A Configuration of Socio-Political Dialectics in Nigerian Pidgin English: Trends in Peter Onwudijo’s Poetry
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Date
2016-03-29
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Publisher
International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926
Abstract
Peter Onwundijo’s poetry collection, De Wahala for Wazobia (2007), comments on the contemporary
Nigeria’s pitiable social problems. The poet employs Nigerian Pidgin English, not only as a dialectal
tool to examine the issue of Nigeria’s amalgamation, but also as a lingua franca, which aptly describes
the polity of multilingual Nigeria. It addresses the myriad hydra-headed issues like corruption,
educational decay, election malpractices, neocolonialism, and insecurity among other forms of vices
plaguing the nation which continue to militate against her development. The poems were analysed
using sociolinguistics and semiotic theories as frameworks. The result of the analyses showed that the
poet’s ability to effectively use the Nigerian Pidgin English to address such important issues does not
make the language inferior when compared to the other established languages of the world. Rather, it
should be seen as a language (second) that reflects creativity, productivity, simplicity, acceptability
and understanding among the Nigerians. Indeed, it makes for a wider understanding of the poet’s
major concern, as the pidgin, in Nigeria, is often being described as “the language of the people” The
study appraised the collection as an attempt at demystifying the Nigerian Pidgin English as well as
evaluating its relevance for modern Nigerian poetry in its quest to radicalize the political and
economic situation in Nigeria.
Description
Keywords
Pidgin, De Wahala for Wazobia, Sociopolitical challenges, Lingua franca, acceptability
Citation
Ayodabo, S. J. (2016). A Configuration of Socio-Political Dialectics in Nigerian Pidgin English: Trends in Peter Onwudijo’s Poetry. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926, 2(3), 79-93.