Similarly, many Nigerian languages have reduplication, which has been infused into the pidgin language. For instance, Walahi (sincerely – Hausa), obodo oyibo (white man’s land – Igbo), Koro (short cut, dark alley, or dirt road – Isoko), Una (plural of you (from unu) – Igbo), and Abi (Right – Yoruba). In the history of Nigerian pidgin, words were borrowed from many indigenous languages.
Also, many Nigerian languages omit the preposition ‘to.’ This influences an instance such as I wan go market (I want to go to the market). Many Nigerian languages describe eating in the same manner as chopping (cutting into pieces).
The Nigerian pidgin, like any other pidgin, borrows words and language structure of indigenous languages. Alternating from a reference to the uneducated and rather used as a show of national identity. Following the colonial area, it became more dominant between the British and their indigenous staff, and at the turn of independence, the language continued to grow. The language was developed to foster communication between British slave traders and the locals. The Nigerian pidgin started during the pre-colonial era in the 17th century. Also, Pidgin English speakers maintain their own languages for conversation purposes within their own people. Typically with easy grammar and a reduced vocabulary than the languages from which it is derived and used among people who do not share a common language (i.e., lingua franca) for communication. Generally, pidgin is a language made up of lexicons and other features from more than one language. Pidgin is used in many day-to-day activities in Nigeria, including an exchange in the marketplace, places of worship, music, and media, among others. It is often used as a language to bridge the gap that other Nigerian languages may come with. Pidgin in Nigeria is well accepted among people of different classes, ages, and ethnicities. The Nigerian Pidgin language is one of Nigeria’s most widely spoken languages, with about 40 million people speaking it as a first language and over 60 million as a second language.