Secret Languages in Folkloric Culture; The Dialectal Analysis of a Family Secret Language in Mashhad

In folkloric culture، sometimes، people tend to speak together in such a way that is vague and unknown to strangers. In such cases، the common code is not sufficient. Thus، some local micro-cultures devise secret codes or argots used in their peer groups (friends، relatives، thieves، gangs، gypsies، prisoners، etc.). These secret codes are mostly based on the common language and dialectal variety، and follow most of its grammatical rules. The primary device for mystifying the language is the application of certain phonological formulae on the words of the common code. While investigating this phenomenon in the folkloric culture، the present study analyzes the grammatical، morphological and phonological features of a secret language spoken by a rather extended family in the city of Mashhad. The language، which still lacks a certain name، is attributed to the Borumand family، which has used it for four or five generations. It is a living language transferred through generations. Some of the words come from Arabic، some from Persian، and many are fabricated words with no particular origin. The language is peculiar to this community of Mashhad، and is not spoken in any other place in Iran and the world.