Comedy and Nigerian Pidgin English
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria, a federal republic in West Africa, is a multilingual country with “an estimated 516 languages,” (Gordon 2005) each one playing a very important part in the community where it is in use. There are other nonnative languages like English, French, Arabic, Chinese, German and Russian that likewise exist. Nigerian Pidgin English, henceforth referred to as (NPE) is presently spoken by more than 75 million Nigerians (BBC World Service) as their first or second language.
Pidgin English has been defined by The Random House Dictionary of English language (1987) (as cited in Olatunji, M.O., 2009) as:
An auxiliary language that has come into existence through the attempts by the speakers of two different languages to communicate, and this is primarily a simplified form of one of the languages with reduced vocabulary and grammatical structure and considerable variation in pronunciation.
As will be shown in this paper, the traits of Nigerian comedy includes the use of Pidgin English to cut across a diverse country like Nigeria making it extremely lively, entertaining and easy to comprehend by the literate and uneducated populace.
BACKGROUND
Historically, Nigerian Pidgin English originated in the “initial interactions amongst Nigerian and European traders and European tour into Nigeria through missionary works”(Farcalas 1996).It is derived from several European languages mainly English, Portuguese and Dutch and various Nigerian languages. When Nigeria was finally colonized by the British, NPE was developed and substituted for English language.
A study which examines the origins of NPE confirms that “it arose from the urgent communication needs of the contact between the visiting Europeans and their multi-lingual Nigerian hosts” (Elugbue & Omanor, 1991. p.21).
Yet, while English has to be learned primarily in the classroom, NPE can be learned either naturally as a first language or knowingly, through casual communication with speakers on the streets. Conversely, one major problem identified with NPE is that it:
Falls short in the area of conventional orthographic and is yet to have standardized morphemic and phonetic symbols. Thus, most NP words are spelt as closely as they approximate English, as they are distanced from English, or as they reflect the conventions in the user’s indigenous language all determined by the context of use. (Adetunji, 2013)
Among more educated Nigerians, Nigerian Pidgin English suffers from a stereotype as the non-language of uneducated people, unable to express complex ideas and inappropriate for public occasions. At the same time, Deuber (2005:51) speaks of the ‘covert prestige’ enjoyed by the language, especially in urban areas, which is connected to the expression of intimacy and truthfulness among young peers. English is the official language in Nigeria. Only roughly 20% of Nigerians speak English as one among their first languages. ( Alo and Mesthrie, 2004; Adetugbo, 1977; Igboanusi, 2002, Jibril, Gut 2004; 1986; Bamgbose et al. 1995; Mbisike, 2006; among others). For most of the population, English remains a second or a third language which is not easily accessible (Faraclas, 2004).
Today, the use of NPE has pervaded all aspects of the traditional, political and socioeconomic life of Nigeria. Practically every Nigerian knows how to speak or understand NPE. Hence, it has come to be the unofficial language of commercials, showbiz, music, literature and other forms of information projected for utilization and use by the masses.
STAND-UP COMEDY
Stand- up comedy in Nigeria started in 1993 when the prime mover and pioneer Alleluja Atupota Akpobome (a.k.a. Ali Baba) entertained audiences frequently at various nightspots in Lagos. He launched professional stand-up comedy in Nigeria and was the number one comedian of Nigeria’s past Head of State Olusegun Obasanjo. Ever since, he has coached, influenced and motivated many comedians particularly Ayo Makun(a.k.a. AY), Basket Mouth, I Go Die, Klint the Drunk, LepaciousBose, Aboki and Gordon (all stage names).
The utmost birthplace of Nigerian stand-up comedy is “Night of a Thousand Laughs,” a countrywide road- show created in 1996 and performed at intervals in the country’s major cities. In any appearance, a comedian is given 10–15 minutes to make a seated audience laugh, in monologues combined with musical performances, mimes and pantomimes. Apart from the established Night of a Thousand laughs, specific national and international events or holidays provide opportunities for stand-up comic shows. Similarly, a number of nightclubs particularly in the main Nigerian towns of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt serve comedy as part of their menu.
One of the major approaches Nigerian stand up comedians use to capture their audiences in humor creation and amusement is the use of Pidgin English. They mostly perform in Pidgin English because they realized that executing in Standard British English would decrease the subversive and liberating effects, the size of their audience and make the jokes mechanical. The choice of NPE by most of these comedians who are university degree graduates is seen “additionally as an affiliative resource, an index of a desire to speak with, rather than to their audiences” (Akin Adetunji, 2013. p.3).
In the following call excerpts, (Adetunji, A.,2013) “I Go Die” caricatures the bias of Nigerian females exaggerated and synthetic make up predicting his argument on a premise, for which he seeks out the audience’s agreement: Nigerian women are greater liars than Nigerian men.
The non-English words are italicized and interpreted directly opposite the expressions.
Additionally, experience has proven that guests at parties whether formal, semi-formal, informal or personal look forward to the slots of comedians for amusement and refreshment for the sake of their rib cracking jokes. Worthy to mention here that partying in Nigeria, is an agenda for socialization and a valuable part of socio-political life in Nigeria that bisects the rural and metropolitan population.
MUSIC
Another level in which NPE registers is in the Nigerian music industry particularly with the emergence of Nigerian Hip hop. None of the national languages in Nigeria have as much efficacy and power as NPE in hip-hop. When Nigerian hip-hop artiste’s lyrics move beyond Nigeria, NPE gains more significance because non-Nigerians understand it better than they would understand Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or any other Nigerian language (Akande 2012). The reason for this is that the vocabulary of NPE is drawn largely from English (Faraclas 2004). Moreover, while many of the languages in Nigeria can go into extinction because they have restricted geographical spread and numerical strength, NPE, which has the widest geographical spread and highest numerical strength (Faraclas 2004) is not likely to die soon. Therefore, a language which is marginalized at home, but not officially recognized (Akande and Salami 2010), profits at the global level, whereas those languages that are considered as national languages lose.
Yabis music is defined as “a biting satirical song that is deliberately composed with the aim of correcting an atrocity, a misdemeanor or sacrilege committed by either an individual or a corporate body within a particular society.” (Olatunji, M.O. 2009.p. 310) This is in line with what Afolabi (2004: 151) described as ‘correction of vices’. When viewed in line with some forms of performances in other creative arts disciplines such as theatre arts, film, and dance, one may convincingly assert that Yabis music, like comedies, exposé plays and some other forms of satirical song is an effective means of correcting vices and misdemeanors in any society.
Yabis or Yab in NPE plainly means to tease a person or a thing. The Nigerian musician who pioneered and saw to the spread of Yabis music in Nigeria was the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, The word Yabis became very common among residents of Lagos State in Nigeria in the 1970s, when Fela began his musical concerts at his ‘African Shrine’ Lagos Mainland.
In line with the satirical nature of Yabis music in content and concepts, Eedris Abdukareem (a Nigerian rap music star), African China and Daddy Showkey all use Yabis music to move people into action against oppressive rules, bribery and corruption, looting of the nation’s treasury amongst other things.
Nigeria jagajaga
Everything scatter scatter
Poor man dey suffer suffer
Gbosa gbosa
Gunshot I dey hear
Nigeria is in chaos
Everything in disarray,
The masses are suffering,
Gbosa(the sound of gunshot)
Has become an everyday phenomenon.
An excerpt from Eedris’ song (Olatunji, O. 2009) goes thus:
POETRY
Ezenwa-ohaeto (1995) in his paper affirmed that:
Pidgin English sustains the works of literature and at the same time is a language that bridges orality; absorbs several cultural elements as it communicates, gives the Nigerian writer the ability to speak with the knowledge of an insider as well as making the writer a real nationalist.(1995, P.69)
The creative aspect of the use of NPE by Nigerian writers in a study of Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and Wole Soyinka argues that NPE is
Used for humor as well as for character portrayal and can also be employed to explore deeper meanings, to explain the reasons behind a characters actions, and to project and foreground certain themes that are central to the plays concerned” (Research on Wole Soyinka.1993. P.22).
For example, The trials of Brother Jero and Jero’s Metamorphosis written in Pidgin English, illustrates the stylistic effect of NPE in Soyinka’s writing. In writing a sizeable portion of the plays in NPE, Soyinka raised the language beyond the level of usual decorative functions and recognized it as a crucial element of the play. For Soyinka, “NPE is no longer animal babble. He has discovered its full potential and now even those who do not understand the language are shown to be missing a lot.” (Research on Wole Soyinka. 1993.p. 20).
The excerpts below illustrate this claim:
Sometimes, Soyinka’s prose style in NPE is used satirically to demonstrate the social class of the character. Interestingly, Soyinka also wrote songs in NPE performed by musicians with the goal of satirizing the then Nigeria head of state for his wasteful spending, his failed manifestoes, and the crooked practices of his government amidst the protest of a typical Nigerian ordinary civilian.
PROVERBS
Proverbs are sayings that contain treasures of traditional wisdom which are passed from generation to generation. They reflect practical knowledge; profound thinking and truth gained through experience which reflects their way of life and are deeply rooted in the people’s cultural tradition.
The use of NPE in proverbs and tales no doubt is a vital ingredient and tool because it injects humor into the proverbs alongside the lessons to be learnt from it. For example, “Who dash monkey banana?”(There are no free lunches or freebies) and “Wetin concern fish with raincoat” (What has the fish got to do with raincoat) are examples that demonstrates that sayings in proverbs enable speakers to succinctly communicate a lot of vital and valuable information.
CONCLUSION
The neutrality, flexibility and simplicity of NPE accounts for its acceptance and huge appeal chiefly at the grass root level. Although the breakdown provided in this paper is not comprehensive, this article hopes to have asserted the value, traits and the comic use of Nigerian Pidgin English to cut across barriers in various facets of life in Nigeria in general.
References
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