Shelta
Mixed Language: Irish Lexicon, English Grammar
Alternate names (Hancock, 1974):
Sheldru, Shelru, Bog Latin, Minkyers’,
Tari, Mainkers’ Tari, Gammon, Gammoch, Tinker’s Cant, Bawconi, Jib, and
Hinditemeskri Jib.
Spoken in British Isles, Ireland, Canada, and the United States
(also reported in Austrailia and the Repulic of South Africa (Hancock, 1974))
Ethnologue on Shelta (15th Ed):
A language of Ireland
ISO/DIS 639-3: sth
Population
6,000 in Ireland. Population total all countries: 86,000.
Region
Also spoken in United Kingdom, USA.
Alternate names
The Cant, Cant, Irish Traveler Cant, Sheldru, Gammon
Dialects
Based largely on Irish with influence from an undocumented source.
Classification Mixed Language, Irish-undocumented
Comments
The secret language, or cryptolect, of Travellers in the British Isles.
Based largely on Irish. Not Gypsies.
Origin Theories:
We do not really know when it was developed or by whom. Theories include the following:
Developed for secret communication vs vestigal Celtic language previously unknown (eg speech of the Picts).
Time Frame: Prior to 1200AD, 15th-16th Century, or as recently as 200 years ago
Original speakers: Bardic, Druidic, or craftsman (eg metal workers, like tin workers = “tinker”) vs Picts, etc.
Some argue that an illiterate people could not have developed the modified version of the Irish lexemes.
Note: it is not a contact language. However, likely developed in bilingual community (English and Irish).
Some records indicate examples of first language speakers.
Phonology
vowels:
consonants:
has all the standard vowels of English, as well as the long vowels of Irish. Dipthongs ai, ei, oi, au.
consonants generally follow the Irish pronunciation, including both slender and broad forms.
The English  and it voiced equivalent are also used.
Lexicon: 1000-2000 Irish derived items
Most lexical items are reconstructed using techniques such as reversal, reversal plus suffixation/substitution, add arbitrary
prefix, add a suffix and a prefix, deaspiration, denasalization, apocope, adopting archaic forms, etc. English words are
often borrowed to meet any deficiencies of the standard Shelta lexicon. Borrowed Romani words are also used on
occasasion.
Examples:
Shelta
kam
od
ayn
gop
t’rpog
gather
grula
skop
bin
glox
karb
serku-na-sli
Irish
mac
do
naoi
kiss
brat
athair
ubhal
oscailt
min
oglach
‘brac’
English
son
two
nine
pog
rag
father
apple
open
good, great
man
grandmother
Modification
reversal
reversal
reversal
reversal
reversal + suffix ‘og’
add prefix ‘g’ (& change th to English th?)
add prefix ‘gr’ and suffix ‘a’
deaspiration
denasalization
apocope
reversal of archaic Irish form
daughter-in-law
Use of English compound construction
Gramatical features:
Morphology:
Shelta is gender neutral (Irish is not).
Celtic noun declensions are not used. Adjectives are not inflected.
Shelta does use English possessive, ‘s’. Also occasional use of ‘–i’ for plurals, which sometimes combines with English
plural ‘s’. eg gloxi or gloxis. Shelta also uses English nominalizers –er & -ing.
Irish vocative particle is not used but sometimes the lenition it would cause remains.
Verbs use English verbal inflections (for the most part).
-ing becomes –in
Syntax
Adjectives sometimes follow their substantive.
Ian Hancock notes that sentence final verbs are characteristic.
Sometimes English SVO form is used.
Irish VSO form is never used, except in cases where English would use VSO (questions, etc).
Article:
Definite article has gnerally been dropped. English indefinite article borrowed in some phrases (note: Irish has no
indefinite article). Irish definte article ‘an’ sometimes appears as ‘in.’ Occasional use of the genitive form of the Irish
definite (an/na) as ‘a’.
Examples in context:
Sayings, etc:
Thoman tharal and nijesh muniath
Mislo granhes thaber
By the holy Dhalyon, sobli, I’ll solk your gradhum
much talk and no good
The traveller knows the road
By the holy God, fellow, I’ll have your life!
Comtemporary Shelta:
As I was a-krushing through the town one day
I corked him so hard, I broke his pi
a-krushing = going
corked = hit; pi = head
Story excerpt:
Duilsha aiver glorhi glox Sharog na skai Sroinya? Gres swurth chal the skai when a glox mislin’ to sahu his dil. Gyetas a
gyetas and thribli grinthala suni his dil, gramal glox sharog, rilthug sulya nyuk.
Did you ever hear of the Man of the river Boyne? He rises half out of the water when a man’s going to drown himself.
Scores and scores and families of friends have seen him, like a red man, with a sheet around his head.
The Lord’s Prayer in Shelta (19th century Shelta):
Muilsha’s gather, swurth a munniath, munni-graua-kradyi dhuuilsha’s munnik.
Gra be gredhi’d shedhi ladhu, as aswurth in munniath.
Bug muilsha thalosk-minurth goshta dhurra.
Getul our shaku, araik muilsha getyas nidyas gredhi gamiath muilsha.
Nijesh solk mwi-il sturth gamaiath, but bug muilsha achim gamiath.
Dhi-il the sridug, thardyurath, and munniath gradhum a gradham.
Note transcription/Phonetic representation:
Please do not use the transcription above as a Phonetic transcription of the Shelta phrases. The sections on morphology
and Lexicon were intended to give the reader a feel for the types of processes going on, not for the actual Phoenetic
reading of the words.
The transcriptions as shown above have some gross (but intentional) errors, such as leave off the long vowel markings (or
other additional non-alphabetic markings used in the source transcriptions). For the most part I have not made any
attempt to use IPA equivalents in the above. The symbol x was used above to represent a symbol used by Macalister in
his 1937 text, where I felt using x would confuse the matter.
The source texts also indicate that the original transcriptions had suspect Phonetic transcriptions as well. The above
examples are based on the reconstructions from Macalister (1937), some with input from Hancock (1973/1984). Most
were taken from Hancock’s texts.