Nigerian Pidgin, also known simply as Pidgin or as Naija in scholarship, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca or vehicular language across Nigeria.
Facts
ISO 639-3 Code Speaker CountEthnologue combines about 4.7 million first-language speakers with about 116 million second-language speakers, 2020. StatusWikipedia article on Nigerian Pidgin: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27. RegionNigeria; also spoken in parts of West and Central Africa including Benin, Ghana and Cameroon 2 Classification
Language Kind Connections
In Family
Source Wikipedia: Nigerian Pidgin
Written In
Source Wikipedia: Nigerian Pidgin
In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Glottolog: Nigerian Pidgin (Glottolog languoid nige1257)
GlottologEndangerment, AES statusQuote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
2. Wikipedia: Nigerian Pidgin
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Nigerian Pidgin or NPE, also known simply as Pidgin or as Naijá in scholarship, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca or vehicular language across Nigeria.
Infobox: iso3
pcm
Infobox, Speakers
4.7 million (L1); 116 million (L2)
Lead section
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.
In Family: English-based Creole, Article text
Nigerian Pidgin, along with the various pidgin and creole languages of West Africa, share multiple similarities to the various English-based Creoles found in the Caribbean. Linguists posit that this is because most of the enslaved that were taken to the New World were of West African descent.
Written In: Latin Script, Infobox: script
Latin
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