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Spaka: A Private Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Randy L. Diehl  and
Katherine F. Kolodzey
Randy L. Diehl
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
Katherine F. Kolodzey
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Abstract

Play languages involving substitution, repetition, or re-arrangement of the sound units or words of some primary language are common, especially among children. In a great majority of these systems, the rules are few in number (not more than four or five) and simple in operation. However, this paper describes a highly complex secret language called Spaka that was developed more than twenty years ago by one of the authors, and is still used as the principal means of oral communication between her and her sister. The rules of Spaka alter certain syntactic and morphological aspects of English surface structure; in addition, they produce elaborate changes in English phonetic representations.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 406 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 by Linguistic Society of America

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