It takes a great inspiration from British English and, to a lesser extent, American English.

Before then, the Nigerian Sudan was more outward oriented through regular trans-Saharan contacts with Two regions of dense population are found in the extreme north: the Nigeria - Nigeria - Languages: The languages of Nigeria are classified into three broad linguistic groups: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic. Igbo culture was popularized in the novel Things Fall Apart, which features an Igbo tribe. There are over 520 languages spoken in Nigeria and 27 are close to extinction already.

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The eastern Cross River area is virtually uninhabited owing to the poor soil and climate.The central region is the most sparsely settled and least developed part of Nigeria, Before 1970, large-scale development in this region, often referred to as the middle belt, was restricted to a few government-supported projects, such as the Kainji Dam and the Bacita sugar project (both in the northwestern part of the region) and a few industries in the towns of The north, or Nigerian Sudan, underwent significant change in the beginning of the 20th century, when a new economic pattern was created by the construction of a railroad that connected the region to the country’s coastal ports. In recent years, the federal government has been making efforts to promote the use of indigenous languages, many of which are endangered. Nigerian Sign Language is also used in Chad and the Republic of Congo. The language is one of the largest in West Africa and it has an estimated 30 million native users while an additional 20 million people use the language as the second language.

There are a number of phrases and words that are exclusive to Nigerian English.Hausa is one of the regional languages used in Nigeria. Some of the indigenous languages are endangered, and out of over 500, at least seven are now extinct. English is the language that the government uses for all official messages and communiques, though the dialect spoken is a distinct Nigerian English. The language is used for all formal communication in government and is also the language used in the drafting of legislations as well as in the Nigerian judicial system. See language lists, maps, statistics, and more. Since Standard Yoruba's constitution was determined by a single author rather than by a consensual linguistic policy by all speakers, the Standard has been attacked regarding for failing to include other dialects and spurred debate as to what demarcates "genuine Yoruba".

The English spoken in Nigeria is a unique known as Nigerian English. Three most widespread among the 529 languages available in Nigeria are Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa languages. Apart from these native speakers we still have around 15 million people speaking hausa as the second language. The English language was introduced in Nigeria by the British when the country was under British colonial rule. Nigeria is home to hundreds of indigenous languages. Hausa is of the Afroasiatic language family, from the Chadic branch. Hausa is made up of numerous geographically defined dialects, but only the Dauranchi and the Kananci dialects are recognized as the standard dialect of the language. For example, the Hausa ethnic group has a region that spans from Benin, across Nigeria, and into Cameroon. There are over 525 native languages spoken in Nigeria. Also worthy of note is the Enuani dialect, a variation of the Igbo that is spoken among parts of Anioma. English is the official language in Nigeria. The Nigerian Sign Language was introduced in 1960 by Andrew Foster, a 20th-century deaf missionary and is modeled from the American Sign Language. There are more than 500 languages in Nigeria. In recent years, the government of Nigeria has made steps to recognize and preserve the indigenous languages and cultures of Nigeria. Igbo is one of the most popular languages in Nigeria with an estimated 24 million native speakers, the majority of whom are members of the Igbo ethnic group. The Yoruba-inhabited areas where cacao is grown are also densely settled and attract many migrants from the congested Igbo and Ibibio-inhabited areas. The number of users of the Hausa Sign Language is estimated to range from 70,000 people to about 5 million people in the country. It is expressed by about 80 million Nigerians, particularly in urban centers, such as the capital of Hausa, one of the most prominent indigenous languages of Nigeria, is spoken by about 30 million people as a native language in West Africa and an additional 20 million as a second language.

The more historically recent standardization and romanization of Igbo have provoked even more controversy due to its dialectical diversity, but the Central Igbo dialect has gained the widest acceptance as the standard-bearer. In addition to being a common language in Nigeria, Yoruba is also spoken by many in the Another common regional language of Nigeria is Igbo. Nine out of 521 have gone extinct, but the rest are still in use. However, many of those professing to be Muslims and Christians also openly performed certain rites or rituals of traditional religions that were no longer condemned as they had been during the colonial period. As is often the case in countries whose borders were drawn by European colonial powers, the boundaries of Nigeria are considered by many to be artificial. Yoruba, the indigenous language of the Yoruba people, is spoken by about 19 million people in Nigeria as their native language, as well as many of the Yoruba in Benin.