The presence of repetitive phrases in Caribbean Creole such as su-su (gossip) and pyaa-pyaa (sickly) mirror the presence of such phrases in West African languages such as bam-bam, which means "complete" in the Yoruba language. The pronunciation and accents often differ a great deal, mainly due to the extremely heterogeneous mix of African languages present in the West Indies, but if written on paper or spoken slowly, the creole languages of the Caribbean are for the most part mutually intelligible with the creole languages of West Africa. Linguists posit that this is because most of the enslaved that were taken to the New World were of West African descent. Nigerian Pidgin, along with the various pidgin and creole languages of West Africa, share similarities to the various English-based Creoles found in the Caribbean. Relationship to other languages and dialects Similarity to Caribbean Creoles While pidgin is spoken by many, there are wide swathes of Nigeria where pidgin is not spoken or understood, especially among those without secular education in core northern parts - Gombe State, Yobe State - of Nigeria. There are accounts of pidgin being spoken first in colonial Nigeria before being adopted by other countries along the West African coast. Nigerian Pidgin is most widely spoken in the oil state Niger Delta where most of its population speak it as their first language. Dialects of Nigerian Pidgin may include the Sapele- Warri- Ughelli dialect that has majorly influenced large parts of Nigeria, Benin City dialect that has its influence from Bini language, Port Harcourt dialect that has elements of the mixed tribes in Rivers State, Lagos (particularly in Ajegunle influenced by sizeable Niger Deltan populace) and Onitsha varieties that draws influence from Igbo language. Nigerian Pidgin also varies from place to place. Hausa ba at the end of an intonated sentence or question: you no wan come ba? means "You don't want to come, right?".Igbo biko, meaning "please." For example, the sentence Biko free me means "Please leave me alone".For example, Una dey mad in Nigerian Pidgin means "You people are crazy." Unu has also found its way to Jamaican patois, with the same meaning as in Nigerian Pidgin. Igbo unu, equivalent to the English term "you people", has been adopted as una.Igbo abi (another variant of the words ṣebi and ba), adding the word nna, also used at the beginning of some sentences, to show camaraderie: For example, "Man, that test was very hard" becomes Nna mehn, that test hard no be small.Yorùbá ṣebi is often used at the start or end of an intonated sentence or question: "You are coming, right?" becomes Ṣebi you dey come?.Many of the 250 or more ethnic groups in Nigeria can converse in the language, though many speakers will utilize words from their native tongues. In 2017, BBC started BBC News Pidgin to provide services in Pidgin. In 2011, Google launched a search interface in Pidgin. Pidgin breaks the communication barrier between different ethnic groups and it is widely spoken throughout Nigeria. Nigerian Pidgin is commonly used throughout the country, but it has not been granted official status. 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 the 2010s, a common orthography was developed for Pidgin which has been gaining significant popularity in giving the language a harmonized writing system. It can be spoken as a pidgin, a creole, dialect or a decreolised acrolect by different speakers, who may switch between these forms depending on the social setting. The language is sometimes referred to as Pijin or Brokun. Nigerian Pidgin, also called Naijá or Naija, is an English-based creole language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria.
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