Linguistic and Literary Development of Nigerian Pidgin
The Contribution of Radio Drama
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Abstract
Drama serials aimed at public enlightenment have in recent years become an important feature on Nigerian radio. Many of them employ Pidgin as the main or only language. Although linguists have suggested that most of the writers who use this language in artistic texts lack the necessary competence and produce deviant forms of it, some radio drama texts received high ratings in a survey of the linguistic appropriateness of a large number of Pidgin texts conducted by the authors of the study. The authors supplement their report of these survey results with analyses of extracts from one drama serial, Rainbow City, and show how, in this serial, successful handling of linguistic codes and literary aspects combine to make it possible for the writer to drive home serious messages in a language that has long been associated with ridicule.