Anti-language

An anti-language is a language created and used by an anti-society. An anti-society is a small, separate community intentionally created within a larger society as an alternative to or resistance of it. For example, Adam Podgorecki studied one anti-society composed of Polish prisoners; Bhaktiprasad Mallik of Sanskrit College studied another composed of criminals in Calcutta. Anti-languages are developed by these societies as a means to prevent outsiders from understanding their communication, and as a manner of establishing a subculture that meets the needs of their alternative social structure. Anti-languages differ from slang and jargon in that they are used solely among ostracized or rebellious social groups including prisoners, criminals, homosexuals, and teenagers. Anti-languages use the same basic vocabulary and grammar as their native language in an unorthodox fashion. For example, anti-languages borrow words from other languages, create unconventional compounds, or utilize new suffixes for existing words. Anti-languages may also change words using metathesis, back formation (e.g. apple to elppa), or by substituting their consonants. Therefore, anti-languages are distinct and unique, and are not simply dialects of existing languages.

The concept of anti-languages was first defined and studied by the linguist Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday, who used the term to describe the lingua franca of an anti-society. In his essay "Anti-Language," M.A.K. Halliday synthesized the research of Thomas Harman, Adam Podgorecki, and Bhaktiprasad Mallik to explore anti-languages and the connection between verbal communication and the maintenance of social structure. For this reason, the study of anti-languages is both a study of sociology and linguistics. M.A.K.'s findings can be compiled as a list of nine criteria that a language must meet to be considered an anti-language.

Examples of anti-languages include cockney rhyming slang, CB slang, the grypsera of Polish prisons, thieves' cant,Polari, and possibly Bangime.

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