Tutnese
Encyclopedia
Tutnese or Double Dutch is a language game
primarily used in English
, although the rules can be easily modified to apply to almost any language. Tutnese is usually used by child
ren, who use it to converse in (perceived) privacy
from adult
s (or vice versa); by members of historically marginalized
minority groups for the same reason when in the presence of authority figures such as police ("pupolulisus" or "pizolizice"); or simply for amusement and humor.
In it, vowel
s are pronounced normally, but each consonant
is replaced with a syllable from the following table:
Example: Mary had a little lamb becomes Mumarugyub hutchadud a lulituttutlule lulamumbub.
Double letters in a word, rather than being repeated, are preceded by the syllable squa to indicate doubling. When the double letter begins with a vowel sound, in addition to the squa the letter name is pronounced as if it began with a T — thus OO would be spoken as squa-toh.
While spaces between words are always ignored, at least one "dialect" requires that the first syllable of the name of any given punctuation mark be spoken, thus a full stop
is 'Per', a question mark is 'Que' ('Kway' or 'Kay', varies), and a comma is 'Com'.
As things spoken in Tutnese take an extremely long time to say, and their accuracy depends entirely on the spelling ability of the speaker, there is little practical application of this language game.
There is a version used in some parts of the USA called Yuckish or Yukkish, which uses more or less the same constructs.
Language game
A language game is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others...
primarily used in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, although the rules can be easily modified to apply to almost any language. Tutnese is usually used by child
Child
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren, who use it to converse in (perceived) privacy
Security through obscurity
Security through obscurity is a pejorative referring to a principle in security engineering, which attempts to use secrecy of design or implementation to provide security...
from adult
Adult
An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....
s (or vice versa); by members of historically marginalized
Marginalization
In sociology, marginalisation , or marginalization , is the social process of becoming or being made marginal or relegated to the fringe of society e.g.; "the marginalization of the underclass", "marginalisation of intellect", etc.-Individual:Marginalization at the individual level results in an...
minority groups for the same reason when in the presence of authority figures such as police ("pupolulisus" or "pizolizice"); or simply for amusement and humor.
In it, vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s are pronounced normally, but each consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
is replaced with a syllable from the following table:
| Letter | Possible syllables | Letter | Possible syllables | Letter | Possible syllables |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | Bub | K | Kuck | S | Sus |
| C | Cash, coch | L | Lul | T | Tut |
| D | Dud | M | Mum | V | Vuv |
| F | Fuf, Fud | N | Nun | W | Wack, Wash |
| G | Gug | P | Pub, pup | X | Ex, xux |
| H | Hash, hutch | Q | Quack, queue | Y | Yub, yuck |
| J | Jay, jug | R | Rug, rur | Z | Zub, zug |
Example: Mary had a little lamb becomes Mumarugyub hutchadud a lulituttutlule lulamumbub.
Double letters in a word, rather than being repeated, are preceded by the syllable squa to indicate doubling. When the double letter begins with a vowel sound, in addition to the squa the letter name is pronounced as if it began with a T — thus OO would be spoken as squa-toh.
While spaces between words are always ignored, at least one "dialect" requires that the first syllable of the name of any given punctuation mark be spoken, thus a full stop
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
is 'Per', a question mark is 'Que' ('Kway' or 'Kay', varies), and a comma is 'Com'.
As things spoken in Tutnese take an extremely long time to say, and their accuracy depends entirely on the spelling ability of the speaker, there is little practical application of this language game.
There is a version used in some parts of the USA called Yuckish or Yukkish, which uses more or less the same constructs.
See also
- Gibberish (language game)Gibberish (language game)Gibberish is a language game or secret language similar to Pig Latin that is played in the United States, Canada and Northern Ireland. Similar games are played in many other countries...
- Pig LatinPig LatinPig Latin is a language game of alterations played in English. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant is moved to the end of the word and an ay is affixed . The object is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules...
- LeetLeetLeet , also known as eleet or leetspeak, is an alternative alphabet for the English language that is used primarily on the Internet. It uses various combinations of ASCII characters to replace Latinate letters...
- VerlanVerlanVerlan is an 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...
- RövarspråketRövarspråketRövarspråket is a Swedish language game. It became popular after the books about Kalle Blomkvist by Astrid Lindgren, where the children use it as a code, both at play and in solving actual crimes....