It is not only a bridge for people who would otherwise find it hard to communicate due to language barriers, but also a way in which the culture and spirit of the people is seamlessly united. The claps that sometimes accompany particular reactions, and the other elaborate hand gestures Ghanaian are wont to make make more sense to me when accompanying Pidgin than English. Back at home, we speak with our gestures and facial expressions as much as we do with words. The “ehen ehen”(huh/really?),“heh” or “that one dierrr“ (that one in particular) that punctuate our Pidgin patter give it an almost musical feel the sounds, the intonations and the stresses capture the essence of the phrases. For those who don’t know what Pidgin is, I can best describe it as “broken English” – an amalgamation of the Queen’s language and words from different Ghanaian languages. But I realize now that is a language, a living and thriving language, one that captures the diversity of Ghana’s people and cultures. It was just a part of speech, slang, but not a language of its own. While I lived in Ghana I never considered Pidgin as a language of its own.
A signboard on a local university campus in Ghana.
But more and more I have come to add Pidgin to the list of languages that I speak, and regard it as the closest thing to “Ghanaian”. I add the West Africa because I recently met a gentleman who was convinced that Ghana was in the Caribbean he had unfortunately mistaken Ghana, as do many other people I meet, for Guyana.Īs an international student from Ghana, one of the questions that I am often asked is: “Do you speak Ghanaian?” Now as there is no such language as “Ghanaian” as there is ’French‘ or ’English‘, this question is really incredulous and leaves me somewhat perplexed at the ignorance of the person asking me the question.Nevertheless, I answer in due fashion that there is no such thing as Ghananian, but I do speak English and – almost always to their surprise – that it is Ghana’s official language.
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