Email this article ‘CHALE SUP’: MOTIVATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF PIDGIN ENGLISH USAGE IN A GHANAIAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
(1) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana
(2) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana
(3) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
The English language is used for official purposes and the language in education in Ghana. However, the continuous penetration of Pidgin English (PE) in Ghanaian Senior High Schools (SHS) has been evident in recent times. The paper focuses on the motivations and perceptions of students, in a Senior High School (SHS) in Ghana, on their use of PE in school. It adopts the various motivations and perceptions of students on the use of PE, as identified in the literature, in a questionnaire survey for the responses of the research participants. The study reveals that PE is used as a concealment strategy in students’ conversations against those outside their group, and as a means of solidarity. However, the participants exhibited mixed perceptions of the use of PE in schools. The paper provides insights into PE usage in Ghanaian SHSs.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Amoako, J. K. Y. B. (1992). Ghanaian pidgin English: In search of synchronic, diachronic, and sociolinguistic evidence (Doctoral dissertation). University of Florida, Gainsville
Ankrah, G. K. (2018). Effects of pidgin English on the teaching of English language in some senior high schools in the Ejura district of Ghana. World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 4(6), 1-12.
Anyidoho, A., & Kropp-Dakubu M. E. (2008). Language, nationalism and national identity in Ghana. In A. Simpson (Ed.), Language and national identity in Africa (pp. 141-157). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Baitie, Z. (2010). Ghana’s pidgin. The Yale Globalist, 23(2). Retrieved from https://globalist.yale.edu/onlinecontent/blogs/ghanas-pidgin/
Dako, K. (2002). Student pidgin (SP): Language of the educated male elite. Institute of African Studies Research Review, 18(2), 53-62.
Dako, K. (2012). The sociolinguistic situation of non-native lingua francas in Ghana: English, Hausa, and pidgin. In H. Lauer & K. Anyidoho (Eds.), The human sciences and humanities through African perspectives (pp. 1474-1484). Accra: Sub- Saharan Publishers.
Dako, K. (2013), Student pidgin: A Ghanaian pidgin-sound-alike youth language. In A. N. Mensah, J. A. Anderson, & P. K. Adika (Eds.), Ghanaian voices on topics in English language and literature (pp. 147- 160). Accra: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd.
Dako, K., & Bonnie, R. (2014). I go SS I go vas. Student pidgin – a Ghanaian youth language of secondary and tertiary institutions. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308169486_'I_go_SS_I_go_Vas'_97_Student_Pidgin_-_A_Ghanaian_Youth_Language_of_Secondary_and_Tertiary_Institutions
Dako, K., & Quarcoo, M. A. (2017). Attitudes towards English in Ghana. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 28(1), 20-30.
Forson, B. E. (1996). An investigation into the argot (pidgin) as a means of communication among students in Ghanaian secondary schools (MPhil Thesis). University of Ghana, Legon.
Forson, B. E. (2006) Student pidgin English (SPE): A neo-Ghanaian English in vitro (Doctoral thesis). University of Ghana, Legon.
Holm, J. (1988). Pidgins and creoles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Holm, J. (2010). Contact and change: Pidgins and creoles. In R. Hickey (ed.), The handbook of language contact (pp. 252–262). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Holmes, J., & Wilson, N. (2017). An introduction to sociolinguistics (5th ed.). New York: Routledge.
Huber, M. (1999). Ghanaian pidgin English in its West African context. (Varieties of English around the world.) Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Huber, M. (2004). Ghanaian pidgin English: Phonology. In B. Kortmann, E. W. Scheider, C. Upton, R. Mesthrie, & K. Burridge (Eds.), A handbook of varieties of English. A multimedia reference tool, 1 (pp. 866-873). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Huber, M. (2012). Ghanaian pidgin. In B. Kortmann, & K. Lunkenheimer (eds.), The mouton world atlas of variation in English (pp. 394-409). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Huber, M. (2014). A report on the use of English lexified Pidgins and Creoles in education in four West African countries: Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia. Retrieved from http://www.hawaii.edu/satocenter/pace/pace_news/8-special.htm
Meyerhoff, M. (2011). Introducing sociolinguistics (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Mireku-Gyimah, P. B. (2018). ‘I dey trust you waa’: Pidgin English as a current spoken communication tool at University of Mines and Technology. Ghana Mining Journal, 18(2), 77 - 86. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gm.v18i2.10
Ofulue, C. I. (2012). Nigerian pidgin and West African pidgins: A sociolinguistic perspective. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 1(Special Edition 2012), 1-42.
Osei-Tutu, K. O. A. (2016), The vocabulary of Ghanaian student pidgin: A preliminary survey. In N. Faraclas, R. Severing, C. Weijer, E. Echteld, W. Rutgers, & R. Dupey (Eds.), Celebrating multiple identities: Opting out of neocolonial monolinguism, monoculturalism and mono-identification in the Greater Caribbean (pp. 191-201). Willemstad: University of Curaçao and Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma.
Pipkins, D. (2004). Pidgin! Make we hear your speak, make we know why chaw students dey luv you. African Diaspora ISPSs, Paper 57. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/african_diaspora_isp/57
Salifu-Asuro, A. (2015). The morphology of contemporary Ghanaian pidgin English. African Journal of Applied Research, 1(1), 345- 362.
Sebba, M. (1997). Contact languages: Pidgins and creoles. New York: PalgraveSimo
Suglo, I. (2012). Language attitudes towards Ghanaian Pidgin English among students in Ghana. Seminar Paper for the proseminar “English in Africa” at Justus-Liebig-Universität Gieβen.
Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2015). An introduction to sociolinguistics. (7th ed.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wiredu, J. F. (2013). The nominal group in Ghanaian student pidgin: Some preliminary observations, In A. N. Mensah, J. A. Anderson, & P. K. Adika (Eds), Ghanaian voices on topics in English language and literature (pp. 161-185). Accra: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/ijhs.v7i1.6975
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2023 Obed Atta-Asamoah, Ebenezer Asare, James Gyimah Manu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Indexed and abstracted in:
IJHS Sinta 3 Certificate (S3 = Level 3)
International Journal of Humanity Studies (IJHS) has been nationally accredited Sinta 3 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia based on the decree No. Surat Keputusan 158/E/KPT/2021. Validity for 5 years: Vol 4 No 1, 2020 till Vol 8 No 2, 2024
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
p-ISSN: 2597-470X (since 31 August 2017); e-ISSN: 2597-4718 (since 31 August 2017)
Notice: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the editorial team or publishers.
International Journal of Humanity Studies (IJHS) is a scientific journal in English published twice a year, namely in September and March, by Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.