The Sociolinguistic Status of Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin: An Overview.

An analysis of the status of Anglo-Nigerian Pidgin (ANP) looks at its origins and evolution in Nigerian history, its location in the Nigerian language situation, and its current sociolinguistic status. It is concluded that ANP possesses linguistic structures that have stabilized enough to give the speaker an impression of good and bad grammar. Beyond the important role it plays as an interethnic lingua franca, it is now commonly used by youths of the same tribe for peer communication, indicating a language function shift and giving it the status of a language. While ANP is the most appropriate and most frequently used lingua franca in Nigeria today, its social prestige and credibility as a language in its own right have not been significantly enhanced. The sociopsychological resistance it is encountering, partly attributable to its history of subjugation, is better explained by the absence of formalization and political recognition in language planning. It is also suggested that the sociolinguistic survival of ANP is not assured, particularly if the political context in Nigeria were to change. Contains 31 references. (MSE)