Editing Shelta (section)

==Linguistic features==
[[Sociologist]] Sharon Gmelch describes the Irish Travellers' language as follows:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gmelch |first=Sharon |title=Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman |date=1986 |publisher=Souvenir Press |location=London |isbn=0-285-62785-6 |page=234}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Irish Travellers use a secret argot or cant known as Gammon. It is used primarily to conceal meaning from outsiders, especially during business transactions and in the presence of police. Most Gammon utterances are terse and spoken so quickly that a non-Traveler might conclude the words merely had been garbled. Most Gammon words were formed from [[Irish language|Irish]] by applying four techniques: reversal, [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]], [[affix]]ing, and substitution. In the first, an Irish word is reversed to form a Gammon one – {{lang|ga|mac}}, or 'son', in Irish became {{lang|sth|kam}} in Gammon. In the second, consonants or consonant clusters were transposed. Thirdly, a sound or cluster of sounds were either prefixed or suffixed to an Irish word. Some of the more frequently prefixed sounds were ''s'', ''gr'', and ''g''. For example, {{lang|ga|obair}}, 'work or job', became {{lang|sth|gruber}} in Gammon. Lastly, many Gammon words were formed by substituting an arbitrary consonant or consonant cluster in an Irish word. In recent years, modern slang and [[Romani language|Romani]] (the language of the [[Romani people|gypsies]]) words have been incorporated. The [[grammar]] and [[syntax]] are English. The first [[vocabulary]] collected from Irish Travellers was published in 1808, indicating that Gammon dates at least back to the 1700s. But many early Celtic scholars who studied it, including [[Kuno Meyer]], concluded it was much older.}}

Thus, by design, it is not [[Mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] with either English or Irish.

Shelta is a secret language.<ref>{{harvp|Velupillai|2015|p=80}}</ref> Travellers do not like to share the language with outsiders, named {{lang|sth|Buffers}}, or non-travellers.<ref>{{harvp|Velupillai|2015|p=80}}</ref> When speaking Shelta in front of Buffers, Travellers will disguise the structure so as to make it seem like they aren't speaking Shelta at all.<ref>{{harvp|Velupillai|2015|p=80}}</ref>

===Lexicon===
While Shelta is influenced by English grammar, it is a mixture of Irish words as well. The word order is altered, syllables are reversed, and many of the original words are Irish that have been altered or reversed. Many Shelta words have been disguised using techniques such as [[back slang]], where sounds are transposed. For example, {{lang|sth|gop}} 'kiss' from Irish {{lang|ga|póg}}, or the addition of sounds, for example {{lang|sth|gather}} 'father' from Irish {{lang|ga|athair}}.<ref name="McArthur" /> Other examples include {{lang|sth|lackín}} or {{lang|sth|lakeen}} 'girl' from Irish {{lang|ga|cailín}}, and the word {{lang|sth|rodas}} 'door' from Irish {{lang|ga|doras}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Harper |first1=Jared |last2=Hudson |first2=Charles |date=1971 |title=Irish Traveler Cant |journal=Journal of English Linguistics |volume=5 |pages=80 |doi=10.1177/007542427100500105 |s2cid=144672161}}</ref>

===Grammar===
Shelta shares its main syntactic features with Hiberno-English and the majority of its morphological features such as ''-s'' plurals and past tense markers.<ref name="Queen's" /> Compare:
{|class="wikitable" style="width:50%; font-size: 100%"
!Shelta
!English
|-
|{{lang|sth|de gyuck, de gloꭕ}}; {{lang|sth|gloꭕi}}
| 'the man'; 'men'
|-
|{{lang|sth|de byor, de byohr, de beoir}}
| 'the woman'
|-
|{{lang|sth|lohsped, lósped}}
| 'married'
|-
|{{lang|sth|sooblik, sublick, subla, subleen}}
| 'boy, lad'
|-
|{{lang|sth|kam}}
| 'son'
|-
|{{lang|sth|lackin, lakeen}}
| 'girl'
|-
|{{lang|sth|máilles}}
| 'hands'
|-
|{{lang|sth|lúrógs}}
| 'eyes'
|-
|{{lang|sth|groog}}
| 'hair'
|-
|{{lang|sth|pí}}
| 'mouth'
|-
|{{lang|sth|gop}}
| 'kiss'
|-
|{{lang|sth|ríspa}}
| 'trousers'
|-
|{{lang|sth|guillimins}}
| 'shoes'
|-
|{{lang|sth|tugs}}
| 'clothes'
|-
|{{lang|sth|griffin}}
| 'coat'
|-
|{{lang|sth|lorch}}
| 'car'
|-
|{{lang|sth|lí}}
| 'bed'
|-
|{{lang|sth|nucel}}
| 'candle'
|-
|{{lang|sth|rodas}}
| 'door'
|-
|{{lang|sth|talósc}}
| 'day'
|-
|{{lang|sth|olomi}}
| 'night'
|-
|{{lang|sth|luscán}}
| 'fish'
|- 
|{{lang|sth|solk, bug}}
| 'take'
|-
|{{lang|sth|bug}}
| 'go'; 'give', 'get'
|-
|{{lang|sth|krosh}}
| 'go', 'come'
|-
|{{lang|sth|gloke, gratch, oagle, dashe}}
| 'look', 'see', 'watch'
|-
|{{lang|sth|nook}}
| 'head'
|-
|{{lang|sth|innic}}
| 'thing, gizmo'; can refer to just about anything
|-
|{{lang|sth|shay joug}}
| 'police'
|-
|{{lang|sth|gruber}}
| 'work', 'job'
|-
|{{lang|sth|gayge}}
| 'to be persistent about wanting something'
|-
|{{lang|sth|carb}}
| 'to hit something or someone'
|-
|{{lang|sth|yonk}}
| 'steal, rob' 
|-
|{{lang|sth|thary}}
| 'talk, speak'
|-
|{{lang|sth|wisht}}
| 'shut up, stop talking' (see also Scots and dialectal English ''[[wikt:whisht|whisht]]'')
|-
|{{lang|sth|glon}}
| 'money'
|-
|{{lang|sth|hawking}}
| 'looking for'
|-
|{{lang|sth|tack}}
| 'one's personal items' (usually)
|-
|{{lang|sth|lush}}
| 'eat', 'food'
|-
|{{lang|sth|crudgy}}
| 'to leave somewhere in a hurry'
|-
|{{lang|sth|skraꭕo}}
| 'tree, bush'
|}

There is not as much importance put on gender in Shelta as in Irish. Plurals are shown with the English suffix /-s/ or /-i/, such as {{lang|sth|gloꭕ}} for 'man' becomes {{lang|sth|gloꭕi}} for 'men'.<ref>{{harvp|Velupillai|2015|p=382}}</ref>

=== Phonology ===
Shelta has 27 consonants and 6 phonemic vowels.

Many words are complex by incorporating numerous consonants within, as in the word {{lang|sth|skraꭕo}} for 'tree, bush' with the consonant /ꭕ/ being a hissing sound that is held in the back of the throat, and is held longer than other consonants.<ref name="Velupillai 2015 381" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
|+Consonants<ref name="Velupillai 2015 381" />
!rowspan="2" colspan="2"| 
!colspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
!rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan="2" | [[Dorsal consonant|Dorsal]]
!rowspan="2" | [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|- class=small
! [[velarization|broad]]
! [[Palatalization (phonetics)|slender]]
! [[velarization|broad]]
! [[Palatalization (phonetics)|slender]]
! [[velarization|broad]]
! [[Palatalization (phonetics)|slender]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} || {{IPAlink|mʲ}}
| {{IPAlink|n}} || {{IPAlink|nʲ}}
| || || ||
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPAlink|p}} || {{IPAlink|pʲ}}
| {{IPAlink|t}} || {{IPAlink|tʲ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}} || {{IPAlink|kʲ}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPAlink|b}}|| {{IPAlink|bʲ}}
| {{IPAlink|d}}|| {{IPAlink|dʲ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|ɡ}}|| {{IPAlink|ɡʲ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiceless]]</small>
| ||
| {{IPAlink|θ}} || {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
| || || ||
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| ||
| {{IPAlink|ð}} ||
| || ||
| {{IPAlink|χ}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Affricate]]
| ||
| || {{IPAlink|tʃ}}
| || || ||
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
| ||
| {{IPAlink|r}} || {{IPAlink|rʲ}}
| || || ||
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| ||
| {{IPAlink|l}} ||
| {{IPAlink|ʎ}}
| || ||
|-
!colspan=2| [[Approximant]]
| ({{IPAlink|w}}) ||
| ||
| {{IPAlink|j}}
| {{IPAlink|w}} || ||
|}
The vowel system features phonemic lengthening for all vowels except for /{{IPAlink|ə}}/. Additionally, [ey, iy, ow, uw] can be realized as diphthongs in certain varieties of Shelta. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aceto |first1=Michael |last2=Bakker |first2=Peter |last3=Mous |first3=Maarten |date=December 1995 |title=Mixed Languages: 15 Case Studies in Language Intertwining |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/415772 |journal=Language |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=842 |doi=10.2307/415772|jstor=415772 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Vowels<ref name="Velupillai 2015 381" />
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAlink|i}}
|
| {{IPAlink|u}}
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPAlink|e}}
|{{IPAlink|ə}}
| {{IPAlink|ɔ}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}