CHAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Communication is the key to human evolution. It is what defines human existence and civilization. But without recognizable sounds, signs or symbols, or in a wider context, language, what we call communication –be it verbal or non-verbal or in any of it forms, would be non-existent. One of the most significant variances amongst man and animal is man’s ability to express himself effectively and make others comprehend him easily.

Language is only possible because within each society, people agree to understand a particular pattern of sound in a particular way. For instance, all Anglophone countries understand the meaning of the word ‘fire’. Scholars and researchers have over the years given us wider and robust information about language from their fields: to the linguists, it is termed a set of arbitrary symbols; the communication experts deduced that it is a tool for sharing ideas from a sender to a receiver and so on.

However, language can be simply put as what members of a particular society or culture utilize in order to communicate or make mutual interaction possible. According to Akindele and Adegbite (2009p.1), 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 (2009p.4) who asserts that “we actually live and behave in a world of language”.

Fromkin and Rodman (2000p.1) quoted Noam Avram Chomsky as saying that “when we study human language, we are approaching what some might call the human essence. The distributive qualities of mind that is so far as we know unique to man”. This underlines the basic fact that man is continuously using language, be it spoken, written or printed form and is constantly linked to others via shared norms or behaviour.

Language has been a major tool, chiefly responsible for the social consciousness of any country’s citizenry, because it is essentially with the usage of language that information about the on-goings in the environment get to the people, either directly, through contact with any medium of mass communication, like the television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books and journals, and other forms of the mass media; or through indirect means such as conversations, meetings and discussions.

Thus, it is acknowledged that a language is essentially a set of items, what Hudson (2000) calls ‘linguistic items,’ such entities as sounds, words, grammatical structures and so on. Corroborating Hudson’s view, Oyewo (2005) describe language as “the medium or vehicle for conveying ideas, a system of arbitrary vocal symbol based on social cooperation; the totality of meaningful utterance in any given society” and this, is by far the most essential means of human communication. Consequently, it is these items, their status and their arrangements that have brought about creation of both spoken and written languages.

Among the many languages of the world are a few often assigned to a somewhat marginal position, the various lingua franca, pidgins and creoles have existed since time immemorial but have not been studied as full-fledged languages. Pidgin languages have their different histories majorly from language contact and subsequent borrowing and code-mixing.

The origin of Nigerian Pidgin can be traced to the contact which was established between multilingual coastal communities and Portuguese merchants, who were joined later by the Dutch and the English. There is a paucity of historical records; the history of serious study of such languages goes back only a few decades, and because of the circumstances of their use, they have often been regarded as being of little intrinsic value or interest.

Until recently, pidgins and creoles have generally been viewed as uninteresting linguistic phenomena, which have been said to lack articles, the copula, and grammatical inflections, rather than those they possess, and those who speak them have often been treated with disdain or contempt. Hymes (2001) has pointed out that before the 1930s, pidgins and creoles were largely ignored by linguists, who regarded them as ‘marginal languages’ at best. Some linguists were often advised to abstain from them, lest they endanger their careers. He points out that pidgins and creoles ‘are marginal’, in the circumstances of their origin, and in the attitudes towards them on the part of those who speak one of the languages from which they derive.

Pidgin, as a word or a language has all through the civilization of man, characteristically made communication between two or more people simpler and has diminished the prestige and bottlenecks with respect to other languages. It is a language with no native speakers because it is no one’s first language but, is a contact language. That is, Pidgin is the product of a multilingual situation in which those who wish to communicate must find or improvise a simple language system that will enable them to do so.

Perhaps, it is on this statement of intent that famous American anthropologist and motivational speaker, Dr Gary D. Chapman affirmed that "Language differences are part and parcel of human culture. If we are to communicate effectively across cultural lines, we must learn the language of those with whom we wish to communicate" A Pidgin is therefore regarded as a ‘reduced’ variety of a ‘normal’ language. It is used to refer to a language which develops in a situation where speakers of different languages and socio-cultural origins have a need to interact but do not share a mutual language. Once a pidgin has emerged, it is generally learned as a second language and used for communication among people who speak differently.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

        Pidgin English is a language which is spoken by majority of the Lagos state residents and it is believed that it brings people from other ethnic groups in Nigeria as one when communicating. Likewise the media or broadcasting unit when communicating with the audience using pidgin English, most people are being carried along but the challenge that might rise could be that there are no qualified persons to interpret the formal English language for the benefit of other, it could also be that most broadcasting corporations sees broadcasting in pidgin as completely unacceptable thereby neglecting the non learned.

Finally, several researches has been carried out on the perception of effect of pidgin English on academic performance of secondary school students but not even a single research has been carried out on perception of pidgin English broadcasting among residents of Lagos state.

1.3   AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

        The main aim of the study is to examine the perception of Pidgin English broadcasting among residents of Lagos. Other specific objectives of the study include;

1. to determine the effect of pidgin English broadcasting on  residents of Lagos state.
2. to determine the influence of pidgin English broadcasting on residents of Lagos state.
3. to determine the factors affecting pidgin English broadcasting in Lagos state.
4. to proffer possible solutions to the problems.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS               

1. What is the effect of Pidgin English broadcasting on residents of Lagos state?
2. What is the influence of Pidgin English broadcasting on residents of Lagos state?
3. What are the factors affecting Pidgin English broadcasting in Lagos state?
4. What are the possible solutions to the problems?

1.5   STATEMENT OF RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0:   there is no significant difference in perception of Pidgin English broadcasting among the residence of Lagos State.

H1:      there is significant difference in perception of Pidgin English broadcasting among the residence of Lagos State.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

        The study on perception of pidgin English broadcasting will be of immense benefit to the entire Broadcasting corporation in Lagos state in the sense that it will enable them to consider broadcasting in pidgin English as one of the tool used in making most of their programs interesting and more so, it will enable them to employ persons that are capable when it comes to interpretations of formal English to pidgin for the benefit of others. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge to this field of studies and basis for further research.

1.7   SCOPE OF STUDY

        The study on the perception of Pidgin English broadcasting is limited to residents of Lagos state.

1.8   LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.9   DEFINITION OF TERMS

Perception      The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

Pidgin English                Nigerian Pidgin is an English-based pidgin and Creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria.

Broadcasting  Is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model.

Residents                Someone who lives in a place