THE EFFECT OF PIDGIN ENGLISH IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF UYO
CHAPTER 1
1.1 Introduction
Nigeria is certainly one of the linguistically diverse nations with a projected 516 languages (Gordon, 2005), each one hasan important function and a significant role in the society wherever it is in use. It is exciting to know that Pidginseparately exists from several local languages which constitute the mother tongue or second language of Nigerians,foreign languages such as English, French, and Arabic, similarly exist. English has become an official language, and formost people a second language in Nigeria. On the other hand, Nigerian Pidgin English, with possibly the largest numberof speakers, has also developed as an outcome of contact of English alongside the native languages (Dada 2007:87).
Language conduct implicates social meanings relative to social customs in an identified speech community. Languageattitude study is not only a way of understanding how language is used, for example, as a symbol of identity or in-groupmembership, but also helps to inform the social importance of a given code or language (see Adegbija, 1994; Ihemere2006; Salami 1991). Therefore, attitudinal studies of language are important to linguistics because they could help toexplain language maintenance and shift, which is distinctly influenced by the change or maintenance, which is favouredor disfavoured by members of the speech community (Mann 1993; 1998).
One of the most important differences between man and animal is man’s ability to speak and make others understand him. Language is only possible because within each society, people agree to understand a particular pattern of sound in a particular way. For instance, all English speaking countries understand the meaning of the word ‘water’. According to Akindele and Adegbije, language is:
“A human phenomenon that has form which can be described in terms of units of sound (phonemes), word, morphemes, phrases, sentences and paragraphs or discourse”
This definition shows that language has often been identified as the most unique attribute of man. It is through language that human beings grasp and understand reality and transmit it from one generation to another. This view is buttressed by Blakar who asserts that “we actually live and behave in a world of language”. Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman quoted Noam Chomoky as saying that:
“When we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the human essence. The distributive qualities of the mind that are so far as we know unique to man”
