Dialect

Secret languages (also called cants or cryptolects) are languages devised by minority groups (travelers, criminals, youth, workers, entertainers, etc.) to confuse, mislead, and exclude others not in that specific in-group. Even though they may be derived from a majority language or languages, they are unintelligible to the majority language(s) speakers. After evolving in the 19th century in the Russian partition among Polish inmates, Grypsera, a secret criminal language, is constantly evolving so only select criminals (not wardens or informants) can understand it. Its basis is Polish but it is also influenced by Yiddish, German, Ukrainian, and Russian, and heavily impacted…