Effects of Pidgin on the Spoken English of Selected Students of the University of Uyo.

Student: Blessing Friday Ikpong (Project, 2025)
Department of English and Literary Studies
University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

Abstract

When people of different linguistic backgrounds settle together, the languages used exert influence on each other. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the influence of Pidgin on spoken English of final year students of Uniuyo. Using Labov’s sociolinguistic theory, the study adopts a qualitative research design with a sample size of twenty (20) final year students randomly selected from different departments in the University of Uyo. The students were made to read eleven (11) sentences into an audiotape which were all analysed. The study reveals, amongst other things, that Nigerian Pidgin English has no long vowels which makes it difficult to indicate length while speaking; English plosives are not problematic because they are available in the variety of Nigerian Pidgin English that was studied; and that some mispronounced sounds in words is not as a result of sound unavailability in the sound system of Pidgin but influence of linguistic background. The study concludes that conscious efforts should be made towards the correct usage of the linguistic demands of a particular language while mixing and switching codes.

Keywords
effects pidgin spoken english selected students university
Filters
Institutions