The language is sometimes referred to as ' Pijin' or Broken (pronounced ' Brokun'). by David Graddol, Dick Leith, and Joan Swann.Nigerian Pidgin, also called Naijá or Naija, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria. For example, when 'travel' is used in the sense 'to be away,' as in My father has traveled (= My father is away), it is not a transfer of a first-language expression into English, but a modification of the verb 'to travel.'' (Ayo Bamgbose, 'Identifying Nigerian Uses in Nigerian English.' English: History, Diversity, and Change, ed. Most such usages cut across all first-language backgrounds. It is quite easy to show that while some usages can be so attributed, the vast majority, at least in Educated Nigerian English, arise from the normal process of language development involving a narrowing or extension of meaning or the creation of new idioms. ' Adekunle (1974) attributes all of standard Nigerian English's Nigerian usages in lexis and syntax to interference from the mother tongue.(Tom McArthur, The Oxford Guide to World English. Pidgin has been used in prose by many writers, including Chinua Achebe, as a vehicle for poetry by Frank Aig-Imoukhuede, and for drama by Ola Rotimi.' Although a number of Pidgin dictionaries have been compiled, it has not yet been standardized. Its many forms reflect both mother tongue and WAPE influence. 'The spectrum of English in Nigeria ranges from Standard English through a more general English whose structures are influenced by the mother tongues, by the Indian English of many traders and teachers, and by WAPE, which is sometimes acquired as a mother tongue in such urban areas as Calabar and Port Harcourt, usually along with one or more local languages.

How to speak nigerian pidgin