Pig Latin
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| Igpay Atinlay | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore |
| Classification | Pig Latin |
| See also: Language games | |
Pig Latin is a language game of alterations played in English. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant (or consonant cluster) is moved to the end of the word and an ay is affixed (for example, pig yields igpay and computer yields omputercay or truancy yields uancytray). The object is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules. The reference to Latin is a deliberate misnomer, as it is simply a form of jargon, used only for its English connotations as a "strange and foreign-sounding language."
Origins
The origins of Pig Latin are unknown. One early mention of the name was in Putnam's Magazine in May 1869: "I had plenty of ammunition in reserve, to say nothing, Tom, of our pig Latin. 'Hoggibus, piggibus et shotam damnabile grunto,' and all that sort of thing," although the language cited is not modern Pig Latin, but rather what would be called today Dog Latin. The Atlantic January 1895 also included a mention of the subject: "They all spoke a queer jargon which they themselves had invented. It was something like the well-known 'pig Latin' that all sorts of children like to play with." Thomas Jefferson wrote letters to friends in Pig Latin. (see Hailman in the references below)
Use
Pig Latin is mostly used by people for amusement or to converse in perceived privacy from other persons. A few Pig Latin words, such as ixnay[1] (nix), amscray[2] (scram), and upidstay (stupid), have been incorporated into American English slang.
It is used in the popular Disney movie "The Lion King". Zazu says to Simba "ixnay on the upidstay" and in response Banzai the Hyena says "Who you calling upidstay?"
Pig Latin is also spoken by many characters in the multi-platform game Rayman: Origins.
Rules and variations
The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are as follows:
- In words that begin with consonant sounds, the initial consonant or consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word, and "ay" is added, as in the following examples:
- happy → appy-hay
- question → estion-quay
- In words that begin with vowel sounds or silent consonants, the syllable "way" is simply added to the end of the word. In some variants, the syllable "ay" is added, without the "w" in front. Sometimes the vowel will be moved and followed by the syllable "hay."
- another→ another-way, another-ay, nother-ahay
- about→ about-way, about-ay, bout-ahay
- In compound words or words with two distinct syllables, each component word or syllable is sometimes transcribed separately. For example: birdhouse would be ird-bay-ouse-hay.
Transcription varies. A hyphen or apostrophe is sometimes used to facilitate translation back into English. Ayspray, for instance, is ambiguous, but ay-spray means "spray" whereas ays-pray means "prays."
Similar language games
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In English
Similar languages to Pig Latin are Opish, in which "op" is added to each consonant (thus, "cat" becomes "copatop"); Turkey Irish, in which "ab" is added before each vowel (thus, "run" becomes "rabun"), and Double Dutch, in which each consonant is replaced with a different consonant cluster (thus, "how are you" becomes "hutchowash aruge yubou")[1][3]
In other languages
In Bernese German, a variety of Pig Latin called Mattenenglisch was used in the Matte, the traditional working class neighborhood. Though it has fallen out of use since mid 20th century, it is still cultivated by voluntary associations. A characteristic of the Mattenenglisch Pig Latin is the complete substitution of the first vowel by i, in addition to the usual moving of the initial consonant cluster and the adding of ee.
The Swedish equivalent of Pig Latin is Allspråket, which uses the same or similar rules but with the suffix "-all." Additionally, the Swedish language game Fikonspråket ("Fig language") is similar to Pig Latin.
French has the loucherbem (or louchébem) coded language, which supposedly was originally used by butchers (boucher in French).[citation needed] In loucherbem, the leading consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word (as in Pig Latin) and replaced by an l , and then a suffix is added at the end of the word (-oche, -em, -oque, depending on the word). ex: fou (crazy) = loufoque. Similar coded languages are largonji.[4], verlan [[2]], and langue de feu [[3]]
References in popular culture
In an episode of Saved by the Bell, A.C. Slater sees Kelly and her new boyfriend at the same theater they are at with Zach. He says to Screech "Ontiday etlay AchZay eesay emthey" which Screech fails to understand.
In the D-12 song "Rap Game" Eminem states "excuse my igpay atinlay but uckFay it get paid".
In the film Gold Diggers of 1933, Ginger Rogers sings part of the opening song, We're In The Money, in ordinary English, then in pig Latin.
In the children's animation film Monsters Inc by Pixar, one of the main characters, James P. "Sulley" Sullivan, when speaking to his flatmate Mike Wazowski after crashing his date with Celia Rae says "ooklay under the ablay" (look under the table!) in attempting to point out the human child that has entered Monstropolis and is now hiding in his briefcase.
Notes
- ^ "Definition of ixnay". Allwords.com. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- ^ "Definition of amscray". Allwords.com. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- ^ Herbert S. Zim, Codes and Secret Writing (Morrow, 1948), pages 109-111.
- ^ Definition of largonji (in French) Definition of louchébem (in French)
References
- Barlow, Jessica. 2001. "Individual differences in the production of initial consonant sequences in Pig Latin." Lingua 111:667-696.
- Cowan, Nelson. 1989. "Acquisition of Pig Latin: A Case Study." Journal of Child Language 16.2:365-386.
- Day, R. 1973. "On learning 'secret languages.'" Haskins Laboratories Status Report on Speech Research 34:141-150.
- Hailman, John R. Thomas Jefferson on Wine. University Press of Mississippi, 2006. page 12. Thomas Jefferson on wine. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- Haycock, Arthur. "Pig Latin." American Speech 8:3.81.
- McCarthy, John. 1991. "Reduplicative Infixation in Secret Languages" [L'Infixation reduplicative dans les langages secrets]. Langages 25.101:11-29.
- Vaux, Bert and Andrew Nevins. 2003. "Underdetermination in language games: Survey and analysis of Pig Latin dialects." Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Atlanta.