Abstract

Nigeria is a multilingual nation with over 450 indigenous languages, the English language and Nigerian English-based Pidgin competing over the linguistic space. Many of the indigenous languages have gone into extinction for lack of users of such languages; English is the second language, occupying official status and Pidgin is widely used especially in the South- South region of Nigeria as the language of their immediate environment that satisfies their communication need, and also used for trade. At the era where some people are still undermining the Nigerian Pidgin (NP), it is seriously evolving with all the characteristics of every human language. It varies from one speech community to the other and across age, gender and socioeconomic status in Nigeria. The crux of this study is to establish within the framework of social variation the age variation in the use of Pidgin in Sapele, Nigeria. The study compared the youthful use of Pidgin with the ways elders use Pidgin in Sapele. The aim of this research is to advance studies in Nigerian Pidgin – who knows, it could evolve as the National language over time.

Key words: Social variations, age variation, pidgin, English-based pidgin, Langauge variance.