(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_Latin )
The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are:
For words that begin with consonant sounds, move the initial consonant or consonant cluster to the end of the word and add "ay." Examples:
button ? utton-bay
star ? ar-stay
three ? ee-thray
question ? estion-quay
wikipedia ? ikipedia-way
For words that begin with vowel sounds (including silent consonants), simply add the syllable "ay" to the end of the word.
eagle ? eagle-ay
america ? america-ay
The most common variation in Pig Latin is to replace the "ay" in the second rule with other suffixes such as "way", "yay", or "hay"; thus, "eagle" ? eagle-ay, eagle-way, eagle-yay, or eagle-hay, depending on the rules. The "ay" formulation is probably the original, with the variations arising due to sandhi. Another variation is to take only the first letter and put it at the end, and add -ay, so "they" becomes "heytay", rather than "eythay" These variations may also be geographical.
The following Pig Latin example text is in the "yay" rules:
Is-thay is-yay an-yay example-yay of-yay Ig-pay Atin-lay. As-yay ou-yay an-cay ee-say, it-yay is-yay illy-say, ut-bay ort-say of-yay un-fay or-fay ildren-chay.
Without the hyphens:
Isthay isyay anyay exampleyay ofyay Igpay Atinlay. Asyay ouyay ancay eesay, ityay isyay illysay, utbay ortsay ofyay unfay orfay ildrenchay.
It translates back into standard English as:
"This is an example of Pig Latin. As you can see, it is silly, but sort of fun for children."
The above formulation reflects only one of several rule variations of Pig Latin. Because Pig Latin is essentially a children's game, the rules vary from peer group to peer group, although the above generalizations are normative across most versions. Some less frequently used variations on the above rules include:
moving only part of an initial consonant cluster to the end of the word, e.g. "street" ? treet-say, reet-stay, or eet-stray
applying changes to each syllable in a word, e.g. "backslang" ? ack-bay ang-slay, "cellphone" ? ell-cay one-phay
transcription variations wherein the final syllable may or may not be hyphenated (Igpay Atinlay vs. Ig-pay Atin-lay)
variant capitalization schemes; e.g. "Michael Jordan" ? Ichael-may Ordan-jay, ichael-May ordan-Jay, Ichael-May Ordan-Jay, etc.
Depending on the rules, Pig Latin is not one to one; that is, there exist pairs of English words that have the same translation into Pig Latin. For instance, in the "way" variation, "itch" and "witch" both become itch-way.
