Secret languages: history, methods, and applications

Secret Languages

One of the most common "secret" languages is Pig Latin. Although many people can converse in Pig Latin, the language is still uncommon enough that it can be used to cloak sensitive conversations. Pig Latin is a playful variant of English, and has nothing at all to do with Latin. In Pig Latin, which is mainly a spoken as opposed to written language, the speaker removes the first consonant sound of every word, adds the vowel sound "Ay" and moves the resulting syllable to the end of the word. For example, the word "secret" becomes "ecretsay," the word "pen" becomes "enpay," the word "toilet" becomes "oilettay," the word "magazine" becomes "agazinemay," and the word "toast" becomes "oasttay." Consonant groups that form one single sound are treated as the same consonant and are moved together. For example, the word "glue" becomes "ueglay," not "lueglay." The word "school" becomes "oolschay," which sounds like "oolskay." Similarly, the word "scissors" would become "issorsscay," because the "sc" sound remains a soft "s." Pig Latin is therefore more of a verbal than a written language but can be used effectively in writing.

If a word begins with a vowel, then the speaker usually adds the syllable "way" at the end of the word without altering anything else. The word "incense" becomes "incenseway," the word "envelope" becomes "envelopeway," the word "angel" becomes "angelway," and the name "Ann" becomes "Annway." However, some people add "ay" at the end instead of "way."