PIG LATIN

'Pig Latin' (''Igpay Atinlay'' in Pig Latin) is a language game primarily used in English, where the syllables of English words are spoken in inverse order and an "ay" is affixed, to both obfuscate the encoding and to indicate for the intended recipient the encoding as 'Pig Latin.' The reference to the Latin is a deliberate misnomer, used only for its English connotations as a 'strange and foreign-sounding language.'
An alternative British name for Pig Latin is backslang (in Britain this term more often applies to the type of backslang used by the criminals of 19th century London and used as a playground game today, which was based on turning words backwards), or Butcher's Backslang which was common in English butchers' shops at least until World War II^[1]. Prior to this, Benjamin Franklin was known to use a version of Pig Latin in some publications. Pig Latin is usually used by children for amusement or to converse in (perceived) privacy from adults or other children. Conversely, adults sometimes use it to discuss sensitive topics they do not want very young children to overhear. A few Pig Latin words — '' () and '' () — have been incorporated into English slang.

Contents

Rules and variations

Pig Latin in programming

Internationalization and localization encoding

Pig Latin in other languages

See also

References

Notes

Rules and variations

The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are:
#For words that begin with consonant sounds, move the initial consonant or consonant cluster to the end of the word and add "ay." Examples:
#
★ button → ''uttonbay''
#
★ dough → ''oughday''
#
★ happy → ''appyhay''
#
★ loser → ''oserlay''
#
★ question → ''estionquay''
#
★ star → ''arstay''
#
★ three → ''eethray''
#
★ trash → ''ashtray''
#
★ gime → ''imegay''
#For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants), simply add the syllable "ay" to the end of the word.
#
★ Amsterdam → ''Amsterdam-ay''
#
★ eagle → ''eagle-ay''
#
★ hour → ''hour-ay''
The most common variation in Pig Latin is to replace the "ay" in the second rule with other suffixes such as "way", "yay", or "hay"; thus, "eagle" → ''eagle-ay'', ''eagle-way'', ''eagle-yay'', or ''eagle-hay'', depending on the rules. The "ay" formulation is probably the original, with the variations arising due to sandhi.
Another variation is to take only the first letter and put it at the end, and add -ay, so "they" becomes "heytay", rather than "eythay"
These variations may also be geographical.

The following is an example of Pig Latin:
:''Is-thay is-ay an-ay example-ay of-ay Ig-pay Atin-lay. As-ay ou-yay an-cay ee-say, it-ay is-ay illy-say, ut-bay ort-say of-ay un-fay or-fay ildren-chay.''
Without the hyphens:
:''Isthay isay anay exampleay ofay Igpay Atinlay. Asay ouyay ancay eesay, itay isay illysay, utbay ortsay ofay unfay orfay ildrenchay.''
It translates back into standard English as:
:"This is an example of Pig Latin. As you can see, it is silly, but sort of fun for children."

The above formulation reflects only one of several rule variations of Pig Latin. Because Pig Latin is essentially a children's game, the rules vary from peer group to peer group, although the above generalizations are normative across most versions. Some less frequently used variations on the above rules include:
:
★ moving only part of an initial consonant cluster to the end of the word, e.g. "street" → ''treet-say'', ''reet-stay'', or ''eet-stray''
:
★ applying changes to each syllable in a word, e.g. "backslang" → ''ack-bay ang-slay'', "cellphone" → ''ell-cay one-phay''
:
★ transcription variations wherein the final syllable may or may not be hyphenated (''Igpay Atinlay'' vs. ''Ig-pay Atin-lay'')
:
★ adding unnecessary words to make sentences more verbose
:
★ instead of adding "-ay" for vowels, "-day" is added; "Art" → "Art-day"
:
★ variant capitalization schemes; e.g. "Michael Jordan" → ''Ichael-may Ordan-jay'', ''ichael-May ordan-Jay'', ''Ichael-May Ordan-Jay'', etc.
Depending on the rules, Pig Latin is not one-to-one; that is, there exist pairs of English words that have the same translation into Pig Latin. For instance, in the "way" variation, "itch" and "witch" both become ''itch-way''.
Due to the 'original' form of Pig Latin now being commonly known and understood by adults and children alike - it is common for certain groups of young people to have their own completely different forms of the 'private language' (varying from region to region), so they can continue to speak with privacy among others.
Insert non-formatted text here

Pig Latin in programming

A common exercise in programming classes to teach the concept of recursion is to define a procedure or function that, when given a word in normal English, yields the Pig Latin equivalent. The simplest way to write such a procedure is to set a base case for words beginning with vowels (add "ay"), and a recursive case that moves the first letter to the end of the word for re-evaluation.

Internationalization and localization encoding

The common internationalization and localization encoding used for Pig Latin is x-pig-latin or x-lap. It is not defined in any language specifications and is considered experimental, hence the 'x'. The proper way to get it to work on Linux and other operating systems which support the standard gettext application is to set the po file to: en_US@piglatin.po.
pig latin-igpay atinlay
joe-oejay

header 1	header 2	header 3
row 1, cell 1''Italic text''	row 1, cell 2	row 1, cell 3
row 2, cell 1	row 2, cell 2	row 2, cell 3''Italic text''

Pig Latin 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''.
Sweden and Norwayhas the ''Rövarspråket'' ("Rovers' language"). To use it, just double-spell all consonants in each word and put an 'o' in between. The word "Rövarspråket" then becomes "Rorövovarorsospoproråkoketot".
French has the ''loucherbem'' coded language. It was used by some butchers (''boucher'' in french). Similarly to Pig Latin, take the leading consonant cluster to the end of the word, then add ''l'' at beginning of word, and adding ''em'' to the end of the word.
In Dutch there is a variation called "Oeks". It was invented by Jan van der Wal, a farmer's son from the village of Genemuiden. It was primarily used at a school called "Gereformeerde MAVO" in the city of Kampen. The goal of Oeks was to communicate in the classroom, without teachers being able to understand what was said. Oeks was only used by boys but not by girls. For words that begin with consonant sounds, move the initial consonant or consonant cluster to the end of the word and add "è" then replace all vowel sounds with "oe". Examples:

★ meisje → oesjemè

★ dikzak → oekdekèoekzè

★ vulkoek → oelvèoekkè

★ boom → oembè
For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants), simply add the syllable "è" to the end of the word and also replace all vowel sounds with "oe".

★ aap → oepè

★ open → oepenè

★ aansteken → oenèoekenstè
The following is an example of Oeks:
Oejè oentbè oenè oekdekèoekzè oenè oejè oedthè oenvè oelvèoekkènkè. Translation "Je bent een dikzak en je houdt van vulkoeken"
The chances that Oeks is still spoken somewhere is really small, although former users should be able to speak and understand it fluently still.
In Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro, there is the ''teteca'', which is a variation named after ''Catete'', the neighbourhood where it allegedly began being used. To use it just revert the order of the syllables in the word:

★ Brasil → sil-bra

★ favela → lavefa
The reverted syllables keep the phonetic sound of the original word, thus the 's' in "sil-bra" sounds like a 'z'.

See also

★ Language game

★ Jeringonza, Lunfardo, Cocoliche, Germanía, Vesre.

★ Verlan

★ Ubbi Dubbi

★ Dog Latin

★ Secrecy

★ Tutnese

★ Farfallino Alphabet

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.

★ 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.

Notes

1. Wartime Butcher's Boy- Folkestone
Wartime Butcher's Boy- Folkestone Kent Libraries- Shepway District