were purposely interviewed by the researcher which comprises; four males and females and four youths. The researcher made an opinion from the interviewees’ responses using Linguistic Relativity theory. This study therefore established the need for a language policy to manage the linguistic situations experienced in the Nigerian polity. It recommends that the federal government should set up a linguistic institute to equip and incorporate Nigerian Pidgin into our curriculum to serve as a language that unifies our ethnicity and multicultural diversity in Nigeria. To also follow a well articulated language policy that will carry everyone along considering our diversities and cultural differences.