Language game

This article is about systems of language obfuscation. For the Ludwig Wittgenstein concept, 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 say, there is no one definitive written lexicon for language games, but it is rather a matter of dialect.

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).

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, 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

Host Language	Name	Basic Rules	Notes
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.
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 vlepei stepap epe mepannepekepie.
Amharic	Yewof q'uanq'ua ("bird language)	Duplicate each syllable, replacing the initial consonant with "z" in the duplicate.	It occurs wherever an Amharic letter would appear, so that sew becomes seze-wizih
Bengali		Insert "faado" at the end of each syllable. Additional rules may apply to note the end of a word.	Example: the word 'Aami" (I or me) would be stated as 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 mimicks the sounds fledgelings make. Pileshko means chicken in Bulgarian
Burmese	ဗန္းစကား / Ban Zaga	Thor Zagar, Put Thor at end of any word and change the consonant of the first and last word.	Example: achit → achor thit
Cantonese	S-language	Repeat each syllable changing the initial consonant to /s/	Used by children and teenagers to avoid understanding by adults.
Cebuano	Kinabayo ('Horse language')	Mimics the sound of a horse's gallop. For every occurrence of a vowel, the following rule is followed: (the vowel)+'g'+(the vowel)+'d'+(the vowel).	"Ani-a ang salapi" becomes "Agadanigidi-agada agadang sagadalagadapigidi"
Chinese	Huizongyu or Qiekou or Fanqie	Split one syllable into two: the first syllable represents the onset of the original word, the second represents the final	Derives from the fanqie system (a traditional way of indicating the pronunciation of a Chinese character through using two other characters). Example: ni hao → ningni heng hao
Danish	"P-language"	All vowels are doubled, and a 'p' inserted between the doubled vowels.	Rules are identical to Swedish P-language
Dutch		Reversed elements and words.	A mercantile code
Dutch	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 op straat staat een mannetje → Depaar epop epin depie 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 (e.g. a → 1, e → 2, etc.) Ex. example → 2 xokki 1 mokki pokki lokki 2.	Popular children's game.
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" (/eɪ/).	When a word starts with a vowel (there is no onset), you simply add "ay", "way", "yay", or "hay" (depending on the variant) at the end.
English (etc.)	Aigy Paigy (or Haigy Paigy, etc.)	Insert "aig" (/ˈeɪɡ/) before the rime of each syllable.	E.g. "hello" becomes "haigellaigo"
English (etc.)	Ubbi Dubbi (or Obby Dobby)	Insert "ob" (/ˈɒb/) or "ub" (/ˈʌb/) before the rime of each syllable.	Also called Pig Greek; part of the Gibberish family
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	Insert ("itherg" for words 1 to 3 letters, "itug" for words with 4 to 6 letters, and "idig" for words with 7+ letters) 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 rappers
English	Back slang	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	Spoonerism	Formed by swapping prominent sounds, usually the first letters, of consecutive 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?
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'"
Filipino / Tagalog	Binaliktad ('Inverted')	Exchange first and last syllable of any two-syllable word. Prefix last syllable onto first syllable and affix the first syllable after the second to last one in any word more than two syllables. Sometimes "s" is added to certain words for stylistic effect.	Ex: Hindi (No) becomes Dehins (e and i are allophones in Philippine languages). S added as stylistic feature. Sigarilyo (taken from Spanish term Cigarillo) becomes Yosi (last and first syllable, middle syllables omitted). Katulong (Domestic helper) becomes Lóngkatuts (last syllable prefixed, other syllables moved along. t affixed as means of differentiating word from subsequent ones. s is added as stylistic feature. Also applicable to English words like Father and Mother, which become Erpats and Ermats.
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 sananmuunnos.	Finnish counterpart of Pig Latin. This game is also called siansaksa ('Pig German'), which is a common expression for unintelligible gibberish.
Finnish	A-Kieli (A-language)	Replace every vowel with the vowel "a".	For example: "Mitä sä teet" becomes "Mata sa taat"
French	Louchebem	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/Lyonnaise butchers' cant. example: parler → larlepem
French	Verlan	Inverted nouns syllables order.	Examples: arabe → beur; femme → meufeu
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...
French	Loght el V	After every vowel, insertion of 'v', then the vowel.	An Egyptian "dialect" of Javanais, used by children and teenagers in French speaking schools in Cairo to avoid understanding by adults (specially by teachers).
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!"
Greek	Podana	Similar to the Spanish vesre.
Greek	Korakistika	Insert "k" and the vowel(s) of the original syllable after each syllable	"Kalimera" → "Kaka liki meke raka"
Greek	Splantziana	The vowels of each word are place before the consonants	Examples: στόμα → όσταμ ; άριστα → άϊραστ Also used in Crete and Khania
Hakka	Yuantang dialect	Each consonant and vowel is replaced by a Hakka word. Similar to fanqie spellings.	食饭 [sit fan] → 手习花散 [siu jit fa san] → [s(iu) (j)it f(a) (s)an]
Hebrew	Bet-Language	Identical to the German B-Language described above.	A song that won the Eurovision Song Contest was titled "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", based on this game.
Hungarian	Madárnyelv (birds' language)	Repeat each vowel and add 'v'	A variety of Gibberish (e.g. látok I see → lávátovok)
Hungarian	madárnyelv (birds' language)	Repeat each vowel and add 'rg'	(e.g. látok I see → lárgátorgok)
Hungarian	Kongarian	Add 'ko' before each syllable	(e.g. látok I see → kolákotok)
Hungarian	Verzin	Syllable order is inverted.	Hungarian version of "verlan". (e.g. hátra backwards → rahát)
Indonesian	Bahasa G	Repeat each vowel and add G.	For example, the sentence "Muke lo kayak anjing" becomes "Mugukege logo kagayagak aganjiging."
Indonesian	Bahasa Oke	Take only the first syllable of a word and replace the vowel with oke, oka or oki.	For example, "Coli" becomes ""Cokil", "Berak" becomes "Boker", "Cina" becomes "Cokin", "Gila" becomes "Gokil", Bahasa "Preman" becomes Bahasa "Prokem", "Pembantu" becomes "Pembokat" and "Bapak becomes "Bokap".
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	Icelandic]]	Googamál	Consonants are changed to '<consonant> o <consonant>'. The 'o' is pronounced as in "hot".	Example: Icelandic: "Hvernig hefur þú það?" → "Hohvoverornonigog hohefofuror þoþú þoþaðoð?" English: "How are you doing?" → "Hohowow arore yoyou dodoinongog?"
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"
Korean	Gwisin Mal (귀신말; ghost language) / Dokkaebi Mal (도깨비말; Ogre language)	Put "s plus vowel" or "b plus vowel" between syllables	Example 1: "Yasa! Neoseo! Jasal gasa (야사! 너서! 자살 가사)" instead of "Ya! Neo! Jal ga (야! 너! 잘 가; Hey! You! Good bye)" Example 2: "Neoseo neoseomusu yeseppeoseo (너서 너서무수 예세뻐서)" instead of "Neo neomu yeppeo (너 너무 예뻐; you are so pretty)"
Macedonian	Папагалски / Parrotish	Put "P" in front of every vowel;	Example: "Ова е Википедиа." becomes "Оповапа епе Випикипипедипијапа";
Malay	Ke-an	Add the circumfix "ke-...-an" to every word rendering them all nouns or noun-like. Words with affixes are stripped to their root words first.	Used for amusement rather than to encrypt, as results are easily understood and some changes drastically affect meaning. "Kenapa kau selalu buat begitu? Kau tidak rasa malukah?" → "Kekenapaan kekauan keselaluan kebuatan kebegituan? Kekauan ketidakan kerasaan kemaluan?" ("malu": shame; "kemaluan": private parts)
Malay	"Half lang"	The last syllable, excluding its first consonant, is dropped from a 2- or 3-syllable word; similarly, the last two are dropped from a 4- or 5-syllable word. Variation: Add an 's' to each "halved" word as well.	"susu besar" → "sus bes"; "gunung tinggi" → "gun ting"; "Kenapa kau selalu buat begitu?" → "Kenaps kau selals buat begits?"
Marathi	"Cha-Bhasha"	The first phoneme is replace by "cha" and the dropped sound is added after the word. Variation: only nouns are encoded.	"Dhungan dukhtay kaa?" → "Changandhu chakhtaydu chaak?"; Variaton: "Dhungan dukhtay kaa?" → "Changandhu dukhtay kaa?"
Mandarin	Fanqie
Norwegian	Røverspråk	Take the first letter of each word, put it at the end of the word, then ad "al" at the very end of the new word.	No: "Slik snakker man røverspråk på norsk." → Liksal nakkersal anmal øverspråkral åpal orsknal. En: "This is how you speak røverspråk in Norwegian." → Histhal sial owhal ouyal peaksal øverspråkral nial orwegiannal.
Persian	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	After each silable of every word in a phrase add "p" plus the preceding vowel (and a few consonants - like m, n, r, s...)	"Olá, tudo bem com você?" would rather be: "Opôlapa, tupudopô bempem compom vopocêpe?"
Portuguese	Língua do "i"	Each vowel is changed for an "i".	"Olá, tudo bem?" would rather be: "Ili, tidi bim?"
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
Bosnian-Croatian-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-Italian	"are" is appended to words or their roots	"krava pase travu" becomes "kravare pasare travare"
Slovene	papajščina	After each vowel insert P followed by the same vowel; popular among young children	"zdravo" becomes "zdrapavopo". Identical to Spanish jeringonza described below.
Somali	Af Jinni (Djinni language)	Add a consonant of your choice followed by the preceding vowel after each vowel in the word.	Example: Ahlan (meaning Hallo) has two syllables, so when used with B, it will be abahlaban (aBAh-laBAn). En: enjoying → eBEnjoBOyiBIng, eben-jobo-yibing.
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" Used in Argentina, Uruguay, and Peru
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 fig).	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	"P-language"	All vowels are doubled, and a 'p' inserted between the doubled vowels.	Example: Rövarspråket → Röpövaparspråpåkepet
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?
Turkish	Kuş Dili (birds' language)	After each syllable, add 'ga', 'ge', 'gi', 'go' or 'gu'	"Ben okula gidiyorum" (I am going to the school) becomes "Begen ogokugulaga gigidigiyogorugum"
Urdu (Pakistan)	Fay ki Boli	Insert "fay"(Urdu language Alphabet corresponding to the sound of 'F' in English) after each syllable in each word.	Spoken and understood widely in Karachi (Pakistan) and Native Urdu Speakers
Vietnamese	Nói lái	Switch the tones, the order of two syllables in a word or the initial consonant and rhyme of each syllable	Example: "bầy tôi" all the king's subjects → "bồi tây" French waiter "bí mật" secret → "bật mí" revealing secret

See also

• Word game
• Word play
• Cant (language)

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.
• Nevbosh – a language game used by J. R. R. Tolkien, the inventor of Quenya and Sindarin Elvish, as a child