Familect
A familect or marriage language is a set of invented words or phrases with meanings understood within members of a family or other small intimate group.[1] Among the pioneers of research on familects is Cynthia Gordon, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, who discussed the concept in her 2009 book Making Meanings, Creating Family.[1] Familects fall within the intimate register of communication.[1]
Familects often gain vocabulary through the words young children create as they learn to talk, when these words are adopted by the family.[1][2] Familects also gain vocabulary through slips of the tongue and word invention.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Kathryn Hymes (May 13, 2021). "Why We Speak More Weirdly at Home". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
- ↑ Abebe, Nitsuh (September 3, 2026). "Every Family Has Its Own Private Language. What Does That Tell Us About Ourselves?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 6, 2026.
- ↑ Harriet Powney (July 19, 2013). "Speaking it in the family". The Guardian. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Cynthia Gordon (2009). Making Meanings, Creating Family. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195373837.
- The English Project (2008). Kitchen Table Lingo. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0753518199.
External links
[edit]
Look up familect in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Georgetown University Linguistics faculty page, with info on Cynthia Gordon
- Kitchen Table Lingo, The English Project
- Mignon Fogarty, What's Your Family Slang, Quick and Dirty Tips
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