Language game
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- This article is about systems of language obfuscation. For Ludwig Wittgenstein's linguistic theory, see Language-game.
A language game (also called secret language or ludling) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others. Some common examples are Pig Latin, which is used all over the globe; the Gibberish family, prevalent in the United States and Sweden; and Verlan, spoken in France.
Each of these language games involves a usually simple standard transformation to speech, thus encoding it. The languages can be easily mentally encoded and decoded by a skilled speaker at the rate of normal speech, while those who either don't know the key or aren't practiced in rapid speech are left hearing nothing but gibberish.
A common difficulty with language games is that they are usually passed down orally. While written translations can be made, they are often imperfect, and thus spelling can vary widely. Some factions argue that words in these spoken tongues should simply be written the way they are pronounced, while others insist that the purity of language demands that the transformation remain visible when the words are imparted to paper. Contrary to what proponents of either side may tell you, there is no one definitive written lexicon for language games, but it is rather a matter of dialect.
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[edit] Use
Language games are primarily used by children, to disguise their speech from others. Some language games, such as Pig Latin, are so widely known that privacy is nearly impossible, as most people at least know how it works, even if they can't speak it themselves. Although language games are not usually used in everyday conversation, some words from language games have made their way into normal speech, such as ixnay in English (from Pig Latin), and loufoque in French (from Louchébem).
[edit] Classification
One way in which language games could be organized is by language, for example, Pig Latin, Ubbi Dubbi, and Tutnese could all be in the "English" category, and Jeringonza could be in the "Spanish" category.
An alternate method of classifying language games is by their function. For example, Ubbi Dubbi, Bicycle, and Allspråket all work by inserting a code syllable before the vowel in each syllable. Therefore, these could be classified in the Gibberish family. Also, Double Talk, Língua do Pê, Jeringonza, and B-Sprache all work by adding a consonant after the vowel in each syllable, and then repeating the vowel. Thus, these could be classified in the Double Talk family. Another common type of language game is the spoonerism, where the onset of words are exchanged, e.g. George Bush's famous terriers and bariffs ← barriers and tariffs. Using a standard word for each transformation gives another type, for example, the Finnish "kontinkieli", where kontti is added after each word, and spoonerism applied (kondäntti koonerismspontti koppliedäntti).
[edit] List of common language games
| Host Language | Name | Basic Rules | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | P-taal | Insert "Əp" before the first vowel of each syllable. Syllables with stacked consonants may follow additional rules. | Writing generally depicts the sounds instead the original letters. Daar onder in die vlei stap 'n mannetjie = Depaar epondeper epen depie velepetei stepatepap epe mepannepekie. |
| Afrikaans | Emmer-taal | Insert "mer" At the end of each word. Longer words that consists of joined words are often broken into two or more words with the "mer" sound inserted in the middle and at the end. | Example. Daar onder in die vlei stap 'n mannetjie = Damer ommer immer diemer vleimer stammer immer mammer-tjiemmer. |
| Bulgarian | Insert "pe" before each syllable. | ||
| Dutch | Reversed elements and words. | A mercantile code | |
| Dutch | Panovese Kal | Mixing characters in a particular way. | Used in Kortessen, Limburg, ca. 1900. Ex. "Onze vader die in de hemelen zijt" = "Onze zeder die in de vamelen hijt". |
| English (etc.) | Pig Latin | Move the onset of the first syllable to the end of each word, and add "ay" (IPA /eɪ/). | When a word starts with a vowel (i.e. there is no onset) you simply add "ay", "way", "yay", or "hay" (depending on the variant) at the end. |
| English (etc.) | Ubbi Dubbi (or Obby Dobby) | Insert "ob" (IPA /ɑb/) or "ub" (IPA /ʌb/) before the rime of each syllable. | Also called Pig Greek; part of the Gibberish family |
| English | Bicycle | Insert "es" (IPA /əs/) after each consonant. | Hello - Heselesleso |
| English (etc.) | Elephant | Insert "eleph" or "elef" before every vowel sound. | "How are you doing?" → Helefow elefare yelefoo delefoo-elefing? |
| English | Cockney rhyming slang | Canonical rhyming word pairs; speakers often drop the second word of common pairs. | "trouble & strife" (or just "trouble") = "wife" |
| English | Dong | Spelling out words, using plain vowel sounds and '-ong' at the end of each consonant. | "Let's go" = "Long ee tong song, gong oh." |
| English | Eggy-Peggy (or Egg Latin) | Insert "egg" or "ag" before the rime of each syllable. Inserting at the beginning of a word which starts with a vowel seems to be a matter of preference. | "How are you doing?" → Heggow eggare yeggou deggoegging? |
| English | Double Talk/B-Language | German B-Language in English. | "How are you doing?" = "Hobow abare yobou doboibing?" |
| English | Gibberish | Insert "itherg", "itug" or "idig" after the first consonant in each syllable. | Gibberish is also a family of related language games. |
| English | Inflationary English | Any time a number is present within a word, inflate its value by one. | "Anyone up for tennis?" becomes "Anytwo up five elevennis?" Originally part of a comedy sketch by Victor Borge. |
| English | -izzle | Insert "-izzle" after a word's last pre-vowel consonant while discarding the remaining letters. | Popularized by rapper Snoop Dogg. |
| English | Rechtub klat (Australia) or backslang (UK) | Formed by speaking words backwards; where necessary, anagrams may be employed to aid pronunciation. | Used by butchers in Australia to conceal details of shop talk from customers. |
| English | Turkey Irish | Formed by inserting "-ab" before every vowel phoneme. | Reported by Dr. James Bender in the December 31, 1944 edition of the New York Times Magazine. Has limited use today except in parts of Eastern Canada. |
| English | Tutnese | Spell out words using a lexicon of names for consonants, and special rules for double letters. | How are you? - Hashowack arure yuckou? |
| English | Yardle bardle | ||
| English | Zambuda | Long vowels became short; c pronounced s when should have been k. | |
| Esperanto | Esperant' | Substitutes the accusative by the preposition je and the final -o of nouns by an apostrophe, all while keeping to the letter of official grammar if not actual usage. | "Oni ĉiam obeu la Fundamenton" becomes "Ĉiamu onia obe' je l' Fundament'" |
| Finnish | Sananmuunnos | Spoonerism: swap first morae of words | Apply vowel harmony according to the initial syllable, repair "broken diphthongs" into permitted diphthongs |
| Finnish | Kontinkieli | Add word 'kontti' after each word and apply the same conversion as in sanamuunnos. | Finnish counterpart of Pig Latin. This game is also called 'siansaksa'. |
| French | Louchebem | Move the initial consonant to the end and add 'var'. For suffixes, prepend 'l' ('L'). | Initially a Parisian/Lyonnaise butchers' cant. |
| French | Verlan | Inverted nouns syllables order. | |
| French | Jargon | Each vowel is replaced by "adaga" for A, "edegue" for E, "odogo" for O etc... | |
| French | Javanais | Insertion of 'av' between consonants and vowels... | |
| German | 'Lav' inserted after some vowel sounds. | ||
| German | B-Language | Each vowel or diphthong is reduplicted with a leading 'b'. | "Deutsche Sprache" = "Deubeutschebe Sprabachebe" |
| German | Löffelsprache (spoon language) | Each (spoken) vowel or diphthong is reduplicted with a leading 'lef', 'lew' or 'lev'. | "Hallo! Wie geht es dir?" = "Halewallolewo! Wielewie geleweht elewes dilewir?" Also possible with other languages: "Don't try to take me to New York!" = "Dolevon't trylevy tolevo tailevaik meleve tolevo Newlevew/Newlevoo Yolevork!" |
| German | Vsiewechselt | Each occurrence of the sound "er" (he) is replaced by "sie" (she) and vice-verca | Hermann [name] → Siemann, Sieger [winner] → Ergsie, Oer-Erkenschwick [town name] → Osie-Siekenschwick |
| Greek | Podana | Similar to the Spanish vesre. | |
| Hakka | Yuantang dialect | Each consonant and vowel is replaced by a Hakka word. | 吃饭 -> 手习花散 |
| Hebrew | Bet-Language | Identical to the German B-Language described above. | |
| Hungarian | madárnyelv (birds' language) | Repeat each vowel and add 'v' | A variety of Gibberish (eg. látok I see -> lávátovok) |
| Hungarian | madárnyelv (birds' language) | Repeat each vowel and add 'rg' | (eg. látok I see -> lárgátorgok) |
| Hungarian | Kongarian | Add 'ko' before each syllable | (eg. látok I see -> kolákotok) |
| Hungarian | Verzin | Syllable order is inverted. | Hungarian version of "verlan". (eg. hátra backwards -> rahát) |
| Indonesian | Prokem | Includes simple transformations of different types, acronyms and ordinary slang. | |
| Italian | Latino Maccheronico | (see below: Romance languages, Macaronic Latin) | |
| Italian | Alfabeto farfallino | Add 'Fx' after all syllables. x is the vowel in the corresponding syllable of the real word. ex.: ciao --> cifiafaofo (ci-FI-a-FA-o-FO) | By applying the same 'rule' to the English word hello, we would obtain: he-FE-llo-FO |
| Japanese | Ba-bi-bu-be-bo | Same as Double Talk or Spanish Idioma F | Example: put "b" plus vowel between syllables, "waba taba shibi waba" instead of "watashi-wa" |
| Mandarin | Fanqie | ||
| Persian | Zaban-e-zargari | Insert the sound [z] somewhere into every syllable. In monosyllabic words, the [zV] is inserted between the initial and final phonemes; e.g., mazan < man 'I'; azaz < az 'from, of'; tozo < to 'thou' (singular 'you'), etc. | |
| Portuguese | Sima | ||
| Portuguese | Língua do Pê | ||
| Romance languages | Macaronic Latin | Romance vocabulary is given Latinate endings. | "de Don Quijote de la Mancha" becomes "Domini Quijoti Manchegui" |
| Romanian | păsărească (birds' language) | After each syllable, add 'p' and repeat last vowel | "maşină" becomes "mapaşipinăpă" |
| Russian | Fufajskij yazyk | Insert "pe" before each syllable. | |
| Russian | Porosyachia Latin | ||
| Serbian | No official name, sometimes called Šatrovački | After each vower insert P followed by the same vowel; popular among young children | "zdravo" becomes "zdrapavopo". Identical to Spanish jeringonza described below. |
| Serbian | Šatrovački | Various styles of reordering syllables | "zdravo" becomes "vozdra" |
| Serbian | Utrovački | Words are formed using: U + last part + ZA + first part + NJE | "zdravo" becomes uvozazdranje |
| Serbian | Pig Latin | "us", "um" or other common Latin endings appended to Serbian words; extremely uncommon | |
| Serbian | Pig-Italian | "are" is appended to words or their roots | "krava pase travu" becomes "kravare pasare travare" |
| Spanish | Idioma F | Each vowel is reduplicated with a separating 'F'. | A variant of Jeringonza |
| Spanish | Mexico City slang | Substitute a word for another that begins the same | "Unas caguamas bien heladas" = "Unas Kawasakis bien elásticas". |
| Spanish | Add a certain syllable before every original syllable. | "Perro" = "Tipetirro" | |
| Spanish | Jeringonza | Each vowel is reduplicated with a separating 'p'. | "No sabe nada" = "Nopo sapabepe napadapa" |
| Spanish | Rosarigasino (a.k.a. Gasó) | Add gas after stressed vowel and repeat stressed vowel. | "Don Quijote de la Mancha" = "Don Quijogasote de la Magasancha" |
| Spanish | Vesre | Syllable order is inverted. | "Muchacho" = "Chochamu" |
| Swedish | Allspråket | The first consonant in each word ends with 'all'. | Sv: "Hur är läget?" → Hallur ärall lalläget? En: "How are you doing?" → Hallow aralle yallou dalloing? |
| Swedish | Fikonspråket | Each word is split in two halves (or each syllable). The parts are then put in reverse order to form a new word (sometimes written as two words) started with "fi" and ended with "kon". ("Fikon" is Swedish for figgs.) | Sv: "Hur är läget?" → Fir hukon fir äkon figet läkon? En: "How are you doing?" → Fiw hokon fir(e) akon fio(u) ykon fiing dokon? |
| Swedish | I-sprikit | All vowels are changed to 'i'. | "Can I go to the mall?" = "Cin I gi ti thi mill?" |
| Swedish | Rövarspråket | Consonants are changed to '<consonant> o <consonant>'. The 'o' is pronounced as in "hot". | Sv: "Hur är läget?" → Hohuror äror lolägogetot? En: "How are you doing?" → Hohowow arore yoyou dodoinongog? |
| Urdu (Pakistan) | Fay ki Boli | Insert "fay"(Urdu language Alphabet corresponding to the sound of 'F' in English) after each alphabet in each word. | Spoken and understood widely in Karachi(Pakistan) and Native Urdu Speakers |
| Vietnamese | Choose a vowel. Suffix each word with the initial consonant, if any, and then the vowel. | Using 'a', 'co bic' = 'coca bicba'. |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Language Games A long summary on language games, including descriptions of many games, and an extensive bibliography.
- Language Games - Part 2 A follow-up summary with additional descriptions and bibliography.
- [1] Nevbosh, a language game used by J. R. R. Tolkien, the inventor of Quenya and Sindarin Elvish, as a child
