A language game (also called a

cant Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a la ...

, 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 Pig Latin is a language game or argot in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable ...

; the Gibberish family, prevalent in the United States and Sweden; and

Verlan () is a type of argot in the French language, featuring inversion of syllables in a word, and is common in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words. The wor ...

, 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 ''loufoque'' in French (from

Louchébem ''Louchébem'' or ''loucherbem'' () is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' ( French ''boucher'') slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century and was in common use until the 1950s. Process The ''louchébem'' word-cr ...

Classification

One way in which language games could be organized is by language. For example,

Ubbi Dubbi Ubbi dubbi is a language game spoken with the English language. Originating in America in the 17th century, it was popularized by the 1972–1978 PBS children's show '' Zoom''. When ''Zoom'' was revived in 1999 on PBS, Ubbi dubbi was again a fe ...

, and Tutnese could all be in the "English" category, and

Jeringonza Jeringonza is a Spanish language game played by children in Spain and all over Hispanic America. It consists of adding the letter ''p'' after each vowel of a word, and repeating the vowel. For example, ''Carlos'' turns into ''Cápar-lopos''. F ...

could be in the "Spanish", ("Portuguese", or "Italian") category. An alternate method of classifying language games is by their function. 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,

, 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 A spoonerism is an occurrence in speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and ordained minister William Archibald Spooner, w ...

, 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

Additionally, Auflinger described some types of speech disguise in some languages near the city of

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Auflinger, Albert. 1949. Secret languages of small islands near Madang II. ''South Pacific'' 3.5: 113-119.

References

External links

English Grammar Game
Find Verb, Noun.
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.

— a language game used by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

, the inventor of Quenya and Sindarin Elvish, as a child.
English-language post on Jeringonza
— a language game equivalent of Pig Latin used in some Romance Languages. {{DEFAULTSORT:Language Game Word play

Use

Classification

List of common language games

See also

References

External links