What is Swardspeak?

Swardspeak, gay lingo and bekimon all refer to the same language.
Swardspeak is a form of slang in the Philippines first used by homosexuals and now by non-homosexuals as well.
Origin
Sward is slang for gay male in the Philippines. Thus, swardspeak was coined (by Nestor Torre, !"#s$ for the language that gay
males speak.
Purpose
%ecause of social discrimination, gay males needed to form a code they could use to identify among themsel&es, without the
society noticing it. Swardspeak creates an exclusi&e group for gay males and helps them resist cultural assimilation.
%efore, only gay males use Swardspeak. 't ser&ed as a secret language to help them communicate with other gay males. (sing
Swardspeak, gay males are able to resist the dominant culture of their area.
)ecently, e&en non-members of the homosexual community started using Swardspeak. This was populari*ed by the film and
fashion industries.
Since the homosexual community is gaining social acceptance (they are more accepted now than before$, their language has
also made it into the community.
Form
+ost of its elements were deri&ed from &arious languages, well-known personalities and trademarks, etc. They are altered in a
way that their meanings become derailed from the original content.
,or an example-
gutom becomes Tom .ones.
There is e&idently no connection in the meanings of these two words, but Tom .ones is de&ised as the beki word for gutom
because they sound alike.
Conventions:
Affixation
This in&ol&es the use of affixes.
sight / -in- / (sung$ 0 sinight1sinightsung 2tiningnan3
tanders / -um / (e&er$ 0 tumanders1tumanderse&er 2tumanda3
wit / (chikels$ 0 hindi
(optional, does not add additional meaning to the word$
Substitution
This in&ol&es the substitution of a sound or a segment of a word.
4onsonant replacement.
15,h,k 1 -0 161 in 78
5init 90 6init
hirap 90 6irap
kili-kili 90 6ili-6ili
1p,b1 -0 1sh1 in 78 and 878
maputik 90 mashutik
buhok 90 shuhok
Syllable replacement
first letter or syllable -0 6o-, 6u-, sho-, shu-
asawa 90 6owa
anak 90 6unak
punta 90 6unta
alalay 90 6ulalay
tanda 90 shonda
tanga 90 shunga
first letter or syllable -0 ky-, ny-
bata 90 kyota
shorts 90 nyorts
final syllable -0 -ash, -is, -i*, -ish, -itch, -ech, -ush, or 9oosh
taray 90 taroosh
ano 90 anech
ito 90 itech
wala 90 wash1wish
1a, o, u1 -0 1or, er, ur1 in 8i or i8
hello 90 heller
sosyal 90 4hurchill
kaloka 90 kalurkey
Borrowing
This can full or partial, local or global.
,ull borrowing
This in&ol&es the borrowing of both the term and the meaning
,rom Philippine languages
gurang (%ikol$ - matanda
dako (:iligaynon$ 9 malaki
balay (4ebuano, 'lokano$ 9 bahay
,rom foreign languages
otoko (.apanese$ 9 lalaki
hombre (Spanish$ - lalaki
Partial borrowing
This in&ol&es the borrowing of a term but the meaning is altered.
sight (;nglish$ 9 paningin -0 tingnan
fly (;nglish$ 9 lipad -0 alis
Takeshi (.apanese$ 9 pangalang panlalaki -0 takot
carry (;nglish$ 9 to lift -0 doable, kaya
Reduplication
chika 0 chika-chika - usap-usap
chuchu 0 chuchuchuchu - walang kahulugan
chenes 0 cheneschenes - walang kahulugan
Deletion
malay ko 0 ma
pakialam ko 0 pa
wala 0 wa
Metathesis
This in&ol&es the rearrangement of the letters.
<ili (4ebuano$ 9 do not -0 ili6
(yab (4ebuano$ 9 lo&er -0 bayu
lain (4ebuano$ 9 bad, unpleasant -0 nial
(isang$ daan (,ilipino $- money (Php##$ -0 anda
Names of famous people and places and trademarks
This usually in&ol&es word play and puns that resemble names of famous people, places or trademarks.
Baliwag - baliw
Morayta - mura
Hairora %oule&ard 9 buhok, hair
ourgina =ilson - gorgeous
Boogie =onderland - bugbog
Ting-ting 4o6uanco 9 payat, gawa ng walis ting-ting
!ulanis +orisette - ulan
"u# >alde* 9 talo (lose$
elli de %elen 9 selos, $ealous
ivenchy1.anno ibbs - bigay, to give
Cra%ola 9 iyak, to &r%
Po&ahontas ' pokpok
Carmi +artin 9 karma
Murriah 4arrey 9 mura, cheap
(ita ?ome* 9 nakaka-irita
Sharon 4uneta 9 sure
thers
atak, gorah 9 pumunta, go
bet, betsung, betsi&e, betchiwariwariwaps 9 gusto
dugyot - yagit,madumi
echo* 9 isang pagsisinungaling
echo*era 9 isang sinungaling
hipon 9 maganda ang katawan pero pangit ang mukha
6aguar- gwardiya
lafung, lafang, lafesh, lafs, lafe*, laps - kain, lamon
noselift, knowssung 9 alam
Pocanhontas 9 nang-indyan
pagoda tragedy, pagoda cold wa&e lotion, ngaraggedy anne 9 pagod
)ariet%
Swardspeak is a sociolect. 't is a language used by ,ilipino gays to resist the dominant culture of their area and create a space
of their own. .ust like any other li&ing language, it is dynamic. The language is constantly changing, with old phrases becoming
obsolete and new phrases fre5uently entering e&eryday usage, reflecting changes in their culture and also maintaining
exclusi&ity.
The dynamic nature of the language refuses to cement itself in a single culture and allows for more freedom of expression
among its speakers. =ords and phrases can be created to react to popular trends and create alternati&es to a strictly defined
lifestyle. %y these characteristics, swardspeak creates a dissident group without any ties to geographical, linguistic, or cultural
restrictions, thus allowing its speakers to shape the language as appropriate to the times. 'n this way, the language is not only
@mobile@ and part of a larger community but also open to more specific or local meanings.
Swardspeak is largely locali*ed within gay communities, making use of words deri&ed from the local languages or dialects,
including 4ebuano, :iligaynon, =aray, and %icolano. This shows that because Swardspeak is widely spoken all o&er the
Philippines, it may &ary from place to place. Also, it may &ary from person to person. Anyone can ha&e their own &ersions of
Swardspeak. +y &ersion might be different from yours, but still we can understand each other because we are speaking the
same language (following its rules$ with 6ust little &ariations.
*mportant (emarks
Binguistic di&ersity is simply a way of representing the amount of li&ing languages operating in the world today.
Sward speak1%ekimon1?ay Bingo shows linguistic di&ersity because it is still an operating language of the world today but in
different languages or translations.
The e&idence of its linguistic di&ersity can be seen in the internet, tele&ision, maga*ines and other sources of media.
;&eryone has their own opinion on a language they may or may not use.
't is hard to con&ince people to accept the language others use but showing a sign of respect to their usage is all we can do.
'tCs relation to ,ilipino culture is somewhat ambiguous.
)eference-
http-11badingtionaryphoenix.blogspot.com1D##1#1tagalog-gay-lingo-#.html
http-11www.wikipedia.com
http-11www.ask.com