Hey chess addicts guess who the heck is back. that's right, your favorite adhd ridden chessposter who has quit chess too many times to count! been a while since i shish-kebab-posted on this forum, huh? This time, I am kindly asking for your assistance in studying the Chess Player Dialect. (iykyk) Do you know any chess player linguists (linguists who are also chess players / linguists who specifically study the language of chess players /j) who might know more than I do about this?
features that I (not a linguist, just a random chess player) have noticed in the "chess player dialect" (**content warning: incoming wall of text**)
- The use of “okay... but okay” as filler words
- Words that are typically associated with formal registers/technical jargon/business language in standard English but are everyday words in Chess Player English: liquidate, superfluous, resign, penultimate, prophylaxis, inexplicable, speculative, dubious. (Some of those words have different meanings in Chess Player English than they do in standard English. example: "liquidate" means "trade off pieces.")
- accents: I can’t think of specific pronunciation differences off the top of my head (i don't know IPA yet! don't come at meeee) but ik some of the accents (esp. of north american chess players) sound a little more... European? (Ex: Hans niemann’s accent, which kind of became a meme in the chess community.) I assume this is a result of lots of contact w/ English non-native speakers, especially from Europe/as a result of traveling to Europe for chess tournaments.
- I’ve noticed these features (particularly pronunciation related) in white and asian men in particular. The “chess accent” is far less common in women, from what I know.
- More examples of the “chess dialect” - I associate Daniel Naroditsky, Levy Rozman, and Fabiano Caruana with the chess dialect. They definitely have “chess accents,” as far as I'm aware. Besides pronunciation alone, their speech cadences are also very much characteristic of chess players (again, I can't pinpoint exactly what it is... but iykyk. linguists who also play chess will probably know better.)
- The “chess dialect” is almost *exclusively* noticeable in high-level chess players in my experience.
Other questions, concerns, and general thoughts:
- Do “chess dialects” exist in other languages / what do they sound like?
- How is the chess dialect acquired? / at what age? (Do chess prodigies or people who started chess at a very young age have a higher likelihood of speaking the chess player dialect? In my experience they do, and I think this is because they were part of the chess player speech community from a younger age. naroditsky, rozman, and caruana all started chess at a very young age, I think.)
- I think it's time to add “chess players” to the list of people who should be eliminated from the normal pool of native speakers! So basically there’s the normal pool of native English speakers AND THEN there are theater kids, film bros, and chess players. As someone who was both theatrically involved and chess-involved to a large degree growing up, I guess I should also be removed from the “normal pool of native English speakers.” (this is a joke!!!!)
- With that said, I don’t think I speak the Chess Player dialect, but I have met and talked to many who do. The only trace of the Chess Player Dialect in my speech is the use of chess player vocabulary (particularly the word "inexplicable.") I don't think anything else in my speech identifies me as a chess player.
- only chess players have a sense of the "chess player dialect." in other words, this dialect is not detectable by people who are not chess players. (edit because this is poorly worded! This dialect is probably recognized as vaguely unusual to non chess players but they lack the cultural context to recognize it as The Chess Player Dialect, if that makes sense.)
- where does the chess player dialect fall on the scale of sociolinguistic prestige/non-prestige?
if you can think of anything else (questions, features of the chess player dialect, random comments) please comment below. Do you think you speak the chess player dialect?
Best regards,
billy_eyelashhh (not to be confused with non-chess-player Billie Eilish), 5'/152 cm, room temperature IQ... I guess that's it folks. signing off, peace
p.s. I'm definitely going to look back at this post and cringe once I properly learn about linguistics (and chess), if I don't end up just deleting it out of cringe beforehand. also... i wonder if it's worth making a non-shishpost-y (read: serious) version of this post so that 1. I don't get laughed off the face of the earth by actual academic linguists who play chess and 2. maybe someone will genuinely agree to help me study this chess player dialect.
features that I (not a linguist, just a random chess player) have noticed in the "chess player dialect" (**content warning: incoming wall of text**)
- The use of “okay... but okay” as filler words
- Words that are typically associated with formal registers/technical jargon/business language in standard English but are everyday words in Chess Player English: liquidate, superfluous, resign, penultimate, prophylaxis, inexplicable, speculative, dubious. (Some of those words have different meanings in Chess Player English than they do in standard English. example: "liquidate" means "trade off pieces.")
- accents: I can’t think of specific pronunciation differences off the top of my head (i don't know IPA yet! don't come at meeee) but ik some of the accents (esp. of north american chess players) sound a little more... European? (Ex: Hans niemann’s accent, which kind of became a meme in the chess community.) I assume this is a result of lots of contact w/ English non-native speakers, especially from Europe/as a result of traveling to Europe for chess tournaments.
- I’ve noticed these features (particularly pronunciation related) in white and asian men in particular. The “chess accent” is far less common in women, from what I know.
- More examples of the “chess dialect” - I associate Daniel Naroditsky, Levy Rozman, and Fabiano Caruana with the chess dialect. They definitely have “chess accents,” as far as I'm aware. Besides pronunciation alone, their speech cadences are also very much characteristic of chess players (again, I can't pinpoint exactly what it is... but iykyk. linguists who also play chess will probably know better.)
- The “chess dialect” is almost *exclusively* noticeable in high-level chess players in my experience.
Other questions, concerns, and general thoughts:
- Do “chess dialects” exist in other languages / what do they sound like?
- How is the chess dialect acquired? / at what age? (Do chess prodigies or people who started chess at a very young age have a higher likelihood of speaking the chess player dialect? In my experience they do, and I think this is because they were part of the chess player speech community from a younger age. naroditsky, rozman, and caruana all started chess at a very young age, I think.)
- I think it's time to add “chess players” to the list of people who should be eliminated from the normal pool of native speakers! So basically there’s the normal pool of native English speakers AND THEN there are theater kids, film bros, and chess players. As someone who was both theatrically involved and chess-involved to a large degree growing up, I guess I should also be removed from the “normal pool of native English speakers.” (this is a joke!!!!)
- With that said, I don’t think I speak the Chess Player dialect, but I have met and talked to many who do. The only trace of the Chess Player Dialect in my speech is the use of chess player vocabulary (particularly the word "inexplicable.") I don't think anything else in my speech identifies me as a chess player.
- only chess players have a sense of the "chess player dialect." in other words, this dialect is not detectable by people who are not chess players. (edit because this is poorly worded! This dialect is probably recognized as vaguely unusual to non chess players but they lack the cultural context to recognize it as The Chess Player Dialect, if that makes sense.)
- where does the chess player dialect fall on the scale of sociolinguistic prestige/non-prestige?
if you can think of anything else (questions, features of the chess player dialect, random comments) please comment below. Do you think you speak the chess player dialect?
Best regards,
billy_eyelashhh (not to be confused with non-chess-player Billie Eilish), 5'/152 cm, room temperature IQ... I guess that's it folks. signing off, peace
p.s. I'm definitely going to look back at this post and cringe once I properly learn about linguistics (and chess), if I don't end up just deleting it out of cringe beforehand. also... i wonder if it's worth making a non-shishpost-y (read: serious) version of this post so that 1. I don't get laughed off the face of the earth by actual academic linguists who play chess and 2. maybe someone will genuinely agree to help me study this chess player dialect.
