nigerian pidgin (also called nigerian creole) is an english-based pidgin and creole language spoken as a "lingua franca" across nigeria. the language is sometimes referred to as ""pijin"" or "broken" (pronounced ""brokun""). it can be spoken as a pidgin, a creole, slang or a decreolised acrolect by different speakers, who may switch between these forms depending on the social setting. a common orthography has been developed for pidgin which has been gaining significant popularity in giving the language a harmonized writing system.