inguistic and literary development of Nigerian pidgin: the contribution of radio drama
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Date
2001-06
Authors
Oloko, P.
Deuber, D.
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Abstract
Radio drama serials aimed at public enlightenment have in recent years become an important feature on Nigerian radio. Many of them employ Pidgin as the'main or only language. Although linguists have suggested that most of the writers who use this language in literature and entertainment lack the necessary competence and produce deviant forms of it, radio drama was one of the categories which received high ratings in a survey of the linguistic appropriateness of a large number of Pidgin texts conducted by the authors. Using the survey data and examples from one drama serial, "Rainbow City", we will thus attempt to show that radio Pidgin has developed to a stage where some texts present what might almost qualify as a standard form of the language. However, we believe that linguistic appropriateness is only one of the factors to be considered ill the assessment of creative texts in Pidgin. We therefore plan to show how, in the drama in question, successful handling of linguistic codes combines with literary factors to enable the author to drive home a serious message in a language that has long been considered the hallmark of ridicule.
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Keywords
Literary development , Nigerian pidgin , Radio drama , Language , Literature , Linguistics
Citation
Paper presented at the MAVEN/ASNEL Conference "The Cultural Politics of English as a World Language"