Trends in Nigerian Pidgin orthography on digital platforms

Nigerian Pidgin (NP) is a dynamic contact language with an English-based vocabulary and influences from various Nigerian languages. Although primarily oral, the emergence of NP on digital platforms has led to new spelling conventions, punctuation practices, and the incorporation of loanwords. This paper adopts Basic Linguistic Theory (BLT) to investigate changes in NP orthography by examining trends in its structure and function. Through a qualitative analysis of a corpus of NP texts sourced from Facebook and Instagram, the study highlights the challenges involved in attempting to standardize the orthography of this multilingual and fluid language. The findings reveal that while digital communication has increas ed the visibility of NP, it has also complicated efforts to formalize its writing system. This has significant implications for lexicographers, linguists, and scholars seeking to document or study Nigerian Pidgin for academic, literary, or media purposes.