Ghana calls an end to tyrannical reign of the Queen's English

Question: "Have you eat?" Reply: "No I go eat after small small." This is just one of the turns of phrase Ghanaians employ, in the words of one local commentator, "to give the Queen's English a good beating".

But as Ghanaians join their west African neighbours – following the examples of Nigerian Pidgin and Sierra Leonean Krio – in speaking their inherited colonial tongue with growing creative licence, a row is breaking out about what really is the proper way to speak English.

On one side of the fence are the old-school Ghanaians who were taught throughout their education to mimic received pronunciation – or BBC English, as it is popularly known – with varying degrees of success.

On the other side, a backlash is growing against the old mentality of equating a British accent with prestige. Now the practice has a new acronym, LAFA, or "locally acquired foreign accent", and attracts derision rather than praise.

"In the past we have seen people in Ghana try to mimic the Queen's English, speaking in a way that doesn't sound natural. They think it sounds prestigious, but frankly it sounds like they are overdoing it," said Professor Kofi Agyekum, head of linguistics at the University of Ghana.

"There has been a significant change now, away from those who think sounding English is prestigious, towards those who value being multilingual, who would never neglect our mother tongues, and who are happy to sound Ghanaian when we speak English."

Ghana has nine indigenous languages that are officially sponsored by the government, including Akan languages spoken widely in the south. A further 26 languages are officially recognised and at least double that number are also spoken. Unlike its francophone neighbours, which were forced under colonialism to teach only in French, Ghana has always maintained the use of African languages in its primary school education.

But the idea that sounding "British" carries prestige also has a long history in Ghanaian society, manifesting itself in the country's struggle for independence in the 1940s and 50s, when an ideological difference emerged between an Oxbridge-educated Ghanaian elite and more radical, left-leaning leaders.

Now, more than 50 years later and more than 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade saw an influx of Christian missionaries imposing British language and literature, Ghanaians are embracing a new standard: Ghanaian English.

"The idea that intelligence is linked to English pronunciation is a legacy from colonial thinking," said Delalorm Semabia, 25, a Ghanaian blogger. "People used to think that if you speak like the British then you are as intelligent as the British. But now we are waking up to the fact that we have great people here who have never stepped outside the borders."

"The best example of Ghanaian English on the international scene is [former UN secretary general] Kofi Annan's clear diction," said Ghanaian columnist Kofi Amenyo. "The man maintains the Ghanaian features in his pronunciation and yet succeeds in being easily understood by the peoples of the world."

For Ghana's younger generation, though, the move towards Ghanaian English is less about elder statesmen, and more about music and technology.

"In the 90s many local artists wanted to sound like Usher or Jay-Z, but now they are taking local names and branding themselves locally," said Semabia. "Little by little, people are embracing the use of our own languages – for example, now we can Google in Akan.

"For us, English is our language – we want to break away from the old strictures, to personalise it, mix it with our local languages, and have fun with it. The whole point of language is that it's supposed to be flexible and it's meant to be fun."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/ghana-calls-end-queens-english

shymmex: I need to start perfecting my pidgin engrish ohhhh...

Wetin dey my padi?? How far na? Omo boy don dey sabi speak pidgin oh, nuttin do you my guy..

Ileke-IdI:
^^^ Language does not necessarily become more or less important solely on economic shift.

Take spanish for example.

Beaf:

Spanish is unimportant. It is widely spoken, but of little economic use; its importance has gone South with the diminishing of Spain.
Just like in todays World, Queens English is almost a museum piece that has long been overtaken by American English. That dialect of English too will wane with America's dimming economic star.

Ileke-IdI:


Have you recently tried to apply for job? Not talking about NL job.

I disagree with your misconception of the spanish language and its importance. The onset of Spanish importance in North America had nothing to do with Spain and its economy.

Beaf:

Its because of Mexico. Not just Mexico. It began with the whole tittat between Castro and Bush
North America is not the World either No one gave that idea . I don't see anywhere else outside of the likes of Mexico where Spanish is of any real economic importance Which goes back to my question;have you recently tried to apply for jobs? .

We are better off speaking languages which are more natural to us, than struggling to keep up with second languages that are waning in importance anyway.
It is proven that children learn better in their mother tongue and after that, languages that are similar to their mother tongue. English has nothing to do with us and little to offer us developmentaly. Pidgin is not our first or second language, nor is it a native language, nor does it hold any importance past West Africa (Ghana and Nigeria)

All of Africa should speak one language. I don't really care what the language is but we should speak one. We choose the Pan African language: KiSwahili YORUBA.

gidiMonsta: No serious country can adopt a pseudo-language as its official language, its called pidgin because its a corruption of a language!

However, I am of the opinion that we should de-emphasize the importance of English language in our educational system and standardize a few of our local languages to adopt as part of our official languages as practised in SA and India.

gidiMonsta: No serious country can adopt a pseudo-language as its official language, its called pidgin because its a corruption of a language!

However, I am of the opinion that we should de-emphasize the importance of English language in our educational system and standardize a few of our local languages to adopt as part of our official languages as practised in SA and India.