Barikanchi Pidgin, Barikanci, or Bastard Hausa is a

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

of the

Hausa language Hausa (; /; Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken by the Hausa people in the northern half of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern half of Niger, Chad and Sudan, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast. Hausa is a member ...

spoken in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Barikanci is used by the

Nigerian Armed Forces The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief o ...

to ensure clear communication between the linguistically diverse members of the military. In the Nigerian military, the majority of members are from the northern part of the country. This led to the

being the lingua franca, paving the way for pidgin Hausa, also known as ''hausan bariki''. The language developed in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

barracks of northern Nigeria in the first part of the 20th century, and was used as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

among Nigerians of diverse linguistic backgrounds. Being a military language, Barikanci is principally spoken in military barracks—"Barikanci" is derived from the word ''bariki'', which means barracks.

References

Hausa language Military of Nigeria African-based pidgins and creoles Military pidgins Languages attested from the 20th century Languages of Nigeria {{pidgincreole-lang-stub

See also

References