







































AJELLS: Awka Journal of English Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 7 No. 2, 2020 

 

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THE PIDGIN-LANGUAGE EXPERIMENT IN MODERN NIGERIAN 

POETRY: A STUDY OF EZENWA-OHAETO’S I WAN BI PRESIDENT 

 

Edwin O. Ifeanyi 

Department Of English Language & Literature, 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka 

Email: eddyifeanyi@gmail.com 

 

 

Abstract 

This essay examines the resourcefulness of the Nigerian Pidgin (NP) as a 

communication vehicle in poetry, a domain hitherto dominated by Standard 

English. The study is motivated by the increasing use of the language in poetic 

expression in Nigeria, and the discovery that people who ordinarily were 

averse to poetry find interest in it when presented in Nigerian pidgin. Unlike 

earlier studies in NP poetry this study adopts the linguistic-stylistic approach 

in analyzing Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s “I Wan Bi President,” the longest poem in his 

experimental collection by that title. The study revealed that all stylistic 

dimensions possible with poetry in Standard English are equally possible with 

poetry in NP. It also revealed that NP is more accessible as language of poetic 

expression given its relatively more simplified grammatical structures. In 

addition the graphic, descriptive and comic facilities of the NP enable poets to 

elaborate serious themes in an equally entertaining style. The study observed 

that despite the lack of standard orthography, Nigerian Pidgin has continued to 

grow in use and acceptance. It thus projected that the trend would continue, 

and that through borrowing from and exploitation of the linguistic potentials 

of its donor languages, the vocabulary of NP would be expanded and its 

writing system may ultimately acquire a stable tradition. 

 

Keywords: Nigerian Pidgin, Poetic Expression, Linguistic-stylistics 

 

Introduction 

Modern Nigerian poetry has produced a good number of published poems in 

the Nigerian Pidgin (NP). Some of the writers have turned out full-length 

poetry volumes in the language, and the number continues to grow as more 

poets become aware of the resourcefulness of the language and its creative 

potentiality. This increasing interest of creative writers in the use of Nigerian 

Pidgin as communication vehicle in poetry, a domain hitherto dominated by 

formal or Standard English is one of the motivations for this investigation. In 

addition, it has been observed that readers or audience who ordinarily were 

averse to poetry find interest in it when presented in NP. Ezenwa-Ohaeto 

himself in an introductory comment to his poetry collection I WAN BI 

PRESIDENT (Poems in formal and pidgin English) from which the poem of 

study is taken, noted as follows: “…I have been reading my poems written in 



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Ifeanyi          39 
 

both formal and pidgin English to various audiences in Nigeria. But after each 

reading of the pidgin poems, I have come away with a sense of satisfaction 

that the poems touched some inner chords and also a sense of overwhelming 

acceptance of pidgin poetry” (viii). This observation constitutes additional 

motivation for this study. 

 

Thus this essay examines the resourcefulness of the Nigerian Pidgin (NP) as a 

communication vehicle in poetry. Unlike earlier studies in NP poetry this 

study adopts the linguistic-stylistic approach. The title poem of Ezenwa-

Ohaeto’s experimental collection I WAN BI PRESIDENT   is used as source of 

data for the study. The choice of this poem is informed by the prominence 

given to it by the poet:  using it as the title of the entire collection, which 

presupposes that it embodies the central theme of the work. In addition, it is 

the longest poem in the volume, and the last poem of the section three entitled 

“CYCLONES”, which also makes it the climax of the collection.  

 

The study leans on the Constuctionist Theory, which accounts for all of our 

knowledge of language as patterns of form and function. According to 

Goldberg, who developed the theory, it is “a new theoretical approach that 

allows linguistic observations about form-meaning pairing, known as 

‘constructions,’ to be stated directly” (219). He adds that constructionist 

approaches aim to account for the full range of facts about language, without 

assuming that a particular subset of data is part of a privileged ‘core’. Kris 

Romanda (61) explains that Goldberg’s argument was that sentence meaning 

was determined not only by the verb and its arguments, but also by the 

construction in which these occur. In other words, in construction-based 

grammar, it is understood that words alone cannot account for the wide range 

of semantic meaning conveyed in a language. Syntactic organization can 

encode semantic information as well, in that the way words are arranged can 

impact the meaning of a phrase, independent of the individual words 

themselves. In fact, as a general principle, any change in syntactic form will 

entail, to a greater or lesser degree, a difference in meaning. That is the 

principle of No Synonymy of Grammatical Forms. This lies behind the 

development of Construction Grammar.  

 

By the end of this study the following research questions would have been 

answered: 

1. How viable is Nigerian Pidgin as language of poetic expression? 

2. To what extent does poetry in NP lend itself to a linguistic-stylistic 

analysis? 

3. To what degree has Ezenwa-Ohaeto been able to express his message 

in “I Wan Bi President” using Nigerian Pidgin? 

 

 



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The Emergence of Nigerian Pidgin 

The definition, origins and development of Nigeria Pidgin (NP) have been 

elaborately discussed in pioneering studies such as Mafeni (1971), Todd 

(1984), Elugbe and Omamor (1991) and Faraclas (1996) to mention a few. 

Nonetheless, it is pertinent to note that pidgin generally is regarded as a 

marginal or makeshift kind of language which emanates from a contact 

situation between people(s) with different L1. Zabus thinks such a language 

“can arise in a matter of hours whenever people speaking mutually 

unintelligible languages need to communicate (117). Nigerian Pidgin is 

therefore a pidgin that arose from such contact and need between multilingual 

coastal communities of Nigeria and the European visitors made up of the 

Portuguese, the Dutch, and finally the English. The NP was thus originally 

developed as a simplified means of communication between Nigerians and the 

Europeans, especially the English, for the specific purposes of trade and 

exploration. Elugbe explains that by Nigerian Pidgin, “we specifically mean 

Nigerian Pidgin English…” but “since it is the only pidgin which has a 

geographic base which is national… it is simply called Nigerian Pidgin” 

(286). NP is English-based, having English as its main lexifier. Since it has 

Nigerian languages as its substrate or underlying influence, the vocabulary of 

NP is said to be English while its grammar is Nigerian.  

 

The stabilization of the contact between the visiting Europeans, especially the 

English, and their Nigerian hosts led to the expansion of NP.  But the later 

emergence of a standard variety of English and the establishment of schools 

where this was taught, making it the language of trade and industry, mission 

work and government in Nigeria posed some challenge to NP since this 

variety became so important that its mastery was a passport to a good position 

in the society with its social and material benefits (Elugbe and Omamor 21). 

Nevertheless, NP remained useful since not everyone had access to school and 

the process of acquiring the standard variety was decidedly longer and more 

tedious than that of acquiring NP. The language has therefore “…survived and 

flourished by generally being readily useful and handy, thus filling a veritable 

communication vacuum in Nigeria” (Elugbe 288).   

 

Today, the NP “has developed from being a limited language of trade and 

business along the coastal regions of Nigeria to a full-fledged language in its 

own rights as a result of acquisition of new vocabulary items to meet the 

expanded communication challenges of its speakers” (Mensar 210). Indeed, 

the functions of NP have become so extensive that it is now used in all genres 

of literature, especially poetry, in Nigeria. Ezenwa-Ohaeto corroborates this 

assertion by observing that “it is in poetry that this language (NP) has been 

most effectively employed to create a bridge of orality, especially in the 

attempt to demonstrate, develop and exploit its artistic resources…” (70). 

Some of the Nigerian authors who have experimented with NP in their poetry 



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Ifeanyi          41 
 

works include Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, Mamman Vasta, Ken Saro-Wiwa, 

Tunde Fatunde, Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Bassey Ekpenyong, Tanure Ojaide, Segun 

Oyekunle, and recently Eriata Oribhabor, etc. For a successful and 

comprehensive stylistic study of Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s pidgin poem “I Wan bi 

President”, the following procedure of analysis is adopted: the graphological 

patterns, syntactic mode, sound devices, and lexico-semantic choices. 

 

The Graphological Patterns 

Graphology is “the analogous study of a language’s writing system, or 

orthography, as seen in various kinds of handwriting and typography… 

distinctive uses of punctuation, capitalization, spacing and so on” (Crystal and 

Davy, 18). It deals primarily with the printed matter of a text and its 

arrangement. Creative writers, especially poets, often deploy the graphology 

of their works for stylistic effect. Our text of study shows evidence of this 

deployment in its structural pattern, spacing, use of capitalization, word 

character or typeface and punctuation.  

 

Structurally, the text which is written in free verse is patterned into twenty 

(20) unequal stanzas of three (3) to fifteen (15) lines each, with equal spacing 

between the stanzas. This feature which allows for division of poetic thoughts 

for piecemeal assimilation is also a common feature of poetry in Standard 

English. However, some kind of indentation is employed in stanza seventeen 

(17) to draw the reader’s attention to exclamatory questions as follows: 

  I wan bi President 

  Make my people enjoy too 

        Wetin bi federal character 

  Every industry go dey there 

        Wetin bi disadvantaged area 

  Every appointment go go there  

        Wetin bi geographical spread 

  Every promotion go bi for them 

Federal character na for person wey no get broder,  

 

By stylistically using initial spacing for the questions the poet chose to 

dispense with the conventional question or exclamation mark.  

 

Capitalization is another graphological feature which is employed for stylistic 

effect in the poem. The word ‘president’ which ordinarily is a common noun 

has been used with initial capital all through the text.  This immediately 

suggests the centrality of the word to the message of the poet, hence his 

decision to give it prominence and emphasis by way of initial capitalization. It 

also presupposes that the poet has used the word as a proper noun with a 

particular powerful individual-referent in mind, whose name the poet could 

not just mention without consequences. Of course the poem was written 



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during the military era of General Ibrahim Babangida. Besides this other uses 

of capitalization in the text are generally conventional. 

 

For word character and print typeface, we notice the use of large characters 

and bold type face for the words of the title to distinguish it from the body of 

the poem. This is conventional. But the title of the poem does not begin a 

fresh page as is usually the convention; rather it begins immediately after the 

last stanza of a preceding one. This feature graphically indicates that the 

poems in each section of the collection form one fluid-whole united by a 

common theme. And in this regard ‘cyclone’ (violent rotating windstorm) is 

used as metaphor for the biting socio-political theme binding our section of 

interest.  

 

The same idea of fluidity and unity runs through the entire fifty (50) lines and 

twenty (20) stanzas of the poem. Thus, the use of punctuation marks is sparse. 

Every stanza flows into another like cyclone, separated by a comma, until the 

last line of the final stanza when a full stop is inserted to indicate an end.  

 

The Syntactic Mode 

Syntax has to do with the structure of the sentence, and the set of rules, 

principles and processes governing this in a given language. Potter observes 

that “syntax is the basis of sentence patterns,” referring to these patterns as 

“ordering together, systematic arrangement” (104). Syntactic mode therefore 

encompasses the choice of sentence and clause types, and their constituent 

grammatical elements. In the text of study there is structurally, a 

predominance of short simple and complex sentences, one compound and no 

compound-complex sentences. This preference for short and simple sentences 

is not unusual with poetry, even in Standard English, which deals with brevity 

and terseness of expressions. It also helps to enhance the simplicity of the NP 

poetry, and in turn guarantees quick and easy assimilation. Nevertheless, there 

is ample evidence of the use of code-switched and code-mixed structures, 

structures that are partly NP and partly SE. Some examples and their pure NP 

equivalents include: 

1. Every car go run comot for road too (stanza 6: line 6) 

All motto go follow run comot for road  

2. Some presidents dem dey (11: 8 and 13) 

President dem dey 

3. If you see president him children (9: 5) 

If you see president im pikin dem 

4. Na special treatment dem go get (9:7) 

Na better service dem go get 

5. If dem publish newspaper or magazine (18:6) 

If dem write paper  

6. Dem go address me as snake wey get forest (19:8) 



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Dem go dey kol me snake wey get bush 

  

Munzali Jibril has attempted to account for the above feature in NP by 

observing that “as a consequence of the use of NP in domain hitherto 

restricted to (Standard) English, NP now trespasses freely into (Standard) 

English syntax to borrow structures which are clearly non-NP” (237). 

However, such borrowing should be expected where NP lacks an equivalent. 

The examples above show that the Standard English structures used in the text 

have an equivalent in NP, so their choice could hardly be for structural or 

vocabulary inadequacy of the NP. We may therefore choose from two 

possible reasons: either that the Standard English structures are employed 

deliberately and stylistically by the poet to ridicule the President persona’s 

unrestrained freedom to do as he pleased, or they are sheer cases of Standard 

English interference. 

 

Functionally, the sentences in the text are all declarative, except in stanza 

seventeen (17) as earlier quoted,  lines three (3), five (5) and seven (7), where 

the poet uses exclamatory questions to highlight the ease with which the 

‘President’ gets whatever he wants without regard for due process. This 

predominance of declarative sentences is an indication that the poet is very 

much informed about his subject matter. In this case, he wishes to be 

‘President’ and he knows exactly the privileges and immunities enjoyed by 

the occupant of the office. He thus goes on to inform his audience about these 

facts and his predicament as a result of his inordinate ambition.  

 

The clause structure of the text indicates a variety of choices. A clause is 

simply a grammatical unit that operates at a level lower than the sentence but 

higher than the phrase in the grammatical rank scale. It has its own subject 

and predicate and is part of a (larger) sentence. The combination of the main 

and subordinate clauses enables a writer to communicate effectively. It is 

evident in the text that the poet utilized the use of subordination to achieve 

suspense and thus retain the interest of his readers. Using the Systemic 

linguistic model, which gives the sequence of clause structure as S-P-C-A, 

where S is subject, P is predicator, C is complement and A is adverbial, we 

shall examine some instances of clause structure in the NP text. 

1. Egetone dream/ Weydey worryme (1:1 & 2) 

        A  P       C               S        P           C     

2. IfIsleepsmall/ Nahimde dreamgo come (2: 1 &2) 

A S   P       A    S/P   A        S             P 

  

3. WhenInever seewaterdrink/ Nahimde dreamgo come (3: 4 

& 5) 

   A    S        P          C       A    S/P A        S             P 

 



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The mobility of the A element in NP just like in Standard English (SE) is 

evident in the above examples. Beyond that we also observe a peculiar feature 

in NP which does not obtain in SE: two elements are jointly realized by one 

item. For example, the NP word ‘na’ which means ‘it is’ or ‘that is’ in SE 

realizes the S and P elements in an NP clause. This is part of the simplified 

nature of the NP’s grammatical structure.  

 

Sound Devices 

Sound or phonological devices are generally employed in poetry to enhance it 

entertaining quality as well as to reinforce or emphasize the message of the 

poet. NP poetry is not excluded from this feature. However, the use of such 

devices in African poetry is usually scanty and inconsistent, the reason being 

that African poets, unlike their Western counterparts, are more concerned 

about the prevalent socio-political problems of their societies which have to 

reflect in the tone and structure of their works than with mere musical 

entertainment. Nevertheless, our text reveals a conscious attempt by Ezenwa-

Ohaeto to imbue his poetry with musical features and entertaining qualities, 

even as he explores the serious theme of military misrule in his country. This 

perhaps is part of the reasons why Nwachukwu-Agbada describes him as 

‘Ezenwa-Ohaeto: Poet of the Njakiri Genre’ (153). Some of the sound 

elements observed in the text, which we shall examine, include: repetition, 

anaphora and epiphora, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia.  

 

Indeed, it is the device of repetition that the poet exploits to the fullest in his 

attempt to entertain his reader-audience, reinforce his theme and project his 

subject matter. Thus, the word president features at least once in almost all the 

stanzas, while the clause ‘I wan bi President’ is repeated as stanza 

introduction from stanza thirteen (13) to the very last stanza twenty (20). 

Stanzas two (2) and sixteen (16) below are not only stylistically appealing, but 

also notable for their musical effect: 

1. If I sleep small 

2. Na him de dream go come 

3. If I close eye small 

4. Na him de dream go come 

5. If I siddon for chair 

6. Say make I rest small 

7. Na him de dream go come 

8. I think say na malaria dey come (2)   

 

1. I wan bi President 

2. If food no dey market I no worry 

3. If dem say price don rise I no go worry 

4. If salary no come on time I no go worry 

5. If petrol dey cost too much I no go worry 



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6. If sanitation exercise dey I no go worry  

7. If na religion trouble dey I no go worry  (16) 

 

Almost all the identified sound devices feature in stanza (2) above. The sound 

/s/ is alliterated in ‘sleep small’ (line 1). Also, /d/ is alliterated in ‘de dream’ 

(lines 2, 4 and 7). There is assonance of the sound /ai/ in ‘I’ and ‘eye’ (line 3), 

and /e/ in ‘Say’ and ‘make’ (line 6) as well as in ‘say’, ‘malaria’ and ‘dey’ 

(line 8). Then, there is end rhyme of alternate type ‘abab’ realized by the 

alternate use of  ‘small’ and ‘come’ at line endings in stanza (2). Similarly, the 

repeated use of the word ‘worry’ at line endings in stanza (6) produces a 

uniform rhyme. Indeed, the clauses ‘Na him de dream go come’ in stanza (2) 

and ‘I no go worry’ in stanza (16) have been deliberately used repeatedly by 

the poet to create a refrain or chorus so as to get his reader-audience fully 

involved in the poetic experience. Notice that the clause repetition in stanza 

(16) is epiphoric.  

 

The text also utilizes interplay of anaphora and parallelism to enhance 

audience participation as is evident in stanza (7): 

              Dem go close de road 

              Dem go close even air too  

              Dem go take one car carry am 

              Dem go take another one dey follow 

              All dem vehicle tyre dey new 

              All dem vehicle engine dey new 

              … 

Onomatopoeia features in stanza (6) lines (4) and (5) thus:  

              Na siren dey clear road 

              Dey make param param piroo piroo 

On the overall, it is observed that all sound devices possible with poetry in 

Standard English also feature effectively in this NP poetry. 

 

Lexico-Semantic Choices 

In this section interest is in how the choice of words and syntax of the 

sentence enhance the message and interpretation of the text. The section shall 

accommodate lexical, semantic and figurative features. Lexically, the poet has 

carefully selected his words to suit his purpose; thus we find more of nouns, 

pronouns and adjectives in the text. Also, we observe a predominance of 

concrete over abstract nouns, which is not surprising because the poet is 

dealing with observable excesses in his society. The first person singular 

pronoun ‘I’ dominates in the text, suggesting the direct involvement of the 

poet in the experience he shares. It also provides some kind of shield behind 

which the poet hides to freely unleash his satirical punches; after all it is 

himself that he talks to or about. Most of the adjectives in the text illustrate 

comfort and enjoyment which according to the poet are attributes of 



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Ifeanyi          46 
 

‘President’. Examples, in context, include: vehicle tyre dey new (7:5), De seat 

go clean well well (7:7), body dey fat well well (9:2), special treatment (9:7), 

red carpet (12:2), best hotel (12:5), special woman (12:6), beautiful wife 

(14:2),  plenty title (19:2), etc. However, there are instances of adjectives and 

verbs describing difficulty and suffering which the poet has used in contrast 

with the position of a ‘President’ such as: hungry (5:1), thirsty (5:2), worry 

(5:3), walk ten miles (8:1), push truck (8:5), cry (13:2), weep (13:4), etc. By 

this contrasting collocation, the poet is able to communicate the existence of 

two worlds in his society: one for the ‘President’ and his cohorts, the other for 

the masses where the poet belongs, hence his dream to be ‘President’. 

 

Significantly, the text features numerous Standard English words and 

spellings which betray the poet as a non-L1 user of NP, as well as the fact that 

he is writing in NP for the first time. Some instances and their NP equivalents 

include: 

         ‘tire’ against ‘taya’ (stanza 1, line 3) 

         ‘checking’ against ‘check’ (5:4)  

          ‘prepare’ instead of ‘cook’ (5:6)   

          ‘dry cleaner’ instead of ‘washman’ (5:7) 

          ‘government’ for ‘goment’ (5:7)  

          ‘sanitation exercise’ against ‘clean up’ (16:6) 

          ‘special treatment’ instead of ‘beta service’ (9:7)  

           Etc. 

This feature has been viewed by some authors as a movement towards 

creolisation of the NP.  

 

Semantics deals with the relationship between linguistic forms and meaning in 

a natural language. Often poets employ satire (attack on foolish behaviour by 

making fun of it), and irony (expression of meaning by saying the direct 

opposite of what is intended) in an attempt to convey meaning. Such devices 

enable the poet to mildly make his/her point without necessarily hurting 

feelings. It is quite obvious in our text that the poet has utilized satire and 

irony to critize the excesses of the Nigerian governments, especially the 

military government at the time of his writing. The following stanza (18) is 

quite satirical: 

          I wan bi President 

          Wey dem go dey praise 

          Every street go carry my name 

          I go rename all University for de country 

          All de towns go carry my name  

               If dem publish newspaper or magazine 

          Wey curse me even small 

          Na bomb I go take teach them lesson 

               … 



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Notice the allusion in the last line to the death of the Nigerian journalist, Dele 

Giwa, who was killed by a mail bomb in his Lagos home on October 19, 1986 

for his indicting publication against the government. It was believed that the 

then military president masterminded his death. The poet has therefore 

condemned the action using satire. It is also ironical that the poet whose duty 

it is to guide and correct, should desire to be a bad president like the one 

described. Other instances of the use of satire and irony run throughout the 

text. 

 

Hyponymy, which is a semantic relationship between words referring to 

entities of the same class, also feature in the text. In hyponymy, the word with 

a most general meaning is called the superordinate term, while other terms 

with more specific meanings belonging to the class of the superordinate term 

are called hyponyms (Udofot, 34). Thus, in the text, stanza (19) features 

‘plenty titles’ as the superordinate term under which the following hyponyms 

belong: ‘de Excellency’, ‘Commander-in-Chief’, ‘Field Marshal and 

Admiral’, ‘Lion of de Niger’, ‘Grand Commander of de nation’, ‘snake wey 

get forest’. The poet has employed hyponymy to highlight the so much 

importance which the ‘President’ attached to titles.   

Some figurative elements that feature in the text include: simile, metaphor and 

hyperbole. 

 

Simile describes indirect comparison between two things by the use of ‘like’ 

or ‘as’ as connector. Examples:  

              Dey look like person wey no see food chop (11:4) 

              Wey dey kill person like dem bi flies (11:9),   

              Wey don fat like person wey dey fattening room (11:14),  

               etc.  

 

Metaphor compares two dissimilar things in a striking way without the use of 

connectors. Instances in the text include:  

               Na bullet you go see chop one time (11:12)  

               Na bomb I go take teach dem lesson (18: 8) 

                     Dem go address me as snake wey get forest (19:8). 

 

Hyperbole means exaggerated statement made for special effect. Instances in 

the text include: 

                 Dem go close even air too (7:2) 

                 Na president get country (7:8) 

                 If you cough every country go begin cry (13:2) 

                 If you cough every country go begin weep (13:4) 

                 All de towns go carry my name (18:5) 

                 Etc. 

 



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The above figures of speech present a mental picture to the reader thereby 

appealing to his/her imagination. The result is better participation.  Beyond 

that, the presence of the figurative devices in the text is a proof that NP is 

adequately resourceful to operate in poetry like Standard English.  

 

Summary and Conclusion 

The objective of this study has been to demonstrate the resourcefulness of 

Nigerian Pidgin to operate effectively in poetry in the context of an already 

establish medium (Standard English). To this end linguistic stylistics was 

deployed in a detailed analysis of “I Wan bi President,” a Nigerian Pidgin 

poem by the late Ezenwa-Ohaeto, in order to make explicit the linguistic-

creative resources that lent NP its viability in the novel domain. 

 

The study revealed that all stylistic dimensions: graphological, syntactic, 

phonological (or sound), and lexico-semantic resources, possible with poetry 

in Standard English are equally possible with poetry in NP. This seems to 

equate the two language varieties in their proficiency as communication 

vehicles in poetry. But the grammatical structures of NP as the text revealed 

are relatively more simplified, making the language accessible to all 

categories of people; of course the availability of literary experience depends 

largely on the accessibility of the language of its creation, and this has more 

relevance to poetry which some people dismiss as inaccessible. Moreover, 

writers (poets in particular), are generally more laizzer-faire and less pedantic 

in the use of NP, which allows them full exploitation of the poetic license. 

This, added to the graphic, descriptive and comic facilities of the language, 

enables poets to elaborate serious themes in an equally entertaining style. 

 

There is no doubt therefore, that Ezenwa-Ohaeto has successfully exploited 

the resources of the NP through the use of ‘folk poetics and a sensitive 

deployment of a range of rhetorical styles while synthesizing formal features 

of poetry and verbal resources to generate a new vigor in the Nigerian poetic 

tradition’ (Ezenwa-Ohaeto, 77).  

 

Two major points often held against NP are: (1) its numerous varieties; (2) 

inconsistency in its writing system. However, the first point has been defeated 

by the revelation that all varieties of Nigerian pidgin are mutually intelligible 

though with a little adjustment and that NP is even (almost entirely) mutually 

intelligible with other West African pidgins (Elugbe, 299). The second point 

is still a reality but a harmless one because despite its existence, there is no 

doubt that NP has continued to grow in use, status and acceptance. This trend 

is evident in its function in Nigerian poetry, and the language has proved 

viable in this novel creative domain. It is hoped that the trend will continue, 

and that through borrowing from both English and indigenous Nigerian 



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Ifeanyi          49 
 

languages, the vocabulary of Nigerian Pidgin would be expanded and its 

writing system may ultimately acquire a stable tradition. 

 

 

Works Cited 

Crystal, D., and D. Davy. Investigating English Style. London: Longman, 

 1979. Print. 

Elugbe, Ben. “Nigerian Pidgin: Problems and Prospects.” New Englishes: A 

            West African Perspective. Ed. Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo Banjo, and  

Andrew Thomas. Ibadan: Mosuro, 1995. 284-99. Print. 

Ezenwa-Ohaeto.  I WAN BI PRESIDENT (Poems in formal and pidgin 

 English). Enugu: DELTA, 1988. Print.    

---. “Bridges of Orality: Nigerian Pidgin Poetry.” World Literature Today. 

 69.1(1995). Print.  

Goldberg, Adele. “Constructions: A New Theoretical Approach to Language.” 

Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7.5 (2003): 219-24. Print. 

Jibril Munzali.“TheElaboration of the Functions of Nigerian Pidgin.” New 

 Englishes: A West African Perspective. Ed. Ayo Bamgbose, Ayo 

 Banjo, and Andrew Thomas. Ibadan: Mosuro, 1995. 232-47. Print.  

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