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Nigerian Pidgin, also known simply as Pidgin or Broken or as Naijá in scholarship, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria. The language is sometimes referred to as Pijin or Vernacular. First used by British colonists and slave traders to facilitate the Atlantic slave trade in the late 17th century, in the 2010s, a common orthography was developed for Pidgin which has been gaining significant popularity in giving the language a harmonized writing system.
The Nupe are an ethnic group native to North Central Nigeria. They are the dominant ethnic group in Niger State and an important minority in Kwara State. The Nupe are also present in Kogi State and The Federal Capital Territory.
There are over 525 native languages spoken in Nigeria. The official language and most widely spoken lingua franca is English, which was the language of Colonial Nigeria. Nigerian Pidgin – an English-based creole – is spoken by over 60 million people.
Nupe is a Volta–Niger language of the Nupoid branch primarily spoken by the Nupe people of the North Central region of Nigeria. Its geographical distribution stretches and maintains preeminence in Niger State as well as Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory. Nupe is closely related to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects of Nupe: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.
Karai-karai is a language spoken in West Africa, most prominently North eastern Nigeria. The number of speakers of Karai-karai is estimated between 1,500,000 to 1,800,000 million, primarily spoken by the ethnic Karai-Karai people. It is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken principally in Nigeria with communities in Bauchi State, Yobe State, Gombe State and other parts of Nigeria. Many Karai-karai words share a common origin with the Northwest Semitic languages of Hebrew and Arabic. The Karai-karai language is most closely related to the Ngamo and Bole languages which are both considered derivatives of the Karai-karai language.
The Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 70 million speakers. Among these are the most important languages of southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and southeast Ghana: Yoruba, Igbo, Bini, and Gbe.
Ebira (pronounced as /eh 'bi ra/; with the Central known as Okene It is spoken by around 2 million people in middle belt Nigeria. It is the most divergent language.
The Nupoid languages are a branch of Volta–Niger spoken in west-central Nigeria, particularly in southeastern Niger State and northern Kogi State. They include the Nupe, and Ebira languages, each with about 4 million speakers. Most Nupoid languages have 3 level tones.
The South Plateau languages, also known as Jilic–Eggonic, are spoken in central Nigeria. Eggon has 150,000 speakers and Jili perhaps 100,000.
Nigerian English, also known as Nigerian Standard English, is a dialect of English spoken in Nigeria. Based on British and American English, the dialect contains various loanwords and collocations from the native languages of Nigeria, due to the need to express concepts specific to the cultures of ethnic groups in the nation.
Asu is a Nupoid language spoken in Niger State in Western Nigeria. The Asu live in about ten villages southeast of Kontagora.
Gwari is a Nupoid language spoken by the Gbagyi people, which make up over a million people in Nigeria. There are two principal varieties, Gbari and Gbagyi, which have some difficulty in communication; sociolinguistically they are distinct languages.
Dibo, a.k.a. Ganagana, Ganagawa, Zhitako, is a Nupoid language spoken in Nigeria. It is spoken in about twenty villages south of Lapai. There is only 66% cognacy with Central Nupe, out of 200 words.
The Hausa–Gwandara languages of the Afro-Asiatic family are spoken principally in Niger and Nigeria. They include Gwandara and Hausa, the most populous Chadic language and a major language of West Africa.
Gade (Gad) is a Gadoid language of Nigeria. Glottolog 4.7 (2022) classifies it as an independent branch of Benue-Congo rather than as a Nupoid language of the Gade people.
Kakanda is a Nupoid language of Nigeria. Kakanda is spoken in and around Kupa and Eggan. There are scattered villages stretching from the Niger-Benue confluence to as far as Muregi. There are at least 10,000 people. It is most closely related to Gupa and Kupa, although there are also some similarities with Ebira.
Kupa is spoken in villages in Kupaland which are Abugi, Ikin-Sami circus of villages, Ikin-makun circles, Kuchalu, Sampi and Eggan.
Kami is a Nupoid language spoken in Niger State, Nigeria. Kami is spoken only in Ebo town, located to the south of Lapai. There are at most 500 speakers. Kami is closely related to Gupa and Dibo.
Koro Zuba is a Nupoid language of Nigeria. It is one of several languages which go by the ethnic name Koro. However, it has very low lexical similarity with Koro Nulu, which speakers consider to be a variant of the same language due to ethnic identity, and instead is closest to Dibo.
Koro Nulu, also known as Koro Ija, is a Plateau language of Nigeria, one of several languages which go by the ethnic name Koro. It is not closely related to other languages. It has very low lexical similarity with Koro Zuba, which speakers consider to be a variant of the same language due to ethnic identity. However, the Jilic languages are Plateau and Koro Zuba is apparently Nupoid, and Koro Nulu has yet to be classified.
References
- ↑ Gupa-Abawa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Blench, Roger. 2013. The Nupoid languages of west-central Nigeria: overview and comparative word list .
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