Once known for broadcasting the Queen's English to the world, the BBC has now decided to appeal to a new audience with the launch of BBC News Pidgin.
The website publishes news stories in a dialect of Pidgin English which developed in West Africa. The language borrows most of its vocabulary from English but uses a simple grammatical structure borrowed from the region, as well as some loan words.
The new Pidgin English site has even proved a hit with readers of ordinary English, who are entertained by a version of the language they have never seen before. The current most-read article on the site is a translation into Pidgin of a story which went viral earlier this week, about a disastrous Tinder date.
The only thing better than the Tinder date poo story is the Tinder date poo story in Pidgin 💩 https://t.co/gMq2e3Br8f
— Patrick Galey (@patrickgaley) 7 сентября 2017 г.
The BBC Pidgin version of the poo-date story is all we could ever want it to be. https://t.co/ajjtnGTdxn
— Stig Abell (@StigAbell) 7 сентября 2017 г.
Other popular Pidgin English articles include one about Hurricane Irma, which is currently heading for the US, the birth of Serena Williams' daughter and the arrest of Wayne Rooney for drink-driving.
The BBC News site has a pidgin english version. It's kinda amazing pic.twitter.com/a83vGyiJqY
— Bobo the corpse. (@The_Farwall) 8 сентября 2017 г.
I love BBC Pidgin English headlines. 'Serena Williams don born her first pickin' https://t.co/31kOwx6bHG
— UK Politics Live (@UKPoliticsLive) 7 сентября 2017 г.
BBC News in Pidgin English is awesome: pic.twitter.com/5nsdBwmF4e
— Heart & Hand (@ibroxrocks) 2 сентября 2017 г.
The launch of the BBC Pidgin service may lead some people to re-evaluate their attitudes to non-standard English such as Pidgin, which are often thought of as "broken" forms of the language.
Dear Ghanaians who think ladies who speak pidgin English are uncivilized, are you aware BBC has launched pidgin English service segment?
— IG: MAHWUENAH. (@Dat_Volta_Queen) 6 сентября 2017 г.
However, others were critical of the BBC's move, in the belief that Pidgin, as a dialect of English, doesn't need its own site. Some questioned the BBC's decision to broadcast in Pidgin rather than other language dialects such as Braj Bhasha, a dialect of Hindi.
I'm angry about the BBC pidgin-English site. It's not a "distinct and separate language," for one thing
— squalor (@chaeltz07) 27 августа 2017 г.
The @BBC now has a Pidgin English website while classical langs like Braj are ignored in India. Let than sink in.https://t.co/bwF9DCJSDy
— Indian Linguist (@IndianLinguist) 27 августа 2017 г.
The word "pidgin" can actually be used to refer to any grammatically simplified language which developed as a means of communication between groups who don't share a common tongue. Variants of Pidgin English are found in Africa, parts of Asia and the Caribbean.
