Sociolinguistic characteristics of the English-lexifier contact languages of West Africa

Abstract

This chapter provides a comparison of key sociolinguistic characteristics of Nigerian Pidgin, Cameroon Pidgin, Ghanaian Pidgin English, Pichi (Equatorial Guinea) and Krio (Sierra Leone). In the past few decades, these African English-lexifier contact languages (AECs) have seen an exponential growth in speaker numbers and an expansion into domains once reserved for English and non-creole African languages. All AECs nevertheless still struggle with a low sociolinguistic prestige and the absence of corpus and status planning initiatives by state actors. Overall, the potential of these languages remains relatively untapped across the region for education, political participation, economic, and cultural activity. At the same time, the impact of the AECs on smaller languages through contact and shift to the AECs is also likely to make itself felt in coming decades.