Learned decomposition kernels

Some of the main grammatical characteristics of Nigeria Pidgin English are:

a) They have few inflections in their nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives especially in phrases.

b) Nouns are not marked for number or gender.

c) Verbs have no tense markers.

d) Pronouns are not distinguished for case so that most Pidgins use ‘mi’ to indicate ‘I’

and ‘me’.

This can be seen in the examples below.

Pronouns Subject:

Singular Plural

1. a wi 2. yu una 3. i/in dem Object

Singular Plural 1. mi wi/os 2. yu una 3. am/in dem Qualifier

Singular Plural 1. mai ia/awa 2. yo una 3. in dem/den Other features are:

Pronominal

Singular: Plural 1. mi wi

2. yu una 3. in dem Definite Article

Singular: di + noun Plural: di + noun + dem

Singular: won + noun Plural: plenti, meni etc. + noun Demonstrative Article

Singular

• dis + noun :

• dat + noun Plura

• dis + noun + dem l:

• dat + noun + dem

Numerals

won - one, tu - two, tri - three, etc.

di tu - both, di tri - all three, di faif - all five, etc.

won won - one each, tu tu - two each, tri tri - three each, etc.

fes - first, sekon - second, nomba tri - third, nomba faif - fifth, etc.

Prepositions

Little usage of prepositions, all-purpose „fo(r) “, occasional fixed verb-prepositions, as in

‘I vex wit di man’.

Emphasis

Na (it is) / No bi (it is not) + emphasized part of clause + rest of clause

Imperative

Singular: kom kwik! folo am go!

Plural: mek una getop! una sidon!, mek wi go nau Subordinate clauses

se - that, we - who, di tin we - what, wetin - what, til - until, if - if, wen - when, wie - where, bifo - before, mek - so that, etc.

Questions

Yes/No Question: Shebi + clause (no inversion)? - Isn't it the case that...?

Clause-initial question item: (Na) wetin i de du?

nko = what about?: Una mama nko? (How is your mother?) nko = what if?: If a si di man nko? (What if I see the man?)

Non-verbal clauses: Hau nau? (How are things?), Hau bodi? (How are you?), No be so?

(Is it not so?) Tense and Aspect

Present Past Future

1. neutral i kom i go kom

He came he will come

2.

imperfective i de kom i de kom i go de kom he comes/is

coming

He is coming/usually comes

he will be coming/continue coming

3. perfective

a) inchoative i don de kom i don de kom i go don de kom he has started

coming He had started coming he will have started coming b) terminative i don kom i don kom i go don kom

he has

come/arrived He has come arrived he will have come/arrived Aspect and Tense: Examples

1. Past or Present? Watch out for indications of past tense and/or context.

• Wen yo mama rich hie yestade, a de chop- ‘When your mother arrived here yesterday, I was eating’.

• A si am las mont, i stil de krai- ‘I saw him/her last month, he/she was still crying’.

• Dem don chop di chop finish, wen a rich haus las nait- ‘They had eaten the food completely, when I arrived home last night’.

2. Present Perfective

• A don de tek bat- ‘I have started taking my bath (and am still bathing)’.

• A don tek bat- ‘I have taken my bath (and am clean now)’.

3. Future

• A tel mai papa se a go de kom si am evri de- ‘I told my father that I would (will) be coming/will continue coming to see him every day’.

• If wi go fo Lagos fo ivnin, NEPA go don tek lait- ‘If we go to Lagos this evening, NEPA will have taken the light/will have switched off electricity’.

• A go don de kuk di sup wen yu de rich haus fo ivnin-‘I will have started cooking when you arrive home tonight’.

4. Past marker: bin

• A bin chop-‘I ate’.

• A bin de chop- ‘I was eating’.

• A bin don chop- ‘I had eaten’.

5. Translation of the English to be

• as ‘zero’, with an adjective:

o A veks – ‘I was angry’.

o Di tin fain tru tru- ‘The thing is really/truly beautiful’.

• as ‘de’, with a location:

o I still de fo haus- ‘He is/was still at home’.

o Wi de fo Lagos-‘We are/were in Lagos’.

• as ‘na’, when linking to noun phrases (esp. in 1st person singular also ‘bi’):

o Mercedes na dash- ‘Mercedes (cars) are a bribe’.

A bi jos wuman- ‘I am only a woman’

4.3 CONCLUSION

The structure of Pidgin is quite different from that of Standard English in its Phonology, Morphology and Syntax. Nigeria is fast colonizing the West African region with Pidgin English. Pidgin English as spoken in Nigeria is a kind of language derived from English, Portuguese and Dutch. Pidgin English as spoken in Nigeria is interesting with very unique pronunciations. Words in Standard English could turn out to mean or denote something else in Pidgin.

4.4 SUMMARY

Pidgin English as spoken in Nigeria is interesting with very unique pronunciations.

Words in Standard English could turn out to mean or denote something else in Pidgin As Platt, Weber and Ho accurately observe in their book, The New Englishes, (RKP 1984) "In some nations...the New Englishes have developed a noticeable range of different varieties linked strongly to the socio-economic and educational backgrounds of their speakers." It borrows words, patterns and images freely from the mother-tongue and finds expression in a very limited English vocabulary.