Languages of Nigeria

Languages of Nigeria
Regional languages	Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Tiv
Sign languages	Nigerian Sign Language Hausa Sign Language Bura Sign Language

There are over 521 languages that have been spoken in Nigeria (at least 9 of them are now extinct). The official language of Nigeria, English, the former colonial language, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country. Communication in the English language is much more popular in the country's urban communities than it is in the rural areas (comprising about three quarters of the country's population).

The other major languages are Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Urhobo, Ibibio, Edo, Fulfulde, and Kanuri. Nigeria's linguistic diversity is a microcosm of Africa as a whole, encompassing three major African languages families: Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger–Congo. Nigeria also has several as-yet unclassified languages, such as Cen Tuum, which may represent a relic of an even greater diversity prior to the spread of the current language families.

Niger–Congo predominates in the Central, East and Southern areas of Nigeria; the main branches represented in Nigeria are Mande, Atlantic, Gur, Kwa, Benue–Congo and Adamawa–Ubangian. Mande is represented by the Busa cluster and Kyenga in the northwest. Fulfulde is the single Atlantic language, of Senegambian origin but now spoken by cattle pastoralists across the Sahel and largely in the North east state, Adamawa to be precise. Fulani (sometimes Fulbe) diaspora.

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