Nellish

Nellish is a fictional idiosyncratic language developed by twin sisters Nell and May Kellty, that is discussed by psychiatric doctors in the film "Nell".

The language is similar to strained English in some aspects, representative of the fact that the only English the girls ever heard was from their mother who suffered from partial facial paralysis as a result of a stroke. The doctors who study her realize that Nell actually speaks English when they hear her say "Ma say af'a I done go, ga'inja come" and recognize that she's dropping consonants. Nell does a spinning dance outdoors, which she calls "tay inna win'" -- tree in the wind [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110638/quotes] This phrase is also a reflection of Nell's strong connection with nature, a result of her growing up in the deep woods. Other examples of Nellish resembling English include the names she gave to Jerome, including "Jay" ("Jerry" with the r's dropped) and "ga'inja", the words "guardian angel" run together.

At times, it is apparent that some of Nell's speech is "not" English and is rather derived from twin speech, or twin language, between Nell and an identical twin whom the doctors do not discover until much later. The girls invented words like "lilten" for quiet, "missa" for little, "arna" for big, or "tata" for fear [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110638/plotsummary] Nell often says "missa chickabee," clearly a term of endearment. "Chickabee" probably originated as "chickabiddy" [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Chickabiddy] , so that "missa chickabee" is "little dear".

Some of Nell's English is Biblical; "feliss", happiness, comes from "felicity"; her word for person is "so", meaning soul, and she calls those she fears "eva'dur", evildoers. To Jerry in an intimate moment, and to her absent sister, she says clearly "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah" (Song of Solomon 6:4).

"'Lees', Nell,' Ma say, 'af'a I done go, ga'inja com.""Listen, Nell," my mother said, "after I have gone, a guardian angel will come."

"Ma spea' Nell Wor' o'the Lo fo' she com feely. Ga'inja spea' Nell?" "My mother read me the Bible before she took ill. Will my guardian angel read to me?"