Mattenenglisch
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{{More footnotes, date=August 2022 Mattenenglisch, in Bernese German Dialect Mattenänglisch, is a name for the varieties traditionally spoken in the ''Matte'', the old
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
neighbourhood of the
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
City of
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. It is used in two different senses: Either for the traditional
sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisit ...
of that neighbourhood or for a special kind of
Pig Latin Pig Latin (''Igpay Atinlay'') is a language game, argot, or cant in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word a ...
that was used there. In the second half of the 20th century, both have fallen out of use because after the traditional
social stratification Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political ...
has been completely changed, the ''Matte'' is no longer a working-class neighbourhood. However, there are
voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...
s that cultivate Mattenenglisch.


Mattenenglisch sociolect

The Mattenenglisch sociolect was the working class variety of the
Bernese German Bernese German (Standard German: ''Berndeutsch'', ) is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. A form of Bernese German is spoken by the Swiss A ...
dialect. It had a characteristic
vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...
that was partly influenced by varieties such as
Rotwelsch Rotwelsch (, " beggar's foreign (language)") or Gaunersprache ( " crook's language") also Khokhmer Loshn (from Yiddish "", "tongue of the wise") is a secret language, a cant or thieves' argot, spoken by groups (primarily marginalized groups) i ...
, Jenisch or
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
, because people wanted to communicate in a way the police would not understand. While most Mattenenglisch words have fallen out of use, some have spread into common Bernese German usage, thus becoming
shibboleth A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of l ...
s of Bernese German, for instance the words ''jiu'' 'yes', ''Modi'' 'girl' or ''Gieu'' 'boy'.


Mattenenglisch Pig Latin

Until the mid 20th century, a special variety of
Pig Latin Pig Latin (''Igpay Atinlay'') is a language game, argot, or cant in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word a ...
was used by the kids in the ''Matte'' neighbourhood. Unlike in other varieties of Pig Latin, the first vowel of the word is completely substituted. The rules are as follows: #For words that begin with
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
sounds, move the initial consonant or
consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...
to the end of the word, add ''ee'' and change the first vowel into ''i''. Examples: #* Mueter 'mother' → ''Ieter-mee'' #* gib-ere 'give-her' → ''ibere-gee'' #* Schnure 'mouth' → ''Ire-schnee'' #For words that begin with
vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
sounds, add the syllable ''ee'' to the end of the word, or ''hee'' if the word ends in a vowel, and change the first vowel into ''i''. Examples: #* Änglisch 'English' → ''Inglisch-ee'' #* Öpfu 'apple' → ''Ipfu-hee''


External links


Matteänglisch-Club Bärn
(Bern Mattenenglisch Club – the site is in German and Bernese German)

an explanation with examples (in German). Culture in Bern Cant languages Language games Slang City colloquials