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http://hdl.handle.net/1808/1789 Each aspect is an area of investigation all by itself. Therefore, the paper examines the social and psychological aspects of the language contact situation. The paper discusses one major problem of multilingualism in Nigeria, which as of today has been left unresearched. Once the problem is placed in its proper perspective, then a permanent solution will emerge with time as long as we do not relent in our efforts at finding a lasting solution to the problem. Language contact and language conflict Anytime languages come in contact a number of things actually come in contact like the people who speak these languages as well as their cultures. Language contact is described as a phenomenon whereby two or more distinct languages are spoken within a speech community. ‘Two or more languages’ according to Weinreich (1974:1), are ‘said to be in contact if they are used alternately by the same persons’. Yusuf (1999:159) is of the view that ‘language contact should be seen in the broad sense of contact between two cultures that can be as a result of conquests, wars, migration, colonization, etc.’ Whenever two languages come in contact within an individual or a community such an individual or host community inevitably becomes bilingual (cf. Crystal 1997). Notice however that bilingualism and bilinguality are relative terms that accept very loose definitions. Thus, the need to ask how (genuinely) bilingual are these bilinguals produced by the contact situation. We hope to answer this question with the data presented here on the Yoruba-English bilinguals of Nigeria. The contact between Yoruba and English The English language is spoken by a large number of people who make up the country, Nigeria. Among these people are the Yoruba who occupy the southwestern part of the country and number between 20 and 25 million. Yoruba is spoken by 22 million second language speakers in other countries of the world (Igboanusi & Peter, 2005: 77; Gimes 2000:202). The Yoruba language has been classified as one of the major languages in Nigeria simply because of the population that speaks it. The language has been developed to the point of being a school subject from the primary school to the University level mainly in the southern part of the country. The English language was introduced to the Yoruba speech community by the Europeans (mainly Portuguese) as far back as 1821. The introduction of English took place in Ile-Ife and other West African countries around this time (i.e., 1821) due to the establishment of trade contact between the Europeans and the Africans. Apart from the traders and explorers, others who introduced the English language into the Yoruba speech community were the missionaries to Africa. Thus, following trade contact, was religion. The Europeans after establishing their trade also brought their religion (Christianity) into the community that is under study. 88
http://hdl.handle.net/1808/1789 The contact of English with Yoruba brought about a simplified form of English known as ‘pidgin’. Pidgin, however, is regarded as the corrupt form of English because its grammar is very different. It has no defined standard grammar or model. Indeed pidgins do not have noun-verb agreement endings. Pronunciations tend towards a pattern of consonant followed by vowel clusters. According to Bamgbose (1995:13) Pidgin is a ‘contact English’. To Odumuh (1987:10), ‘The colonial administration remained the single greatest carrier of English language and culture’. Odumuh observes further: The language of the Colonial Administration (the civil service) was English. Not only did the administrators help to ‘spread’ English language using bureaucratese and officialese: but more importantly in their homes they again did in their interaction with domestic staff—guards, gardeners, stewards, etc. In India these were the nurturing places, which manufactured Butler English; in Nigeria they were responsible for the rise of Nigerian Pidgin, non-standard Nigerian English, and Nig E (p.11). Pidgins “are formed when speakers of one language engage in trade with speakers of another, or work on plantations managed by speakers of another, and neither knows the other’s language” (Le Page 1977:222). Pidgins are no one’s mother tongue. They are used primarily in trading or plantation situations. Thus, Pidgin English is a blend of indigenous languages of the West African coast and English. Pidgin English is learned and used informally in Nigeria in a conscious attempt to participate in communication process in this multilingual society. According to Igboanusi (2002:86) “The influence of Nigerian Pidgin (English) is so overwhelming in recent times that even its most vocal opponents are often forced to use it because of the need to communicate with those who cannot understand English, especially if they are from different linguistic groups”. Thus, the simplified structure of Pidgin and its adaptability to local situations make it possible for both literate and non-literate Nigerians to use it. In cities like Lagos and Abuja or States such as Edo, Delta and Rivers which are heterogeneous pidgin serves as a lingua franca. However, in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa speech communities pidgin is considered as a trade language. Creole is a standardized form of pidgin. It arises when a pidgin language becomes the native language of new generation of children. During the bleakest days of slavery in the western world, only pidgin languages were available as common languages among the several diverse slaves taken from Africa to the sugar came plantation in America and they became the basis for the mother tongue of new generation. Creole can be considered a mother tongue of the Caribbean, some South Americans and Sierra Leoneans of West Africa. It is a standard language with its own pronunciation pattern, rules of grammar, lexicon and meaning (Akindele & Adegbite 2005). 89
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