Nigerian Pidgin Language Guide

Also spoken in
Nigeria
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

A language-classification database lists Nigerian Pidgin as spoken in Nigeria and describes it as a de facto language of national identity. An academic paper on Nigerian Pidgin, written from data collected in Port Harcourt, says that it is the most widely spoken language in the country and that members of every regional, ethno-linguistic and religious group in Nigeria speak it. The same paper says that it is given little or no recognition by Nigeria's language policy planners and administrators.

Sources

Script & pronunciation

Naija Guru, an online guide to Nigerian Pidgin, says that Nigerian Pidgin uses the Latin alphabet and that its writing system is meant to be easy to read and write for speakers of English. The same guide says that only an acute accent is used to show tone, that the low tone is not marked, and that words pluralized with the suffix dem are hyphenated, as in man-dem.

This app's Nigerian Pidgin cards are written in plain Latin letters with no tone marks, as in "Wetin you wan buy?" (What would you like to buy?), and carry no separate romanization line. The cards write you in its English form, whereas an example sentence in the Naija Guru entry for oga writes it as yu.

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Grammar essentials

Naija Guru says that, like English, Nigerian Pidgin uses subject-verb-object order, and that when a statement becomes a question the order of subject and verb is not changed. In this app, the card "Wetin you wan buy?" (What would you like to buy?) puts the question word wetin at the start and keeps you before the verb wan. The same guide says that an adjective is put before the noun.

In Naija Guru's tense tables the verb form is the same for all six subject pronouns, for example like and dey feel in the simple present. It describes dey as the marker of the present continuous, which is used for actions happening at the current moment; don as the marker of the present perfect, whose listed uses include an action completed very recently; bin as an optional marker in the simple past, which can also be formed with just the root verb; and go as the marker of the simple future, which is used for future plans or intentions, predictions or scheduled events. In this app, the card "I dey just look, thank you." (I'm just looking, thank you.) has a note saying that dey plus a verb marks an ongoing action or state. The card "I don lose my card. Abeg, help me." (I lost my card. I need help) has a note saying that don marks a completed action, and the card "I go take am." (I'll take it.) has a note saying that go plus a verb marks the future.

Naija Guru lists no as a negative adverb, with examples such as "She no go school today.", and gives "no + verb" as the structure of the negative simple past, as in "I no go church on Sunday." In this app, the card "I no get small change." (I don't have small change.) has a note saying that no is the negator placed before the verb. The same guide gives neva as a negative adverb, as in "We neva chop since morning."

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Politeness & etiquette

Naija Guru defines abeg as an interjection used to make a request or seek a favor, with the example "Abeg help me carry dis bag." In this app, the card "Abeg, give me water." (Please give me water) has a note saying that abeg means "please".

Naija Guru defines oga as the name given to someone of higher authority, or someone we want to be polite to or show respect, and gives the example "Oga, abeg, yu fit direct us go di nearest bus stop?" In this app, the card "Hello, sir." (Hello (respectful general greeting)) has a note saying that respect is shown not by verb forms but by address terms (sir, ma, oga) and English greetings.

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