The cross-currents of language and culture can be depicted in the use of oral performances such as proverbs, which are forms of “deeper” communication and means of constructing reality in every speech community. Pidgin languages the world over are said to be linguistically “undernourished” or inferior, even regarded as “children [born] out of wedlock” (Mufwene 2007). I argue in this paper that proverbs in Nigerian Pidgin (NP) offer more creative expressive potential than those in the indigenous Nigerian languages. This evidence is a consequence of the increased dynamism of NP which points to its social expansion process in spite of the socioeconomic pressure on Nigerians to learn English. The aim of this paper is to undertake linguistic, literary, and ethnographic appraisal of proverbs in NP in an attempt to highlight certain social realities, cultural consciousness, and structural versatility these proverbs represent. In doing this, it is established that proverbs in NP, though they may project the wisdom, paradigms, and worldviews of other cultures and subcultures, are mostly selfevolving and specific to particular cultural circumstances, providing stronger evidence for autonomous coinage.
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