Secret language of Frammersbach/Welschen in Frammersbach

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on the use of a kind of pig Latin in the village of Frammersbach in the Main-Spessart district. Most of the 36 speakers are between 60 and 80 years old. There are audio files of speakers.

The trick is to take the consonants from the beginning of a word and put them at the end, followed by an ä. The existing vowels become ue or ie. Thus Blume becomes Uemeblä.

This language, known as Welschen, is probably hundreds of years old and was started by traders who didn’t want their agreements to be understood by others. The article mentions a large number of similar secret ‘languages’ used in Germany. Welschen is being researched by Florian Ziem of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. I see he has a very occasional blog.

bq. Im knapp 5000 Einwohner großen Frammersbach, vor allem im Zentrum, auf der Skihütte und im Ortsteil Herbertshain, unterhält man sich eben gelegentlich auf Welschen. „Uitehä euthä ishä iendä uenzengä uegtä geirgneträ“, heißt hier: „Heute hat es den ganzen Tag geregnet.

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