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Pidgin English Etymology - Culture (2) - Nairaland

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Re: Pidgin English Etymology by ezeagu(m): 11:34pm On Jan 09, 2010
segoye2:

@ Eze: the phonemas is from Igbo but the phonological analysis shows that the narrow transcription i.e allophonic supports the possible phonetics that pidgin is from the ganja world, 'Jamaica'.

That still doesn't change anything. Its been established that 'pidgin' is from Jamaica.
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by freecocoa(f): 1:52pm On Jan 10, 2010
I think say pidgin com 4rm ghana.
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by mohawkchic(f): 4:29am On Jan 11, 2010
Abagworo:

''Una'' is derived from an igbo word ''unu'' which still retains its original form in jamaica.Unu means you(plural)


~Oh Really? It's synonymous  w/ how we use it in S/L. . .a particular group "The Creoles" will always say "Unu" instead of "Una" while "Una" is a more general use of saying "You all/All of You" in Krio. . .
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by soserious(f): 7:27am On Jan 11, 2010
interesting, please keep more coming!!
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by jamaicangi(f): 2:32am On Dec 22, 2010
Hey

Don't call Jamaica "ganja land!" tongue

We use unnu/una every day- it is the plural of "you". This does not exist in English so the word survives easily.
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by Nobody: 5:13pm On Dec 22, 2010
jamaicangi:

Hey

Don't call Jamaica "ganja land!" tongue

We use unnu/una every day- it is the plural of "you".  This does not exist in English so the word survives easily. 



*Sighs* Which part of Jamaica are you from? or have roots?

segoye2:

@ Eze: the phonemas is from Igbo but the phonological analysis shows that the narrow transcription i.e  allophonic supports the possible phonetics that pidgin is from the ganja world, 'Jamaica'.

wetin u eat wey make your head dey shake? U no dey baff at all.

Any girls in the house? abi no b girl make u throw wey big big teaching? abi pidgin english get any gramatical syntax? make I no fall your hand ,  u try for your age.
If you check history I do believe that all of west African Pidgin (as Pidgin is not only Nigerian) comes from the islands. Slaves RETURNED to Africa too. Words such as "unu", "labalaba", "red Igbo" are definitely of African origin but the mixing of English and diff. African dialects which formed into pidgin, creole are direct results of patois speaking returned slaves.

BTW Ganja is a world wide herb, keep the ignorance to yourself. Cheers. wink
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by excanny: 6:39pm On Dec 22, 2010
Wahala - hausa

You too get wahala- You are troublesome
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by jamaicangi(f): 11:58pm On Dec 23, 2010
Mzdarkskin
I grew up in Manchester but my parents are from Kingston/St.Andrew.
Are you from the Caribbean?
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by bgees(m): 12:49am On Dec 24, 2010
'sabi' in Nigerian pidgin comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word 'saber'. these guys(Spanish and Portuguese) were the first to arrive in Nigeria were they traded in slaves and other things.

there are also a lot of similarities between Nigerian pidgin and Jamaican creole.
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by Zambi: 1:35am On Jan 20, 2011
1) Sabi came from "saber", from the portuguese. It did NOT come from the Spanish and it definitely didn't come from French. "Savi" or the anglicized spelling "savvy" came from SABI, and is a word that evolved from the African-American creoles in the US. The v and b are interchangeable, as many of you shamefully don't even know (it's appalling!).

2) @ Segoye2, "Pidgin" does NOT come from Jamaica. It was the language of "trade" and enslavement and the language spoken by Africans on the continent as they exchanged Black people for weapons/goods, and evolved with continued contact with Europeans. It was a unifying language, one that was spoken widely by various ethnic groups and was already known, and at the very least familiar, to many Africans before they arrived in the western hemisphere as a result of the Middle Passage. Pidgins and creoles ALL use nearly identical African syntax and grammar rules, no matter what language, colonizer, or region in which spoken, because each group though divided by European language is using similar African thought and logic to navigate and make the language their own. That's why Brazil, the US (including Louisiana, the coastal East, and the mainland), and the French Caribbean ALL SHARE the same syntax and sentence structure. And that's why they ALL SHARE the same rules of grammar (particularly when adopting foreign words).

Upon arriving into the Americas, the languages continued to evolve and increased educational opportunities in certain countries and the use of "shame tactics" would result in increased de-creolization.

Jamaica, tiny as it is, does not have the power to influence the whole of African pidgin. Let's get that clear. Africa as it is depicted on the map is a SKEWED version of the map. You cannot imagine the true size of Africa and tiny, tiny, Jamaica (or any other tiny island) doesn't have the population numbers, capacity, or defense mechanisms to impose a language on African countries. The idea of Jamaica somehow "blessing" Africans with the means to communicate in trade is not only outrageous, it wreaks of Napoleon Complex and desperation.

Africa is perfectly capable of allowing its own languages to evolve in such a way that presents increased ease of trade and communication. And Africa certainly doesn't need someone else to bring her a language. PLEASE!

"Pidgins" existed throughout the coastal communities of Africa as they were the first to have contact with the Europeans and extensive contact at that. They were already dealing in trade and markets before slavery began to take place and they needed a language to allow them to communicate with these barbarians. Pidgin it was. And Jamaica had NO HAND in that. I can't even believe you would suggest something so ignorant.

There's another map I wanted to suggest, but since I can't remember the name of that type of map, maybe this will help inform you of Africa's true size: http://www.good.is/post/what-is-the-true-size-of-africa/

The ignorance, envy, self-loathing, and inferiority complexes present on this site are appalling and an embarrassment to Africa, and particularly shameful given the rich legacy that Nigeria has in the African Diaspora. Shame on ALL of you. You dishonor your ancestors with your contempt and thinly veiled sense of inferiority.

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Re: Pidgin English Etymology by Nobody: 1:26pm On Oct 04, 2012
Abagworo: ''Una'' is derived from an igbo word ''unu'' which still retains its original form in jamaica.Unu means you(plural)

Unu actually means "You people" which is the same as Una in pidgin
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by iamex: 4:58pm On Jun 30, 2013
Please, who knows the meaning and etymology of the pidgin word "oga" (master)?
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by Ajasnoop: 9:39am On Jul 18, 2013
iamex: Please, who knows the meaning and etymology of the pidgin word "oga" (master)?

Oga comes from the english word "Ogre" (pronounced like Oga)
Re: Pidgin English Etymology by Nobody: 12:42pm On Oct 02, 2013
Blacks found a way in creating their own version of english language

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