Ghanaian Pidgin English in its West African Context: A Sociohistorical and Structural Analysis

339 Pages·1999·33.88 MB·English

by  Magnus Huber

GHANAIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH
IN ITS WEST AFRICAN CONTEXT
Varieties of English Around the World
General Editor:
Edgar W. Schneider
Department of English & American Studies
University of Regensburg
Universitätsstraße 31
D-93053 REGENSBURG
Germany
[email protected]
Editorial Assistants:
Alexander Kautzsch, Andreas Hiltscher, Magnus Huber (Regensburg)
Editorial Board:
Michael Aceto (Puerto Rico); Laurie Bauer (Wellington)
J.K. Chambers (Toronto); Jenny Cheshire (London)
Manfred Görlach (Cologne); Barbara Horvath (Sydney)
Jeffrey Kallen (Dublin); Thiru Kandiah (Colombo)
Vivian de Klerk (Grahamstown, South Africa)
William A. Kretzschmar, Jr. (Athens, GA)
Caroline Macafee (Aberdeen); Michael Montgomery (Columbia, SC)
Peter Mühlhäusler (Adelaide); Peter L. Patrick (Colchester)
GENERAL SERIES
Volume 24
Magnus Huber
Ghanaian Pidgin English in its West African Context
A sociohistorical and structural analysis
GHANAIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH
IN ITS WEST AFRICAN CONTEXT
A SOCIOHISTORICAL
AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
MAGNUS HUBER
University of Regensburg
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huber, Magnus.
Ghanaian pidgin English in its West African context : a sociohistorical and structural
analysis / Magnus Huber.
p. cm. (Varieties of English Around the World, issn 0172-7362 ; v. G24)
Updated and slightly rev. ed. of the author’s thesis (Ph. D.~University of Essen, 1998)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
1. Pidgin English-Ghana. 2. Pidgin languages—Africa, West-History. I. Title. II. Series.
PM7891.Z9G494 1999
427’.9667-dc21 99-43481
isbn 978 90 272 4882 4 (EUR) / 978 1 55619 722 2 (US) (Hb ; alk. paper)
© 1999 – John BenJamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · P.O. Box 27519 · Philadelphia pa 19118-0519 · usa
This book is dedicated
to my father
who died in 1995
while I was doing field-work in Ghana

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xii i
Maps x v
1. Introductio n 1
1.1 Ghan a 2
1.2 Previou s studies on Ghanaian Pidgin English 2
1.3 A note on the data used in the present study 4
1.4 Scop e of the work 6
2. A sociohistorical account of Pidgins on the Gold Coast 9
2.1 Th e period of Portuguese dominance, 1470-1600 1 0
2.1.1 Th e nature of Afro-Portuguese contact on the Gold Coast 1 1
2.1.2 Earl y restructured Portuguese in West Africa 1 4
2.1.2.1 Evidenc e from early travel accounts: the Lingua Franca connection? 1 5
2.1.2.2 Earl y West African Pidgin Portuguese: linguistic data 1 9
2.1.2.3 Th e use of Pidgin Portuguese after the period of Portuguese dominance 2 7
2.1.2.4 Summary : early West African Pidgin Portuguese as a trade jargon 3 0
2.2 Th e arrival of the Dutch and English in the 17th century 3 1
2.2.1 Th e conditions of Afro-European coexistence in pre-colonial Lower Guinea 3 3
2.2.2 Earl y restructured English on the Gold Coast 4 0
2.2.3 Th e users of early restructured English on the Gold Coast 4 4
2.2.3.1 Fre e Africans in periodic contact with anglophone traders 4 5
2.2.3.2 African s in the service of whites 5 1
2.2.3.3 Th e mulattos 5 4
2.3 Summary : early West African Pidgins as jargons 5 7
3. Excursus : The settlement of the Sierra Leone peninsula, 1787-1850 5 9
3.1 Th e main settler groups 5 9
3.1.1 Th e Original Settlers 5 9
3.1.2 Th e Nova Scotians 6 1
3.1.3 Th e Jamaican Maroons 6 3
3.1.4 Th e Liberated Africans 6 3
3.2 Othe r population groups 6 5
3.2.1 Europeans , indigenous Africans, and others 6 5
3.2.2 Th e Krumen 66
3.3 Th e linguistic ecology of early Sierra Leone colony society 7 0
4. The origin and development of West African Pidgin Englishes:
linguistic data 7 5
4.1 Earlies t and most recent attestations of selected WAPE features 7 6
4.1.1 Note s on the features 8 6
4.1.1.1 Copular space 8 6
4.1.1.2 Ver b Phrase 9 2
4.1.1.3 Nou n Phrase 9 6
viii CONTENTS
4.1.1.4 Lexica l and functional items 9 7
4.1.2 Classifyin g the features: Krio (class 1) and WAPE (class 3) items 10 5
4.1.3 Item s independently attested in Krio and the WAPEs (class 2) 10 5
4.2 Calculatin g affinities between restructured Englishes in West Africa and
the New World 10 7
4.2.1 Th e transmission of Krio features in West Africa 11 9
4.3 Atlanti c and beyond: Pacific Pidgin Englishes and "Traders' English" 12 9
4.3.1 Th e nature of early English overseas jargon 13 2
4.3.1.1 Processe s determining the inclusion of features 13 2
4.3.1.2 Th e geographical components of Traders' English 13 3
5. The sociolinguistics of Ghanaian Pidgin English 13 5
5.1 Th e languages of Ghana 13 5
5.2 Ghanaia n Pidgin English 13 9
5.2.1 Uneducated/non-institutionalize d Pidgin 14 1
5.2.1.1 Uneducate d Pidgin: a case study 14 2
5.2.2 Educated/institutionalize d Pidgin: secondary schools and universities 14 7
5.2.2.1 Postscript : the spread of educated GhaPE 15 1
5.2.2.2 Othe r institutionalized varieties 15 2
5.2.3 Jargo n 15 3
5.3 Uses , function, and stigmatization of Pidgin in Ghana 15 4
6. A synchronic-structural description of Ghanaian Pidgin English 16 5
6.1 Phonolog y 16 6
6.1.1 Segmenta l phonology 16 6
6.1.1.1 Consonant s 16 7
6.1.1.2 Vowel s 16 9
6.1.1.3 Syllabl e structure 17 0
6.1.2 Commo n phonological processes 17 2
6.1.1.1 /n/-dropping and compensatory nasalization 17 2
6.1.2.2 Dealveolarizatio n 17 3
6.1.2.3 Syllabl e simplification 17 4
6.1.2.4 Devoicin g of final consonants 17 5
6.1.2.5 Linkin g consonants 17 5
6.1.3 Transcriptio n conventions 17 6
6.2 Basi c sentence types 17 6
6.2.1 Declarativ e sentences 17 6
6.2.2 Interrogativ e sentences 17 7
6.2.2.1 Yes-n o questions 17 7
6.2.2.2 Question-wor d questions 17 8
6.2.3 Imperativ e sentences 18 0
6.3 Subordinatio n 18 0
6.3.1 Relativizatio n 18 0
6.3.2 Cleftin g 18 5
6.3.3 Se -complementization 18 8
6.4 Th e noun phrase 19 0
6.4.1 Article s 19 0
6.4.2 Pronoun s 19 3
CONTENTS IX
6.4.2.1 Demonstrative s 19 3
6.4.2.2 Subjec t personal pronouns 19 5
6.4.2.3 Objec t personal pronouns 19 8
6.4.2.4 Possessiv e pronouns 20 0
6.4.2.5 Reflexiv e pronouns 20 1
6.4.2.6 Indefinit e pronouns 20 2
6.4.3 Noun s 20 3
6.4.3.1 Numbe r 20 3
6.4.3.2 Negatio n 20 6
6.4.3.3 nou n + bound pronoun constructions 20 7
6.4.3.4 Possessiv e noun phrase constructions 21 0
6.4.4 Preposition s and expression of spatial relationships 21 1
6.5 Th e verb phrase 21 5
6.5.1 Quasi-passiv e 21 5
6.5.2 Negatio n 21 5
6.5.3 Tense-Mood-Aspec t 21 8
6.5.3.1 Tens e 21 8
6.5.3.2 Moo d 22 0
6.5.3.3 Aspec t 22 5
6.5.3.4 Combinatoria l possibilities 22 7
6.5.4 Stative and active verbs 22 9
6.5.4.1 Lexifie r adjectives as GhaPE stative verbs 23 1
6.5.4.2 Copula s 23 4
6.5.5 Seria l verb constructions 23 6
6.5.6 Reduplicatio n and repetition 24 0
6.5.6.1 Tona l behaviour of reduplicated elements 24 2
6.5.6.2 Repetitio n 24 6
6.6 Focus , topicalization, and emphasis 24 7
6.6.1 Focu s 24 7
6.6.2 Topicalizatio n and emphasis 24 8
7. Conclusion 25 3
Appendices 25 7
A: Reference s to Portuguese and "Lingua Franca" as early
West African contact languages 25 7
B: Portuguese-derive d words in use on the Gold Coast 26 6
C: A chronological list identifying data sources of Table 4.1 26 9
D: Ghanaia n Pidgin English texts 27 1
1. Spoken texts 27 1
2. Written texts 28 3
References 28 7
Index 30 5
The CD: system requirements 31 9
X
CONTENTS OF CD
Computer-readable files Audi o files for CD player
Grammar 1. Sounds illustrating Chapter 6
Chapter 6 with clickable examples 2 Example s (l)-(29)
Castles 3 Example s (30)-(39)
Photos of European trading posts 4 Example s (40)-(49)
Maps 5 Example s (50)-(59)
Modern West Africa 6 Example s (60)-(69)
Ghana :
The Guinea Coast 26 Example s (260)-(265)
European trading posts on the Gold Coast
Texts 2. Sounds illustrating Appendix D
A radio commercial in GhaPE 27 A radio commercial in GhaPE
Sample of uneducated GhaPE 28 Sample of uneducated GhaPE
Sample of educated GhaPE 29 Sample of educated GhaPE
Sample of jargonized English 30 Sample of jargonized English
Track 1 i s not available on the CD player, as this contains the computer-readable files.
To access the computer-readable files, you will need an internet browser. You will also have
to install the "Ghanaian Pidgin Font" contained on the CD for the phonetic transciptions to be
displayed properly on your screen. Sound equipment (sound board, speakers) is needed to
play the computerized sound files. Please refer to the readme.txt document on the CD for
details and for information on system requirements and on the software you need to install to
access the computer-readable files.
Disclaimer
Although every care has been taken in preparing the CD, the complete risk as to the quality
and performance of the CD is with the user. Neither John Benjamins, Cross-Feed Computer-
graphics, nor the author warrant that the functions contained on the CD will meet your
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