View source for Grypsera

{{Short description|Polish prison slang language}}
{{Infobox language
|name          = Grypsera
| altname      = ''Drugie życie''
|pronunciation = 
|states        = Poland
|region        = Warsaw
|speakers      = 
|ref=
|familycolor   = Indo-European
|fam2          = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
|fam3          = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
|fam4          = [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]]
|fam5          = [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]]
|fam6          = [[Polish language|Polish]]
|notice        = IPA
|isoexception  = dialect
|glotto        = none
}}

'''Grypsera''' ({{IPA|pl|ɡrɨˈpsɛra}}: from [[Low German]] ''Grips'' meaning "intelligence", "cleverness"; also '''''drugie życie''''', literally "second life" in Polish<ref name="Token">{{cite journal |last1=Ciechanowska |first1=Anna |last2=Kleparski |first2=Grzegorz Andrzej |date=December 31, 2015 |title=On the semantic features of prison slang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3HbDQAAQBAJ |journal=Token: A Journal of English Linguistics |publisher=Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce |volume=4 |pages=59–63 |access-date=28 August 2022}}</ref>) is a distinct [[nonstandard dialect]] or prison [[slang]] of the [[Polish language]], used traditionally by [[Recidivism|recidivist prison inmates]].<ref name="pwn">{{cite web|title=grypsera - Encyklopedia PWN|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/grypsera;3908413.html|publisher=[[Internetowa encyklopedia PWN]]|accessdate=27 March 2018}}</ref>

It evolved in the 19th century in the areas of [[Congress Poland]]: it is said to have originated in [[Gęsiówka]], a prison in  [[Warsaw]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rodasik|first1=Radosława|last2=Ćwiertnia|first2=Ewelina|last3=Zat’ko|first3=Jozef|title=Język podkultury więziennej – gwara. język migowy, tatuaż|journal=Kultura Bezpieczeństwa. Nauka – Praktyka – Refleksje|date=January–June 2013|volume=13|pages=119–127|url=http://kultura-bezpieczenstwa.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/7-R.-Rodasik.pdf|accessdate=27 March 2018|publisher=Wyższa Szkoła Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego i Indywidualnego „Apeiron” w Krakowie|language=Polish|issn=2299-4033|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327212754/http://kultura-bezpieczenstwa.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/7-R.-Rodasik.pdf|archive-date=27 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> The basic [[substratum (linguistics)|substrate]] of the dialect is Polish, but there are many notable influences (mostly lexical) from other languages used in Polish lands at that time, most notably [[Yiddish]] and [[German language|German]], but also some [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]].<ref name="Token"/> It was also heavily influenced by various [[dialects of Polish|regional dialect]]s of the Polish language, most notably the [[Bałak jargon]] of [[Lviv|Lwów]] and the [[Warsaw dialect]].

Initially, it served the role of a [[cant (language)|cant]], or "secret language", but in the late 19th century, it became a standard [[sociolect]] of criminals. Grypsera is constantly evolving to maintain the status of a language understood only by a select group of inmates and not by the wardens or informers.<ref name="Baicchi">{{cite book |last1=Baicchi |first1=Annalisa |title=Cognitive Modelling in Language and Discourse across Cultures. |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |location=Newcastle-upon-Tyne |isbn=9781527500396 |pages=187–188}}</ref> That makes it currently one of the lexically richest dialects of Polish. Also, it is not possible to prepare a comprehensive dictionary of the dialect since it differs from prison to prison.

Phonetically, Grypsera is similar to the [[Warsaw dialect]] and shares its most notable features of assimilation of {{angle bracket|i}} {{IPA|pl|i|}} into {{angle bracket|y}} {{IPA|pl|ɨ|}} and the disappearance of [[nasal vowel]]s, especially in word-final [[syllable]]s.

==Sample vocabulary==
* ''Adela'': prostitute (from Polish)
* ''Adinoczka'': a single prison cell (from Russian)
* ''Ajencel'': a single prison cell (from German)
* ''Ajnbruch'': breaking into a cash register (from German)
* ''Dzieci naczelnika'': lice (from Polish)
* ''Frajer'': an outsider, someone who does not speak Grypsera (from Yiddish)
* ''Giwera'': gun (from Yiddish)
* ''Gold'': to welcome someone (from English)
* ''Kulak'': economic criminal (from Russian)
* ''Ogrodnik'': village thief (from Polish)
* ''Pinkel'': stolen money or goods from a crime (from German)
* ''Pokupka'': theft (from Russian)
* ''Pomarańczyk'': homosexual (from Polish)
* ''Return'': self-defense of criminals against police officers (from English)
* ''Szopenfeld'': theft committed in a shop while the shop assistant is present (from Yiddish)
Source: <ref name="Token" />

==See also==
* ''[[Symmetry (film)|Symmetry]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Polish language}}
[[Category:Polish dialects]]
[[Category:Cant languages]]