Date de publication:
04 Novembre 2010
Mots-clefs:
- orthographe
- IFRA Nigéria
- working papers
- linguistique
Publié ici :
04 Novembre 2010Mis à jour le :
22 Juin 2017Zone géographique:
- Afrique
Parution Ifra-Nigeria : Guide to standard Naija Orthography
An NLA Harmonized Writing System for Common Naijá Publications
by Christine I. Ofulue & David O. Esizimetor
Introduction : Historically, Naijá (previously known as Nigerian Pidgin) is a language that originated from the 15th century trade contact between the peoples of the Niger Delta and Europeans in the coastal areas of the Niger Delta. Attempts to write the language goes back to the late 18th century. The history of writing the language shows that different people have at different times adopted different ways of writing the language. This has resulted in numerous orthographies, without a single acceptable way of writing the language. However, despite various proposals for a standard orthography for Naijá, there had been no consensus to adopt any of them until the first conference on Naijá which was facilitated by IFRA in July 2009.
Among the major outcomes of the 2009 conference on Naijá were : (i) the adoption of Naijá as the new name for the language, because what hitherto was referred to as Nigerian Pidgin is no longer a pidgin because it has creolised in some parts of the country ; its functions have surpassed the functions of a pidgin ; and the term 'pidgin' has helped to encourage derogatory connotations about the language ; hence, the term Naijá espouses the language's distinct identity as a language in its own right as well as the Nigerian spirit ; and (ii) the development of a standard orthography that provides systematic guidelines or consistent rules for spelling and writing in the language.
Working from the understanding that an orthography is a symbolic representation of a language and not the transcription of an oral message, in adopting a standard orthography for Naijá, the central question the Naijá Langwej Akedemi (NLA – an offspring of the July 2009 Conference on Naijá) had to deal with was not whether the orthography is faithful to oral productions in the language, but whether as an instrument, it is adequate to convey the nature of the message. Thus, in devising the guidelines and rules for Standard Naijá Orthography, we sought for an orthography that would (i) be consistent, (ii) reduce ambiguity, and (iii) be ergonomic or easy to use.
Hence, with a unified standard for writing the Naijá, the problems of regular use (in letters, reports, newspaper articles, advertisements etc), artistic application (in poems, novels, plays, songs etc) and scientific description (e.g. linguistic research) of the language will be resolved. In this Guide to Standard Naijá Orthography, we lay out some of the general principles and rules for effective writing of Naijá, as harmonized by the NLA following the 2009 Conference on Naijá. And so we will begin by looking at the orthographic representation adopted by the NLA.
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