Who speaks pigeon?

Answer 1

It does sound like "pigeon" but it has nothing to do with birds. It's "pidgin" and it refers to an ungrammatical and very simplified version of a language, one that is widely understood by ordinary people and often looked down upon by those who are educated. Pidgin is sometimes spoken by people without much formal education, since it does not have as formal a structure, has a limited vocabulary, and is easy to learn. Also, in countries where there are many languages, pidgin can often be used as a common thread that helps various groups to communicate with each other.

Many languages have a pidgin version. Some people in Haiti speak Kreyol, and for many years, the French colonizers regarded Kreyol as nothing more than incorrectly spoken French; today, however, it is the most commonly spoken language in Haiti. Similarly, in Hawaii, there is a pidgin which is a combination of Chinese, old Hawaiian, Polynesian, and some English; it is often looked down upon as a non-standard and uneducated English, but many people still speak it.