Overview + Phonology and Syntax of English in Ghana

Ghanaian Pidgin English
Magnus Huber

1. Introduction

Ghana, consisting of Britain's former
Gold Coast colony, Ashantiland, the
Ghanaian Pidgin English 
Northern Territories, and British autoglossonym 
Broken, Pidgin (English), 
Togoland, is a coastal West African
(Kru English and the 
country with over 23 million inhabitants
Akan equivalent kroo 
(2008). The official language is English,
brofo are both obsolete) 
which is predominantly used in formal English 
Pidgin (English) 
contexts, e.g. the educational system and location 
Ghana 
the media. Ghanaian Pidgin English number of 
ca. 5 million 
(GhaPE), used by roughly a quarter of speakers 
the population in some situations, is part major lexifier 
English 
of the West African Pidgin English other contributing  Western Kwa and Gur 
(WAPE) continuum, which includes the languages 
languages 
varieties spoken in Sierra Leone (the official languages 
English (de facto); Akan, 
creole Krio), Ghana, Nigeria, and of Ghana 
Ewe, Dangme, Ga, 
Cameroon. The many similarities
Nzema, Dagaare, Gonja, 
between the restructured Englishes
Kasem, Dagbani 
spoken in these countries can to a large
(national languages) 
part be explained by the fact that the Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Cameroonian varieties
are descendants of Krio (see below and Huber 1999a: 75-134 for details). Estimates of
the number of Ghanaian languages range from 50 (Kropp Dakubu 1988a: 10) to 80
(Lewis 2009). The major languages in terms of speaker numbers belong to two
branches of Niger-Congo languages 1. Kwa (southern Ghana): Akan (43%), Ewe
(10%), Ga-Dangme (7%), 2. Gur (northern Ghana): Dagaari (6%), Dagbani (3%). There
are also two very small pockets of Mande languages. Kwa languages thus account for
at least 60% of the L1s of Ghanaians. The major languages Akan, Ewe, Dangme, Ga,
Nzema, Dagaare, Gonja, Kasem, Dagbani enjoy national language status.

2. Socio-historical background

The main objective of early Afro-European contacts in
West Africa was trade. In 1471, the Portuguese
reached what soon came to be called the Gold Coast.
Their trading monopoly lasted until the early part of
the 17th century, when the Dutch and later the
English, established themselves on the coast. Other
European nations followed suit, and different Pidgins
developed alongside pidginized Portuguese. The
latter fell out of use only in the second half of the 18th
century, long after the Portuguese lost their
supremacy on the Gold Coast. Pidgin English, which
came into being in the second half of the 17th century, was the only contact variety

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that survived into the 20th century. Structurally, this early trade Pidgin English was
considerably simpler and more variable than today's GhaPE. The first textual
attestation comes from a Royal African Company trader's diary entry in 1686,
reporting some 50 words of an Anomabu trader (Bodleian Library, Oxford: MS
Rawlinson C745).
The formation of GhaPE as current today took place during British colonial rule in
West Africa. From the 1840s onwards, Africans liberated from slave ships by the
British navy and settled on the Sierra Leone peninsula, some 1,500 km west of Ghana,
went back to their respective places of origin, thus spreading an early form of Sierra
Leonean Krio along the West African coast, Nigeria in particular. Historical and
linguistic evidence indicates that in the 1920s migrant workers introduced the
Nigerian offshoot of Krio to the Gold Coast, where it replaced the earlier trading
pidgin (for more detailed information on the history of GhaPE see Huber 1999a,
1999b, 2004).

3. Sociolinguistic situation

Twi, comprising the non-Fante dialects of Akan, is the main areal lingua franca in
Ghana's south. GhaPE, locally known as Pidgin (English), Broken (English), and
formerly as Kru English or kroo brofo (the Akan term), is a predominantly oral and
urban phenomenon. It is spoken in the southern towns, especially in the capital
Accra. GhaPE is confined to a smaller (though growing) section of society than
Pidgin in other anglophone West African countries, probably because of the strong
position of Twi as a lingua franca. Also, its functional domain is more restricted and
the language is more stigmatized, although this situation is currently changing
rapidly. Pidgin is not officially recognized as a language of Ghana and there is no
standardized orthography. The few grammatical descriptions are purely scholarly
works.
There are two main GhaPE varieties. Basilectal GhaPE is associated with the less
educated sections of society, while more mesolectal/acrolectal GhaPE (also called
"Student Pidgin") is usually spoken by Ghanaians who have at least progressed to
the upper forms of secondary school, if not to the universities. The basilectal GhaPE
spoken in Nima, an immigrant quarter of the capital Accra, is the default lect
documented in the APiCS database and described in this article.
The difference between the two GhaPE varieties lies not so much in their linguistic
structure (the main differences are lexical, but the two are largely mutually
intelligible) as in the functions they serve. Basilectal GhaPE is used a lingua franca in
highly multilingual contexts, e.g. in Accra's immigrant quarters Nima, Kanda, or
Mamobi, which are characterized by a high degree of linguistic heterogeneity and a
generally low educational attainment. The more acrolectal varieties, however, are
better characterized as in-group languages whose main function is to express group
solidarity rather than to fulfil basic communication needs, since Standard (Ghanaian)
English is available to all parties in these settings and could be resorted to if no
common indigenous language were at hand. Pidgin entered Ghanaian secondary
schools around the mid-1960s and was soon carried into the universities, where it is
today heard on campus, in students' bars, and the halls of residence. Pidgin has also
made its way into the home, where it is now used mainly among brothers with

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secondary education, often to the exclusion of the Ghanaian languages. Pre-school
children of middle class families appear to pick up GhaPE from their fathers. Today,
educated urban males under 50 years of age can be expected to switch to Pidgin in
informal settings. The educated variety is currently spreading fast and is being used
in more and more contexts.

4. Phonology

GhaPE has seven (or nine) monophthongal oral
Table 1. Vowels 
vowels (some speakers making length distinctions
 
front  central  back 
between /i/-/iː/ and /u/-/uː/). Since all
close 
i(ː) u(ː) monophthongs can be nasalized, the loss of a nasal
consonant after a nasalized vowel can lead to a
close‐mid 
e o
phonemic opposition between oral and nasal vowels,
open‐mid 
ɛ
ɔ
e.g.
open 
hapi 'happy' vs. hapĩ 'happen'. There are six

a

diphthongs, /ai, au, ɔi, iɛ, ɛa, uɔ/. The last three
occur only in <Vr> sequences in words derived from the lexifier, e.g. beer, chair, and
sure. /ɛa/ and /uɔ/ are often reduced to the monophthongs /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ as illustrated
in ripɛ 'repair' or pɔ 'poor'.

Table 2. Consonants 
 
 
bilabial  labio‐  labio‐ alveolar
post‐  palatal velar glottal 
dental  velar
alveolar
plosive  unvoiced 
p

(k͡p)
t
k

 
voiced 
b

(g͡b)
d
g

nasal 
 
m

n
(ɲ)
ŋ

trill 
 
[r]

fricative  unvoiced 
f
s
ʃ
h
 
voiced 
v z

affricate  unvoiced 

ʧ

 
voiced 

ʤ

approximant 

w
j

lateral approx. 

l
[ɻ]

 
Bracketed  consonants  only  occur  in  ideophones  or  African  loans.  Like  Ghanaian 
English, GhaPE is a non‐rhotic variety. The realization of non‐post‐vocalic /r/ as an 
approximant  or  a  trill  depends  on  the  quality  of  the  r‐sound  in  the  speaker’s  L1 
(Akan  has  an  r‐sound  similar  to  that  of  English;  Dolphyne  1988:  27‐29)  and  on  the 
speaker’s  phonetic  competence.  /v/  is  not  part  of  the  Hausa  or  the  Akan  phoneme 
inventory  (Dolphyne  1988:  29),  so  some  of  these  speakers  more  or  less  consistently 
substitute it by /b/ or /f/ in GhaPE. [l] and [r] are in complementary distribution  or 
free variation in the major Ghanaian substrate languages (e.g. Akan, Dolphyne 1988: 
42‐43; Dangme, Apronti 1977: 132; Ewe, Schadeberg 1985: 9; Ga, Kropp Dakubu 1977: 
250;  Dagbani,  Wilson  1977:  123;  Dagarti,  Hall  1977:  114),  and  they  may  be  used 
interchangeably  on  the  lower  end  of  the  GhaPE  continuum,  especially  by  older 
speakers  who  had  little  formal  education.  The  realization  of  /ʧ,  ʤ/  also  varies 

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according  to  the  Ghanaian  language  backgrounds  of  GhaPE  speakers,  the  major 
Akan dialects Twi and Fante having [ʨ, ʥ] (Dolphyne 1988: 29). 
Tone  plays  a  subordinate  role  in  GhaPE.  It  only  distinguishes  some  grammatical 
morphemes from otherwise homophonous lexical, or less grammaticalized, items: dè 
PROG/HAB  vs.  dé  COP,  gò  FUT/COND  vs.  gó  ʹgoʹ,  bì  COP  vs.  bí  ʹbeeʹ.  Tone  also 
distinguishes free pronouns (H, e.g. wí) from bound ones (L, wì). 
GhaPE allows quite complex syllable structures, with up to three consonants in the 
onset  and  two  in  the  coda,  e.g.  CCCVCC  strenʤ  ʹbe.strangeʹ,  but  clusters  are 
frequently reduced by elision or epenthesis, e.g. blankɛs ʹblanketsʹ or kɔlɔf ʹclothʹ. 
There is no official orthography for GhaPE, which is almost never used in print (but 
enjoys growing popularity in emails, chat groups, etc.).  

5. Noun phrase
 
GhaPE has no productive way of marking natural gender in nouns. Neither does it 
have the postposed plural marker dɛ̀m, found in other WAPEs and Sierra Leone Krio. 
Nominal plural can either be indicated by the English ‐s (1. most frequent), remain 
unmarked (2. frequent), or be indicated by reduplication of the noun (3. infrequent): 
 
 (1)  dat ples, no mɔskito-s.1

DEM  place,   NEG   moskito‐PL 
ʹThere are no moskitos in that place.ʹ 
 
(2)  wì gɛt sɔm wumã we dè dè kuk.
 
1PL   get   ART.INDF   woman REL   3PL   PROG cook 
ʹThere were women who cooked (for us).ʹ 
 
(3)  dɛ̀m dè kam opĩ faktri~faktri fɔr ɔs.
 
3PL   HAB   come   open factory~factory  for   1PL.OBJ 
ʹThey come and open factories for us.ʹ 
 
Non‐specific, generic NPs are marked by a Ø article: 
 
(4)  polismã ì bì laik
wumã.
 
Ø policeman  3SG   COP   like  Ø  woman 
ʹPolicemen are like women.ʹ 
 
Specific NPs are variably marked by overt articles: the definite article dɛ can precede 
SG and PL nouns, including abstract nouns (dɛ demɔkrasi ʹdemocracyʹ) and inanimate 
proper  names  (dɛ nima  ʹNima  [a  quarter  of  Accra]ʹ).  The  most  common  indefinite 
article is sɔm (SG + PL); SG countables are sometimes marked by wan. ɛ also occurs at 
times, but this is due to Standard English influence (< a). 
 

1 All examples are from my field recordings and represent spontaneous speech. 

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Table 3. Pronouns 
 
 
subject 
object
adnominal  reflexive 
 
independent  dependent  independent dependent possessives pronouns 
1SG  mi à mi mì
mà
màsɛf
2SG  ju
jù
ju
jù
jɔ̀
jɔ̀sɛf
3SG  in ì am àm
ìn
ìnsɛf
1PL  wi wì wi>
ɔs
wì > ɔ̀s àua > wì àuasɛf
2PL  ju
jù
ju
jù
jɔ̀
jɔ̀sɛf
3PL  dɛm
dè > dɛ̀m dɛm dɛ̀m
dɛ̀a > dɛ̀m dɛ̀msɛf
INDF  sɔmbɔdi, sɔmtin, ɛnibɔdi, ɛnitin, natin
 
GhaPE  has  low‐toned  dependent  pronouns  that  can  only  occur  before  a  verb,  and 
high‐toned  independent  pronouns,  which  occur  in  all  other  positions.  Student 
Pidgin has special pronouns in 1pl (wana) and 3pl (dɛma). 
There is no special construction for pronoun conjunction in GhaPE. Instead, ɛn ʹandʹ 
(or sometimes plus or kum in the student variety) is used to conjoin NPs of which at 
least one is a pronoun: mɛri ɛn mí go taun ʹMary and I went to townʹ. 
The  proximal  demonstrative  dis  and  the  distal  demonstrative  dat  both  precede  SG 
and  PL  nouns:  dis mã ʹthis manʹ, dat masalaʤi ʹthat mosqueʹ, dis tins ʹthese thingsʹ, 
dat fauls ʹthose fowlsʹ. 
Adnominal  possessives  precede  the  noun  (mà granfada  ʹmy  grandfatherʹ),  while 
pronominal possessives are formed by the possessive pronouns + on (ʹownʹ): dis ka
bì mà on ʹthis car is mineʹ.  
For human reference, the indefinite pronoun sɔmbɔdi occurs in positive, and ɛnibɔdi 
in  negative  sentences,  questions,  and  with  unspecified  reference  in  positive 
sentences, just like in Standard English: 

(5)  jù gò si sɔmbɔdi wit ĩ̀ waif.
 
2SG   FUT   see   INDF      with  3SG.POSS   wife 
ʹYou will see somebody with his wife.ʹ 
 
(6)  dè no dè pe ɛnibɔdi.
 
3PL   NEG   HAB  pay   INDF 
ʹThey did not pay anybody.ʹ 
 
The non‐human indefinite pronouns sɔmtin ʹsomethingʹ and ɛnitin ʹanythingʹ are used 
similarly.  The  negative  pronoun  natin  ʹnothingʹ  can  co‐occur  with  the  negator  no 
without the sentence losing its negative polarity: 
 
(7)  jù no gò tek natin nak àm.
 
2SG   NEG   COND   take  INDF    knock   3SG.OBJ 
ʹYou would not hit it with anything.ʹ 
 
Cardinal (wan, tu, trɛ, fɔ, faif …) and ordinal numerals (fɛs, sɛkɛn, tɛd, fɔt, fift …) 
are all borrowed from English and precede the noun. 

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GhaPE has two possessive noun constructions, both showing possessor‐possessum 
order. One strategy is simple juxtaposition, NP1 NP2: 
 
(8)  dè gò fɔ dagɔmba ʧif haus.
 
3PL   go   for   Dagomaba   chief house 
ʹThey went to the Dagomba chiefʹs house.ʹ 
 
The other construction has an intervening 3rd person possessive pronoun (i.e. ìn or 
dɛ̀a, dɛ̀m): 
 
(9)  à hiɛ dɛ fud ìn tes.
 
1SG   smell   ART.DEF food 3SG.POSS   smell 
ʹI smelled the foodʹs odour.ʹ 
 
In  basilectal  GhaPE  these  constructions  are  in  free  variation  but  the  student  variety 
shows a clear preference for the one involving a possessive pronoun. It also uses its 
own 3PL.POSS pronoun dɛ̀ma with plural possessors: 
 
(10)  dɛ bɔis dɛ̀ma dɔm nɔ
 
ART.DEF   boy‐PL  3PL.POSS   dorm   TOP 
ʹthe boysʹ dormitoryʹ 
 
The form of adjectives is invariant. They precede the noun when used attributively: 
 
(11)  busu-busu
ì bì dis
smɔ lamp, afrikã lamp. 
 
busu‐busu 3SG   COP   DEM  small   lamp, African   lamp 
ʹBusu‐busu is this small lamp, African lamp.ʹ 
 
What  are  called  predicative  adjectives  in  English  are  verbs  in  GhaPE  because  they 
occur in the verbal slot, are found in serial verb constructions (12), can be preceded 
by bound pronouns (13) and by the verbal TMA markers (14): 
 
(12)  wì plɛnti pas dɛ̀m. 
 
1PL   be.plenty   pass  3PL.OBJ 
ʹWe are more numerous than them.ʹ 
 
(13)  dɛ tin ì tik laik kɔŋkrit.  
 
DEF   thing   3SG   be.thick like  concrete 
ʹThe thing was as hard as concrete.ʹ 
 
(14)  jù gò
sɔri. 
 
2SG   FUT   be.sorry 
ʹYou will be sorry.ʹ 
 
Adjective  comparison  of  equality  is  expressed  by  serialized  laik  ʹbe‐likeʹ,  cf.  (13) 
above and (15): 
 

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(15)  ì bikam wail laik taiga. 
 
3SG   become wild like   tiger 
ʹHe will become as wild as a tiger/like a tiger.ʹ 
 
Except  for  a  couple  of  irregular  adjectives  like  gud‐bεta‐bεs  ʹgood‐better‐bestʹ  the 
comparative of superiority is marked by serialized pas ʹsurpassʹ, cf. (12) above and 
 
(16)  dè gɛt strɔŋ pas wi. 
 
3PL   get   strong   pass  1SG 
ʹThey became stronger than us.ʹ 
 
There  is  no  grammaticalized  way  of  encoding  the  superlative.  Instead,  the 
comparative of superiority is combined with a universal standard, as in 
 
(17)  à dè sɔfa pas ɛvribɔdi. 
 
1SG   PROG   suffer   pass  everybody 
ʹI suffer most.ʹ or ʹI suffer more than everybody.ʹ 
 
6. Verb phrase
 
Tables 4a and b provide an overview of the forms and etyma of the GhaPE mood and 
aspect  markers  as  well  as  the  meanings  they  encode.  Except  for  postverbal 
completive finiʃ, the markers precede the verb: 
 
Table 4.a
Tense/aspect 
form
etymon 
meaning
zero 
 
all except progressive
dè
there??? 
progressive
habitual
kam
come 
sequential tense
bigin (dè) begin 
ingressive
finiʃ
finish 
completive
 
Table 4.b
Mood 
form
etymon 
meaning
gò
go 
future
conditional
fìt
fit 
ability
permission
fɔ̀
for??? 
deontic modality
wan
want 
intentionalis
 

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Table 4.c
Combinations 
form
meaning
gò fìt
future ability/permission
gò dè
future progressive/habitual
gò kam
future sequential 
dè fìt
habitual ability or permission
dè kam
ingressive sequentiality 
 
Lexical aspect (stative, adjectival, adjectival) is only relevant if sentences are uttered 
in isolation. In this case, the default, context‐free reading of unmarked stative verbs 
is present (18), while unmarked action verbs receive a past reading (19): 
 
(18)  buʃmã ì sabi insai dɛ buʃ pas ju. 
 
bushman  3SG   know   inside   ART.DEF bush pass 2SG 
ʹA bushman knows the bush better than you.ʹ 
 
(19)  wɔta kari dɛ̀m ɔl insai dɛ gɔta. 
 
water   carry 3PL.OBJ all inside   ART.DEF gutter 
ʹThe flood washed them all into the drain.ʹ 
 
However,  discourse  co(n)text  (e.g.  time  adverbials,  sequencing  of  events  in  the 
narration, shared world knowledge) more often than not overrides this default tense 
interpretation, so that an unmarked stative verb form like no can also mean ʹknewʹ. 
Note also that GhaPE has no anterior tense marker (bin in other WAPEs). Therefore, 
anteriority  (past  for  stative  verbs  and  past‐before‐past  for  action verbs)  can only  be 
inferred from the context.  
 
The use of the TMA markers listed in Tables 4a‐c above is illustrated in the following 
examples: 
 
Dè encodes the progressive (20) and habitualis (21): 
 
(20)  sɔmbɔdi dè kam. 
 
somebody   PROG come 
ʹSomebody is coming.ʹ 
 
(21)  ì bì so
wì
dè jus àua lamp fɔ dɛ ɔp. 
 
3SG   COP   so 1PL   HAB  use   1PL.POSS   lamp for   ART.DEF up 
ʹThat is how we use our lamps in the North.ʹ 
 
Kàm marks successive events in narratives: 
 
(22)  ɔ dɛ jam kam rɔt. 
 
all ART.DEF   yam  SEQ   rot 
ʹ(And the) all the yams rotted.ʹ 
 

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Ingressive aspect can be expressed by bigin (dè), often accompanied by a reduplicated 
verb: 
 
(23)  dè bigin dè fait~fait dɛ̀m. 
 
3PL   INGR  
PROG fight~fight   3PL.OBJ 
ʹThey started to fight them.ʹ 
 
GhaPE  does  not  have  the  completive  marker  dɔn  of  other  WAPEs  and  Krio.  If 
completiveness has to be openly encoded, posterverbal finiʃ is used: 
 
(24)  ì bɔn finiʃ. 
 
3SG   give.birth  COMPL 
ʹShe has given (finished giving) birth.ʹ 
 
The future (24) and conditional (25) are marked by gò: 
 
(25)  dè gò kolɛk dɛ bɔla. 
 
3PL   FUT   collect   ART.DEF   [refuse] 
ʹThey will collect the refuse.ʹ 
 
(26)  no faktri de wì gò tɔk se nima wì dè mek faktri wɛk. 
 
NEG   factory  COP   1PL   COND talk  COMP Nima   1PL   HAB   make factory work 
ʹThere is no factory so that we could say that in Nima we work in factories.ʹ 
 
Fìt  expresses  physical  ability  (27)  and  permission  (28).  The  latter  can  also  be 
expressed  by  an  impersonal  construction  involving  the  3PL  pronoun  and  gri  ʹagreeʹ 
(29): 
 
(27)  à no fìt mari sɛf. 
 
1SG   NEG   ABI   marry   FOC 
ʹI canʹt even marry.ʹ 
 
(28)  jù no gò fìt opĩ ̀ maf tɔk. 
 
2SG   NEG   COND   ABI   open   mouth   talk 
ʹYou would not have been allowed to say anything.ʹ 
 
(29)  dɛ fait diɛ, dè no gò gri mek ì hapĩ̀. 
 
ART.DEF fight FOC   3PL  NEG   FUT  agree   CAUS 3SG   happen 
ʹThey wouldnʹt allow the fight to happen.ʹ 
 
Deontic modality is signalled by fɔ̀:

(30)  jù fɔ̀ fait àm. 
 
2SG   DEO  fight 3SG.OBJ 
ʹYou have to fight him.ʹ 
 
Serialized wan encodes intentionalis (31) or imminence (32): 

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(31)  ì wan kam ste nima. 
 
3SG   INT   come   stay  Nima 
ʹHe wants to come and stay in Nima.ʹ 
 
(32)  dat fait laik ì wan hapĩ ̀. 
 
DEM  fight like 3SG INT  happen 
ʹThat fight was about to happen.ʹ 
 
A maximum of two markers can be combined. Gò can be followed by fìt/ dè/ kàm and 
dè  by  fìt/  kàm.  The  resulting  meaning  is  usually  a  composite  of  the  individual 
meanings of the markers: 
 
(33)  jù no
gò fìt slip. 
 
2SG   NEG   COND   ABI   sleep 
ʹYou wouldnʹt be able to sleep.ʹ (irrealis (in)ability) 
 
(34)  dɛ̀m gò dè ʃek jù. 
 
3PL   FUT   PROG 
shake   2SG 
ʹThey will be shaking you.ʹ (future progressive) 
 
(35)  dè gò kam tek dɛ kau ʃit. 
 
3PL   FUT   SEQ   take  DEF   cow  shit 
ʹThey will (then) take the dung.ʹ (future sequential) 
 
(36)  jù no
dè fìt waka. 
 
2SG   NEG   HAB   ABI  walk 
ʹYou are not able to walk.ʹ (habitual (in)ability) 
 
(37)  nau dɛ tin dè kam sprɛd. 
 
now  ART.DEF   thing   PROG SEQ   spread 
ʹ(And) now the thing (clashes) was staring to spread.ʹ (ingressive sequentiality) 
 
Verbal negation is expressed by no, which takes the first position in the verb phrase,
before the mood/aspect markers:

(38)  jù no gò sabi àm. 
 
2SG   NEG   FUT   [know]  3SG.OBJ 
ʹYou wonʹt know it.ʹ  
 
Except for the optional co-occurrence of the negative indefinite natiŋ with verbal
negation (see (7) above), there is no negative concord in GhaPE:

(39)  jù no gò giv Ø braib, dè no gò tek jù. 
 
2SG   NEG   FUT   give    bribe   3PL   NEG   FUT   take  2SG.OBJ 
ʹ(If) you wonʹt give them a bribe, they wonʹt take you.ʹ  


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