
The language also shares some similarities with the Krio creole language spoken in Sierra Leone and Cameroon Pidgin. There are several different Nigerian Pidgin dialects, such as Lagos Pidgin, Delta Pidgin, Cross River Pidgin, and Benin Pidgin. Although Nigerian Pidgin doesn’t have an official status, it is used by the BBC online and for news broadcasts as part of BBC News Pidgin. In fact, it is one of the most widely spoken creole languages in the world, with 30 million Pidgin speakers worldwide.

Unlike pidgin languages, creole languages are typically spoken as a first language and become official languages, with specific grammatical rules and structures, as well as changes in syntax and pronunciation.ĭespite what its name might suggest, Nigerian Pidgin, also known as Naijá, is a creole language.

In the cases of some of the languages mentioned in this article, like Jamaican Creole or Nigerian Pidgin, the need for this form of language arose from the colonisation of the Caribbean and Africa by the British Empire and France. Creole languages develop initially as a mode of communication between speakers of different languages, initially in the form of a pidgin language.
