Educated Pidgin: secondary schools and universities

Speakers of the educated variety of GhP had at least some years of secondary education. One variety of educated GhP is spoken in secondary schools, especially by boys in the upper three forms (Senior Secondary School). Schools strongly discourage the use of Pidgin, but boys freely resort to it when unobserved by teachers. This variety of GhP serves as a social register, as an in-group language, being used not so much out of communicative necessity but as a means of expressing solidarity and intimacy with peers. Girls use Pidgin English more seldom than boys, possibly because they are much more susceptible to social norms. Education is an highly esteemed asset and Pidgin is still very much associated with the uneducated section of society. In this context it is understandable that girls should choose to speak StGhE rather than a non-standard variety that bears the stigma of illiteracy. Many of the female pupils do, however, have a passive command of Pidgin.

From the schools, Pidgin has been carried into the homes, where it is now used among brothers with secondary education, often to the exclusion of the vernacular. Although it used to be considered offensive to speak Pidgin to girls, I happened to observe a schoolboy courting a girl in Pidgin, which indicates that its function to signal intimacy is apparently being extended to inter-gender relationships.

The rise and spread of Pidgin in Ghanaian secondary schools started in the mid-1960s. From the secondary schools Pidgin was soon carried into the universities, where it established itself as the main informal code of male students. It is today heard on campus, in students’ bars, and in the halls of residence. As in the schools, female students rarely speak Pidgin, although independent women may be observed to use it.

From the schools and universities Pidgin has also been carried into non-educational domains and is frequently heard among male peers in informal situations. Today, educated urban males under 45 years of age can be expected to switch to Pidgin in informal settings. The educated variety is currently spreading fast and is being used in more and more contexts. For one thing, secondary schoolboys or male students increasingly resort to Pidgin rather than StGhE or another Ghanaian language when female peers are present. Moreover, schoolgirls and female students are starting to use Pidgin actively more frequently than just a couple of years ago. In addition, pre-school children of middle class families appear to pick up GhP from their fathers.