(last updated 2007-08-07)

LANGUAGE SUBTAG REGISTRATION FORM
1. Name of requester: John Cowan
2. E-mail address of requester: cowan&ccil.org
3. Record Requested:

Type: variant
Subtag: boont
Description: Boontling
Prefix: en
Suppress-Script: Latn
Comments: Jargon embedded in American English

4. Intended meaning of the subtag: The Boontling dialect of American
English
5. Reference to published description
of the language (book or article):

Adams, Charles C. _Boontling: An American Lingo, with a Dictionary of
Boontling. University of Texas Press, 1971
6. Any other relevant information:

Boontling is the name given by its speakers to a deliberately contrived
jargon which was spoken extensively between 1880 and 1920 in the upper
Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, California. This name, an
abbreviated, self-explaining compound, is itself a typical word in the
jargon. "Boont" is the local term for Boonville, the largest town in the
valley and traditionally the service center of the upper portion of the
area; "ling" is abbreviated from "lingo". Boontling, then, is the lingo
of Boonville.

At the zenith of its development, Boontling contained a basic vocabulary
of more than 1000 words and phrases, and nearly 3000 specialized names
for inhabitants of the area and for local geographical features. It was
spoken and/or understood by most of the approximately 500 people in the
rural community. Three differing accounts of its origins are given by
informants; all three agree that it originated as a secret language, but
then spread, perhaps via public school, to the general populace. A
conscious effort was made to coin additional words.

Boontling is still studied today, both as an unusual linguistic
phenomenon, and by local valley residents who wish to know more of their
heritage.

Registration of this variant will cause the existing grandfathered
tag "en-boont" to be changed to a redundant tag.

(file created 2007-08-07)