Photo: Illumination/Universal Pictures/AP.
Minions chattering in their latest movie: Minions and Monsters.
I love constructed languages and have blogged often about Esperanto and movie languages like Klingon. But Minionese has a feature that’s new to me: It’s such a meaningless hodgepodge of real languages that almost anyone can do it.
Taylor Swinton writes at the Washington Post, “It was clear when Despicable Me premiered in 2010 that the real stars were the little yellow sidekicks. The minions have appeared in six films since — three Despicable Me movies and, making the jump from sidekicks to stars, three Minions movies. The latest, Minions and Monsters, came out [in July].
“After more than 15 years, the mischievous helpers have managed to stay as popular as ever. Part of that staying power may come down to the way they talk. Minions speak Minionese. But what exactly is that?
“Well, it’s complete gibberish. The fake language borrows recognizable words from several languages, including Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese and even Indonesian. It was created by director Pierre Coffin, who also voices the little guys.
“By blending elements of multiple languages, people from around the world can recognize pieces of Minionese, making it feel familiar and more fun to imitate. Minions and Monsters features a whopping 15-minute scene spoken entirely in Minionese, an acknowledgment of how this made-up language has captured audiences.
“Ella Martin, an NYU drama student, has always loved the Minions.
“ ‘They lack filter. They make fart noises, they talk about butts, they do all of these things that society sometimes deems inappropriate,’ Martin said, explaining what makes minions so lovable.
“She discovered her minion impersonation talent during her freshman year of college while preparing to watch a Minions movie with friends. Soon after, she took the impression to TikTok, where her skits and song covers unexpectedly went viral.
“ ‘I was looking at the comments and I was like, “Wow, this is really fun for everybody, myself included.” ‘
“Her most popular minion video, a cover of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ has earned more than 3 million likes on TikTok. When she was invited to the Los Angeles premiere of Minions and Monsters on Sunday, she competed in a Minionese singing contest and performed an encore of what she called ‘Bo-Minion Rhapsody.’
“The premiere’s singing competition quickly went viral on TikTok, too. People delighted in hearing popular songs being sung in that familiar, usually squeaky babble.
“Made-up languages have existed in storytelling for centuries. Jessie Peterson, creator of languages for TV, films and video games, said one of the most notable examples comes from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, though humans have been inventing languages much longer.
“ ‘As long as humans have had language, they’ve had fun playing with it, and the earliest documented created language systems go back to the 11th century,’ Peterson said.
“Constructed languages have continued to thrive in fictional worlds, including Klingon in Star Trek, Na’vi in Avatar and Chakobsa in Dune, a language Peterson helped create with her husband, David Peterson, for the films.
“Peterson emphasized that Minionese differs from those languages because its words have little rhyme or reason — and that’s exactly the point.
“The winner of the Minionese singing competition, Rynia Kando, explains that Minionese having no rules is part of the fun. Kando won the competition by singing a Minionese rendition of the Jackson 5’s ‘I’ll Be There.’ And she has tips: Be ‘very nasally and in the back part of my throat, and you can make it up as you go,’ Kando said. …
“Faith Elizabeth, another performer at the Los Angeles premiere, wove other languages into her Minionese performance of ‘Drop Dead’ by Olivia Rodrigo. While watching the movie, she was surprised by how much she understood despite not fully understanding the language.
“ ‘Even if you didn’t understand the Spanish itself, you could understand through the inflection. The coolest part of Minionese is whether you understand a certain language or not, universally, you know from the inflection exactly what they’re saying.’ “
More at the Post, here.
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