Language game

A language game is a concept developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein at the beginning of his book Philosophical Investigations. A language game is a simple language, combined with a context that shows what to do with the language. One example he gives is a language for building, containing two words, 'slab' and 'brick'. When A says 'slab' to B, B finds a slab and gives it to A; likewise, when A says 'brick' to B, B finds a brick and gives it to A. Language games are also known as play languages or ludlings.

In another sense, language games are not technically artificial languages so much as heuristics for altering language, like a code. They are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others. Most common examples are: Pig latin, which is used all over the globe; the Gibberish family, prevalent mainly in the United States and Hungary, and Verlan in France. Each of these languages games involves a usually simple standard transformation to speech, thus encoding it. The languages can be easily mentally encoded and decoded by a skilled speaker at the rate of normal speech.

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. Contrary to what proponents of either side may tell you, there is no one definitive written lexicon for language games, but it is rather a matter of dialect.

Common language games
Host Language Game Name Basic Rules Notes

Dutch Reversed elements and words. A mercantile code

English (etc.) Pig latin Move the first consonant in each syllable, if any, to to end of the syllable and add 'ay'.

English (etc.) Pig greek Insert 'ob' after each consonant.

English Bicycle Insert 'es' (SAMPA /@s/) after each consonant.

English Cockney rhyming slang Canonical rhyming word pairs; speakers often drop the second word of common pairs. "trouble & strife" (or just "trouble") = "wife"

English Double Dutch Insert 'egg' or 'ag' before a vowel if the vowel indicates a new syllable. Inserting at the beginning of a word which starts with a vowel seems to be a matter of preference. "How are you doing?" = "Heggow eggare yeggou deggoegging?"

English Gibberish Insert 'itherg' before the first vowel in a syllable. Gibberish is also a family of related language games.

English Ubbi dubbi Insert "ub" before each spoken vowel. From the PBS children's show Zoom; part of the Gibberish family

English Yardle bardle

English Zambuda

Farsi Zabon-e-zargari

Finnish Munansaannokset Swap first syllables of words. A and Ä, O and Ö and U and Y are swapped where necessary to make the resulting words natural to speak.

Finnish Siansaksa Add word 'kontti' after each word and apply the same conversion as in Munansaannokset. Finnish counterpart of Pig Latin. This game is also called 'Kontinkieli'.

French Louchebem Move the initial consonant to the end and add 'var'. For suffixes, prepend 'l' ('L').

French Verlan Simple transformations and slang from Arabic.

German 'Lav' inserted after some vowel sounds.

German B-Language Each vowel or diphthong is reduplicted with a leading 'b'. "Deutsche Sprache" = "Deubeutschebe Sprabachebe"

Hebrew Bet-Language Identical to the German B-Language described above.

Hungarian Repeat each vowel and add 'v' A variety of Gibberish

Cantonese Ong-Language Spelling out words, using plain vowel sounds and 'ong' at the end of each consonant. "Let's go" = "Long ee tong song, gong oh."

Indonesian Prokem Includes simple transformations of different types, acronyms and ordinary slang. A bibliography of references pertaining to Prokem and other Indonesian-Malaysian language games: [1]

Italian Latino Maccheronico

Japanese Ba-bi-bu-be-bo

Mandarin Fanqie

Portuguese Sima

Portuguese Língua do Pê

Russian Fufajskij yazyk

Russian Porosyachia Latin

Spanish 'F' is added to certain syllables.

Spanish Geringoso Each vowel is reduplicated with a separating 'p'. "El gato" = "Epel gapatopo"

Swedish Allspråket The first consonant in each word ends with 'all'.

Swedish Fikonspråket Each word is split in two, one beginning with 'fi' and one ending in 'kon'.

Swedish I-sprikit All vowels are changed to 'i'.

Swedish Rövarspråket Consonants are changed to ' o '.

Vietnamese Choose a vowel. Suffix each word with the initial consonant, if any, and then the vowel. Using 'a', 'co bic' = 'coca bicba'.

Host Language	Game Name	Basic Rules	Notes
Dutch		Reversed elements and words.	A mercantile code
English (etc.)	Pig latin	Move the first consonant in each syllable, if any, to to end of the syllable and add 'ay'.
English (etc.)	Pig greek	Insert 'ob' after each consonant.
English	Bicycle	Insert 'es' (SAMPA /@s/) after each consonant.
English	Cockney rhyming slang	Canonical rhyming word pairs; speakers often drop the second word of common pairs.	"trouble & strife" (or just "trouble") = "wife"
English	Double Dutch	Insert 'egg' or 'ag' before a vowel if the vowel indicates a new syllable. Inserting at the beginning of a word which starts with a vowel seems to be a matter of preference.	"How are you doing?" = "Heggow eggare yeggou deggoegging?"
English	Gibberish	Insert 'itherg' before the first vowel in a syllable.	Gibberish is also a family of related language games.
English	Ubbi dubbi	Insert "ub" before each spoken vowel.	From the PBS children's show Zoom; part of the Gibberish family
English	Yardle bardle
English	Zambuda
Farsi	Zabon-e-zargari
Finnish	Munansaannokset	Swap first syllables of words.	A and Ä, O and Ö and U and Y are swapped where necessary to make the resulting words natural to speak.
Finnish	Siansaksa	Add word 'kontti' after each word and apply the same conversion as in Munansaannokset.	Finnish counterpart of Pig Latin. This game is also called 'Kontinkieli'.
French	Louchebem	Move the initial consonant to the end and add 'var'. For suffixes, prepend 'l' ('L').
French	Verlan	Simple transformations and slang from Arabic.
German		'Lav' inserted after some vowel sounds.
German	B-Language	Each vowel or diphthong is reduplicted with a leading 'b'.	"Deutsche Sprache" = "Deubeutschebe Sprabachebe"
Hebrew	Bet-Language	Identical to the German B-Language described above.
Hungarian		Repeat each vowel and add 'v'	A variety of Gibberish
Cantonese	Ong-Language	Spelling out words, using plain vowel sounds and 'ong' at the end of each consonant.	"Let's go" = "Long ee tong song, gong oh."
Indonesian	Prokem	Includes simple transformations of different types, acronyms and ordinary slang.	A bibliography of references pertaining to Prokem and other Indonesian-Malaysian language games: [1]
Italian	Latino Maccheronico
Japanese	Ba-bi-bu-be-bo
Mandarin	Fanqie
Portuguese	Sima
Portuguese	Língua do Pê
Russian	Fufajskij yazyk
Russian	Porosyachia Latin
Spanish		'F' is added to certain syllables.
Spanish	Geringoso	Each vowel is reduplicated with a separating 'p'.	"El gato" = "Epel gapatopo"
Swedish	Allspråket	The first consonant in each word ends with 'all'.
Swedish	Fikonspråket	Each word is split in two, one beginning with 'fi' and one ending in 'kon'.
Swedish	I-sprikit	All vowels are changed to 'i'.
Swedish	Rövarspråket	Consonants are changed to ' o '.
Vietnamese		Choose a vowel. Suffix each word with the initial consonant, if any, and then the vowel.	Using 'a', 'co bic' = 'coca bicba'.