The Shortfall of Nigerian Pidgin as Language of National Development: The Case of Usage in Advertisements

Language is an essential tool in national development because it aids communication, which is also the key to the growth and development of a nation. It also enables the public and private sectors to advertise their products and services to attract patronage, increase income, and improve the economy. In Nigeria, a multilingual nation, some advertisers use Nigerian Pidgin instead of English, which is the country’s unifying language, thereby giving room for ineffective communication. This study, therefore, examined the efficiency of Nigerian Pidgin as the language of advertisement. Data were collected from nineteen advertisements presented in Nigerian Pidgin and aired on four radio stations in Delta State and Anambra State. The audio of these advertisements was transcribed into text and analysed qualitatively, using Sapir-Whorf’s Theory of Linguistic Relativity and Hocket’s Item-and-Process Morphology as the theoretical anchor. The research findings disclosed that Nigerian Pidgin does not have enough linguistic items to communicate every concept and incident. As a result, it borrows linguistic items and features of any contact language and uses them in communication without considering the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the audience. The study, therefore, concluded that Nigerian Pidgin is an unsuitable language for advertisements received by individuals from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.