Pig Latin

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Pig Latin ( English ; literally: pigs - Latin ) refers to a game language that is used in the English-speaking world .

It is mainly used by children for the fun of playing with the language or as a simple secret language with which information is to be hidden from adults or other children. Conversely, it is sometimes used by adults to discuss sensitive topics without small children being able to overhear.

Game languages ​​based on the same principle that have been used in the German-speaking area include Kedelkloppersprook and Mattenenglisch as well as Welschen.

regulate

If the word begins with a consonant , the initial consonant or consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word and an "ay" is added . What is to be considered here is not the spelling, but the actual pronunciation: "Mute" consonant letters, such as B. the "h" in "honor" are not consonants.

  • loose → oser-lay
  • button → utton-bay
  • star → ar-stay
  • three → ee-thray
  • question → estion-quay
  • happy → appy-hay
  • Pig Latin → Ig-pay Atin-lay

If the word begins with a vowel or a silent consonant, an “ay” is added directly.

  • eagle → eagle-ay
  • America → America-ay
  • honor → honor-ay

Variations

The most common variation of Pig Latin is to use a suffix such as “way”, “yay” or “hay” instead of “ay” for a word with a vowel. This makes it easier to pronounce some words ( sandhi ); compare e.g. B. "America-ay" and "America-way".

There are also a number of other variants, e.g. B. that not only every word but every syllable is reshaped (“cellphone” → “ell-cay one-phay”, instead of “ellphone-cay”), or that only parts of the initial consonant cluster are shifted backwards (e.g. . “Street” → “treet-say” or “reet-stay” instead of “eet-stray”). The spelling is also not uniform. There are variants with or without a hyphen (“Ig-pay Atin-lay”, “Igpay Atinlay”) and different capitalization rules (“Michael” → “Ichael-may”, “ichael-May”, “Ichael -May ").

Depending on the set of rules, the transformation function may not be injective , i.e. This means that sometimes several English words are mapped to the same word in Pig Latin. For example, if the “way” rule is used for words with a vowel, both “itch” and “witch” create the word “itch-way”.

In the German translation of the children's book series about the dragon hunter academy by Kate McMullan , a role belongs to the talking pig "Daisy", who can speak because of a spell, but only pig Latin. In the variant of pig Latin used there, the suffix "-ibus" is attached. Example: "Allohibus, einmibus amenibus stibus aisydibus." (Hello, my name is Daisy.)

example

An example in 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 hyphens:

  • Isthay isay anay exampleay ofay igpay Atinlay. Asay ouyay ancay eesay, itay isay illysay, utbay ortsay ofay unfay orfay ildrenchay.

Translated back into English:

  • This is an example of Pig Latin. As you can see, it is silly, but sort of fun for children.

In German:

  • This is an example from Pig Latin. As you can see, it's silly, but kind of fun for kids.

Web links

Wiktionary: Pig Latin  - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Zips: Uesdä Iegäuimissnä uenvä Uemmersfräuechbä… In: sueddeutsche.de . May 19, 2010 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed June 14, 2018] specifically on "Welschen").