West African Pidgin English

Lore & Background

West African Pidgin English arose during the transatlantic slave trade as a language of commerce between British and African slave traders. Portuguese merchants had earlier traded in West Africa, and the pidgin contains numerous words of Portuguese origin, such as 'sabi' ('to know'), from Portuguese 'saber'. British merchants later developed this language with local African traders to facilitate commercial exchanges. The language quickly spread up river systems into the West African interior because of its value as a trade language among Africans of different tribes. Later, it was adopted as a native language by new communities of Africans and mixed-race people living in coastal slave trading bases such as James Island, Bunce Island, Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, and Anomabu, at which point it became a creole language. Some scholars call it 'West African Pidgin English' to emphasize its role as a lingua franca pidgin for trading, while others call it 'Guinea Coast Creole English' to emphasize its role as a creole native language spoken in and around coastal slave castles. Early European travelers and slave traders recorded descriptions of it, calling it 'Coast English' or 'Coast Jargon'. British slave trader John Matthews, in his book 'A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone on the Coast of Africa', referred to it as a 'jargon' and warned Europeans that they would fail to understand Africans unless they recognized significant differences between English and the coastal pidgin. He supplied an example: 'Well, my friend, you got trade today; you got plenty of slaves? No, we no got trade yet; by and by trade come. You can’t go.'

Reader's Guide

West African Pidgin English remains in widespread use after the abolition of the slave trade and decolonization. Many distinct regional variants emerged, including Sierra Leone Krio, Nigerian Pidgin, Ghanaian Pidgin English, Cameroonian Pidgin English, Liberian Kolokwa English, the Aku dialect of Krio, and Pichinglis. During the colonial era it was looked down upon as a bastardization of proper English, a stigma still attached by some, but it remained in use. During the rise of African nationalism, it became a 'language of resistance and anti-colonialism', and political activists still use it to criticize post-colonial leaders. Over the last hundred years, the number of English-lexifier based creoles in West African countries used as primary and secondary languages has increased greatly, with speakers exceeding one hundred million.

Did You Know?

• West African Pidgin English contains numerous words of Portuguese origin, such as 'sabi' ('to know'), from Portuguese 'saber'.
• During the rise of African nationalism, the language became a 'language of resistance and anti-colonialism'.