The little language works on the basis of mutation by substitution, most common of which is ‘l’ for ‘r’, and vice versa. We also find ‘t’ for ‘k/ck/ch/c’, ‘d’ for ‘th’, ‘h’ for ‘w’, ‘z’ for ‘th’ or ‘j’, ‘t’ for ‘th’, and ‘d’ for ‘g’. Some of the substitutions are purely graphic, and effectively identify the little language for the eye, without making any difference to the sound of the word: so, for instance, Swift writes ‘rite’ for ‘write’, or ‘nite’ for ‘night’. The most frequent distortion in the little language is the regular substitution of some consonantal sounds for others, such as ‘sick’ to ‘kick’, and also a reversal of sounds, such as ‘pocket’ to ‘pottick’, or ‘rold’ for ‘lord’. Translations to individual phrases or words are given in the annotations where necessary. The following list is a guide to some of the most common words, and is of necessity partly speculative.

aden again

bose both

cake cale take care

dallars girls

DD dear Dingley (?)

dee dear

dood good

drad glad

ee you

fais faith

flodive forgive

flom from

FW farewell

gangridge language

givar devil

hat what

hen when

high why

iss if

lele dear

maram madam

MD my dears

mollow morrow

muddle mother

nuntyes nine monkies mine

oo you

oomen women

oor your

paadon pardon

pdfr podefar, or ‘poor dear fellow’

plitty pretty

poodeerichar poor dear little

ppt poppet (?)

radyes ladies

rettle letter

richar little

rife life

rove love

sause because

seep sleep

sollahs sirrahs

tum ole come over

ung young

vely kick very sick

zat that

zees these

zinkerman gentleman

zis this