A language game (also called a cant, secret language, ludling, or argot) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to an untrained listener. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others. Some common examples are Pig Latin; the Gibberish family, prevalent in the United States and Sweden; and Verlan, spoken in France.
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.
Use Some language games such as Pig Latin are so widely known that privacy is virtually impossible, as most people have a passable understanding of how it works and the words can sound very similar to their English counterpart. 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 in French (derived from according to the rules of Louchébem)
Classification One way in which language games could be organized is by host language. For example, Pig Latin, Ubbi Dubbi, and Tutnese could all be in the "English" category, and Jeringonza could be in the "Spanish" (or "Portuguese" or "Italian") category.
An alternate method of classifying language games is by their method. For example, Ubbi Dubbi, Bicycle, and 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, in which the onsets of two words are exchanged. 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).
List of common language games In English + Common language games Host Language Name Basic Rules Notes English (etc.) Pig Latin Move the onset of the first syllable to the end of each word, and add "ay" . When a word starts with a vowel (and thus there is no onset), you simply add "ay," "way," "yay," or "hay" (depending on the variant) at the end. For example:Hello, how are you? becomes Ellohay, owhay are-ay ouyay?In some variants, vowels are moved to the end, "ay" is added, and the speaker will attempt to pronounce it. English (etc.) Aigy Paigy (or Haigy Paigy, etc.) Insert "aig" before the rime of each syllable. E.g., Hello, how are you? becomes Haigellaigo, haigow aigare yaigou? English (etc.) Alfa Balfa (or Alpha Balpha) In each syllable of a word, insert "alf" after the first consonant and/or before the first vowel of the syllable. Thus each syllable becomes two syllables, the first rhyming with "pal" and the second beginning with the "f" in "alf." E.g., Hello, how are you? becomes Halfellalfo, halfow alfare yalfou? English (etc.) Ubbi Dubbi (or Obby Dobby) Insert "ob" or "ub" before the rime of each syllable. Also called Pig Greek; part of the Gibberish family. English Polysyllabic ollysyllabic Multiple repetitions of polysyllabic words deleting initial sounds successively and making appropriate vowel changes: E.g., Everybody, verybody, errybody, wrybody, whybody, body, oddie, die, why.andCatastrophe, atastrophy, tastrophy, astrophy, strophee, trophy, rophy, ophee, fee, he, ee. English Cockney rhyming slang Canonical rhyming word pairs; speakers often drop the second word of common pairs. wife → trouble (and strife);stairs → apples (and pears) English Gibberish, Geta, Op, etc. Many variations exist. In one: after the first consonant in each syllable, insert "itherg" for words of 1 to 3 letters, "itug" for words of 4 to 6 letters, or "idig" for longer words. In another: a less restrictive variation (sometimes called Geta), this simple rule exists: place the sound "idig" right before the vowel sound in every syllable. So "This is Geta" becomes "Thidigís idigís Gidigétigida" (with accent marks shown here on stressed syllables). "Gibberish" refers to any one of several similar language games that involves inserting additional sounds into each syllable of a word. 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. Merry Christmas → Mizzle Christmizzle English Back slang Formed by speaking words backwards; where unnecessary, anagrams may be employed to aid pronunciation. Used by traders to conceal shop talk from customers. English Spoonerism Formed by swapping prominent sounds, usually the first letters, of close words. For example, The pig is sick becomes The sig is pick; She nicked my pose becomes She picked my nose; Light a fire becomes Fight a liar 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 Uasi The primary rule is the "vowel shift," where each vowel is shifted over one place to the right (e.g., "a" becomes "e"). Other rules exist, such as tongue clicks to signify verb tenses. I went to the store → O guL ta osi sturi
In other languages + Common language games Host Language Name Basic Rules Notes Afrikaans Emmer-taal Suffix "-mer" to the end of each word. Longer words that consist of joined words are often broken into two or more words with the "-mer" sound inserted in the middle and at the end. Example: → Damer ommer immer diemer vleimer stammer immer mammer-tjiemmer. Afrikaans P-taal Insert before the first vowel of each syllable. Syllables with stacked consonants may follow additional rules. Writing generally depicts the sounds instead the original letters. → Depaar epondeper epen depie vlepei stepap epe mepannepekepie. Albanian Të folurit me f ('Speaking with F') All vowels are doubled, and "f" is placed between them. Spoken mostly by kids and teenagers among friends. Dialectal patterns are observed in some areas. Example: ('What are we going to do now?' in the Tosk dialect) becomes Çdofo bëfëjmëfë tafanifi? Amharic ('bird language') and ('language of the left'). There is also another form with more complex rules.Teshome Demisse and M. Lionel Bender. 1983. An argot of Addis Ababa unattached girls. Language in Society Volume 12.3: pp. 339-347. Yäwof q'uanq'ua:Duplicate each syllable, replacing the initial consonant with "z" in the duplicate.P.367 of Marcel Cohen. 1939. Nouvelles Etudes d'Etiopien Meridional. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion.Yägra quanqua: move the last syllable to the front of the word.p. 79, Kebbede Hordofa and Peter Unseth. 1986. "Bird Talk" in Oromo. Quaderni di Studi Etiopici 6-7:74-83 Yäwof q'uanq'ua: 'he broke' becomes säzäbbäzäräzä Yägra quanqua: 'he came' → t'ämma Arabicone iteration called Misf "-rb-" language game found in several dialects involves the insertion of the consonants "-rb-" at various parts within the word, often on the stressed syllable. becomes baarbalad and becomes fiirbiil
This cant was in general vogue during the 1930s and throughout the 1960s in Mecca. Bengali Insert "faado" at the end of each syllable. Additional rules may apply to note the end of a word. ('I' or 'me') → Aa-faado-Mi-faado spoken very fast. Bulgarian Pileshki Insert "pi" before each syllable. Though simple, when spoken quickly, words become nearly incomprehensible. Often called "chicken language" because it mimics the sounds fledglings make. Pileshko means 'chicken' in Bulgarian. becomes пикупиче Burmese Ban Zaga/Thor Zagar Thor Zagar: Put Thor at the end of each word and change the consonant of the first and last word. Example: → achor thit Cantonese S-language Repeat each syllable changing the initial consonant to Used by children and teenagers to avoid being understood by adults. Cebuano Kinabayo ('horse language') Mimics the sound of a horse's gallop. Replace every vowel by (the vowel)+'g'+(the vowel)+'d'+(the vowel). becomes Agadanigidi-agada agadang sagadalagadapigidi Danish P-language All vowels are doubled, with "p" inserted between the doubled vowels. Rules are identical to Swedish P-language Danish Røversprog All consonants are doubled, with an "o" inserted between the doubled consonants. Rules are identical to Icelandic Dutch Reversed elements and words. A mercantile code Dutch P-taal Insert before the first vowel of each syllable. Syllables with stacked consonants may follow additional rules. Writing generally depicts the sounds instead the original letters. → Depaar epop strepaat stepaat epen mepannepetjepe. Dutch Okki-taal Add "-okki" to any consonant, and replace vowels with a number corresponding to the order of vowels in the alphabet (a → 1, e → 2, etc.) A children's game. For example: → 2 xokki 1 mokki pokki lokki 2 Dutch Panovese Kal Mixing characters in a particular way. Used in Kortessen, Limburg, ca. 1900.For example: → Onze zeder die in de vamelen hijt Esperanto Esperant' Replace the accusative with the preposition je, and the final -o of nouns with an apostrophe, all while keeping to the letter of official grammar if not actual usage. becomes Ĉiamu onia obe' je l' Fundament' Estonian Pii-keel (Pi-Language) Insert the syllable pi after the (first) syllable or into a long syllable's nucleus between the vowels. For example: 'I am here' becomes mi-pi-na o-pi-len si-pi-in Estonian Ö-keel (Ö-Language or vowel language) Replace every vowel with the vowel "ö" or "õ", "ä", "ü". In a more extreme variety, any other vowel or 2 vowels in a row (instead only "ö" can be used "ö" and "ä" together as "öä") can also be used. For example: 'What are you doing?' becomes Mös sö tööd? Finnish Sananmuunnos Spoonerism: swap first morae of words Apply vowel harmony according to the initial syllable, and repair "broken diphthongs" into permitted diphthongs Finnish Kontinkieli Add word "kontti" after each word and apply the same conversion as in Lyle Campbell. 1980. The Psychological and Sociological Reality of Finnish Vowel Harmony. In Issues in Vowel Harmony, edited by Robert Vago, pp. 245-270. (Studies in Language Companion Series, 6.) John Benjamins. Finnish counterpart of Pig Latin. This game is also called ('Pig German'), which is a common expression for unintelligible gibberish. FinnishA-Kieli (A-language) Replace every vowel with the vowel "a". For example: becomes Mata sa taat French Louchébem Move the initial consonant to the end and add '-em' (the suffix may be different in other varieties). Prepend 'l' ('L') to the base word. Initially a Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' cant. For example: → larlepem French Verlan Inverted syllables, often followed by truncation and other adjustments. Examples: → caillera ; → renoi ; → beur ;