Nigerian Pidgin

Nigerian Pidgin, also called Naijá or Naija, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria. The language is sometimes referred to as Pijin or Brokun. It can be spoken as a pidgin, a creole, dialect or a decreolised acrolect by different speakers, who may switch between these forms depending on the social setting. In the 2010s, a common orthography was developed for Pidgin which has been gaining significant popularity in giving the language a harmonized writing system. Variations of what this article refers to as "Nigerian Pidgin" are also spoken across West and Central Africa, in countries such as Benin, Ghana, and Cameroon. Nigerian Pidgin is commonly used throughout the country, but it has not been granted official status. Pidgin breaks the communication barrier between different ethnic groups and it is widely spoken throughout Nigeria. In 2011, Google launched a search interface in Pidgin. In 2017, BBC started BBC News Pidgin to provide services in Pidgin. Many of the 250 or more ethnic groups in Nigeria can converse in the language, though many speakers will utilize words from their native tongues. For example: Yorùbá ṣebi is often used at the start or end of an intonated sentence or question: "You are coming, right?" becomes Ṣebi you dey come? Igbo abi (another variant of the words ṣebi and ba), adding the word nna, also used at the beginning of some sentences, to show camaraderie: For example, "Man, that test was very hard" becomes Nna mehn, that test hard no be small. Igbo unu, equivalent to the English term "you people", has been adopted as una. For example, Una dey mad in Nigerian Pidgin means "You people are crazy." Unu has also found its way to Jamaican patois, with the same meaning as in Nigerian Pidgin. Igbo biko, meaning "please." For example, the sentence Biko free me means "Please leave me alone". Hausa ba at the end of an intonated sentence or question: you no wan come ba? means "You don't want to come, right?" Nigerian Pidgin also varies from place to place.