Pig Latin
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| Igpay Atinlay | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bahamas, Philippines, Malaysia, China, India |
| Classification | Gibberish |
| See also: Language games | |
Pig Latin is a language game of alterations played on any language, though this article focuses on its use in the English language. 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 objective 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.
Rules to Follow
The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are as follows:
-
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" → "appyhay"
- "duck" → "uckday"
- "love" → "ovelay"
- "egg" → "eggay"
- "inbox" → "inboxay"
- "eight" → "eightay"
- ^ "Definition of ixnay". Allwords.com. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- ^ "Definition of amscray". Allwords.com. 2007-04-04. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- ^ http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0769354.html
- ^ Herbert S. Zim, Codes and Secret Writing (Morrow, 1948), pages 109-111.
- ^ Definition of largonji (in French) Definition of louchébem (in French)
- ^ [1]
- 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.
Similar language games
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In English
Similar languages to Pig Latin are Opish, in which "op" is added after 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").[3][4]
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 the 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,[5] verlan and langue de feu.[6]