For
the purposes of this discussion, our interest is in non-standard language, but
of course if we want to identify any phonological, lexical or syntactic feature
of a language as non-standard, we need to see it in relation to a standard form.
Battye and Hintz (1992:340) refine the notion of non-standard language by looking
at the differences between what they call 'français familier', the
unguarded, casual language used by speakers in informal, everyday talk and 'français
non-standard', the variety of language which is considered to be associated
with the less privileged classes in France, but which is in fact often used by
many speakers from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds in certain
contexts. This distinction will thus form the starting point for our analysis.
Le
Français Familier
When we looked at the notion of register, we found that people used different
varieties of language depending on the relationship between the individuals concerned,
the medium of communication and the topics being focused on. The variety of the
French language which is termed 'français familier' is that which
is used between people who know each other well, when they talk together in relaxed
settings about non-specialist topics.
'Le
français familier' is not the perogative of any particular group or
class of society and it is not necessarily colloquial (in the pejorative sense
of the word) but is rather French, as it is used in unguarded and informal situations,
with one's peers, with those with whom one feels at ease'
Battye, Adrian & Hintz, Marie-Anne 1992 The French Language Today
London: Routledge (p340).
We
can examine the features of 'français familier' according to whether
they involve the pronunciation, the choice of lexis, the grammatical structures
or the meaning of the language.
- phonetic
features: these include the elision or leaving out of certain sounds,
so that 'voilà' becomes 'v'là', 'il y a' becomes 'y
a' and 'autre' becomes 'aut''. Other sounds are assimilated,
that is, they run into the previous or the following sound, so that 'je suis'
becomes 'chuis' for example. In this example the e muet of 'je'
is also deleted. The deletion of e muet commonly occurs in other words
as well, such as 'le' and 'ne'. Although stress is used in English,
to emphasis significant information for instance, the use of emphatic stress
in French is not common. Its use is characteristic of 'français familier'
however.
- lexical
features: non-standard synonyms are more often used in place of the neutral
lexis of standard French, so for example 'bagnole' would be chosen instead
of 'voiture', 'bouquin' rather than 'livre', 'pinard' rather than
'vin' and 'bouffer' rather than 'manger'. Many standard words
are abbreviated, the word 'appartement' is shortened to 'appart',
'sympathique' becomes 'sympa' for example. 'Sympa' is often
qualified by an intensifier such as 'vachement' but it may also be stressed
by the use of a suffix such as 'hyper' or 'super'. Other
suffixes are also characteristic of 'français familier', and these
too may be added to abbreviated forms. A common suffix like 'oche' is added
to the abbreviated form of 'télé' for instance, to form 'téloche'.
Words may be borrowings, both from other varieties of French, such as 'pieu'
for 'lit' which is borrowed from 'argot' or from other languages
such as 'le look' for 'l'image' or 'le hard' for heavy metal
music, which are borrowed from English. You can see from these two examples that
the meaning of the borrowed word might not be the same as it is in the language
from which it originated. These borrowed words can also be altered, by abbreviation,
as is the case for the borrowed English word 'pullover', which is abbreviated
to 'pull'. Alteration by suffixation causes the borrowing 'look',
a noun, to be transformed into the qualifier 'looké'.
- syntactic
features: Negative constructions are often simplified by ne-deletion,
to produce structures like 'il est jamais là', 'elle veut rien' or 'j'sais
pas' for 'je ne sais pas'. Speakers tend to avoid inversion. Interrogatives,
that is constructions which are used to ask questions, are formed using 'est-ce
que' or by means of a rising intonation. Speakers often follow a noun with
a pronoun, producing structures like 'ma soeur, elle est allée au cinoche'.
The pronoun 'on' is commonly used in place of 'nous' as the subject
pronoun, 'on a bu un verre puis on est rentré'.
(for a more detailed account of the features of 'français familier'
and further examples see George,1993:155, or Battye & Hintze,1992:342-248)
The everyday language of young people incorporates the phonological and syntactic
features of 'français familier', but new words are constantly being
added to their lexicon, while others drop out of fashion. The most fashionable
or up-to-date suffixes, abbreviations or borrowings by means of which young people
add to their lexicon are seldom those used by adults to form new words in their
casual speech. Some of the words coined by the younger generation are, of course,
absorbed into the lexicon used by adult speakers.
- suffixes:
The language variety spoken by young French people makes more use of a certain
number of suffixes such as -os as in 'calmos', 'gratos' from an abbreviation
of 'gratuit' or 'coolos' using the borrowed word 'cool'.
Suffixes like -oche as in 'téloche', 'cinoche' and 'bidoche'
are now used to a lesser extent to create new words as they have been adopted
by adult speakers. The suffix -o is often added to abbreviatied forms, so that
'clodo' is formed from 'clochard' or 'resto-u' is formed
from 'restaurant universitaire'.
- abbreviations:
Young people's language features a large number of abbreviated forms such as 'dég'
from 'dégueu', which in turn is abbreviated from 'dégueulasse'.
- hyperbole
(ie exaggeration): Words like 'canon' or 'sublime' are among the
many qualifiers used by French adolescents, in much the same way as young English
speakers might use words like 'wicked' or 'amazing'.
- litote
(ie understatement): Just as young people in England might opt for understated
qualifiers like 'not bad', young people in France tend to choose expressions such
as 'pas chouette' or 'pas triste'.
- borrowings:
Young French speakers use a great many words from English or American youth culture,
particularly terms for music but also sport and clothing. They also borrow a considerable
number of words from 'argot' or from 'verlan'.
- and
of course these different strategies for adding to the lexicon may be combined
to form new words or expressions.
So
people of all generations are constantly creating new forms to add to the language.
Some of these words will be retained, others will pass into standard French, developing
a standardised written form if none has been assigned to the word, and yet others
will pass into disuse, often to be readopted in the future.
Le
Français non-standard
We
noted that 'argot' and 'verlan' are currently major sources for
the new words being adopted by adolescents and young people in France. Battye
and Hintze classify these two varieties of language as features of 'français
non-standard', together with pronunciation features generally associated with
urban varieties of French.
But
before we carry on to take a closer look at first 'argot' and then 'verlan',
we should perhaps pause to reflect on why young people today feel the need for
a variety of language of their own. After all, their national language is a world
language, spoken by an estimated 100 million speakers living in Europe, Africa,
Canada and the United States, the Caribbean and Asia (Walter,1988:189). It is
the language used by educated speakers, the language of progress, and the French
government have devoted considerable energy and resources to protect it from American
and English domination.
In
her study of 'le français populaire', Gadet provides us with a useful
insight to the influence of prestigious varieties of a language on the language
spoken by other, less prestigious social groups:
Dans
les périodes de calme social, le modèle de la bourgeoisie paraît
plus attirant et la langue de l'élite influence le français populaire,
alors que le contraire se produit dans les périodes agitées. Tant
que les zones d'habitat dans la ville sont partagées, les usages linguistiques
se rapprochent, mais ils divergent quand s'accentue la division par quartiers
(fin du XIXe). Le départ progressif des couches défavorisées
vers les banlieues, qui se dessine à partir de la fin du XIXe, ne fera
qu'accentuer la division linguistique.
Gadet, Françoise 1992 Le français populaire Que sais-je
Paris: Presses Universitaire de France (p7)
Today
many of the young people who live in the suburbs of the larger urban centres in
France feel increasingly isolated from mainstream society. This is especially
true of those who live in the poorer suburbs of Paris. Opportunities to integrate
are limited in that the 'banlieues' where they live are some way from the
prosperous areas where the better or more prestigious schools are to be found.
As a result, they often feel that have little or no access to the education or
jobs which would allow them to participate fully in mainstream or affluent social
groups. This is even more so for young people whose parents immigrated to France
from former colonies such as the 'Magreb' countries, whose access to the
national culture and language have maybe been limited.
Given
Françoise Gadet's arguments we would therefore expect to see an increase
in the differences between the variety of language used by young people who consider
themselves to be marginalised and the language used by people living in the more
affluent communities. And this is exactly what has been happening since the seventies.
The distinct variety of language used by young people would also be important
to them as an 'in-group marker', asserting their sense of belonging to a community,
even if they are marginalised from mainstream French society.
Au
même titre que le vêtement, la façon de parler joue le rôle
de marqueur identitaire. Il existe un langage composite et codé des jeunes
des cités "sensibles" de banlieue, fait de verlan, d'expressions
techniques, de termes obscènes, d'anglicismes, de mots bricolés
et d'"insultes rituelles"
Stébé, Jean-Marc 1999 La crise des banlieues Que sais-je
Paris: Presses Universitaires de France (p115)
Argot
Having
noted that many of the words adopted in the variety of French spoken among young
people come from 'argot', we will now take a closer look at this rather
special variety of French.
The
term 'argot' has a number of meanings. It is applied to any specialised
jargon used by a particular group who carry out specific activities. So for example
the special vocabulary used by conscripts, by school pupils or by those involved
with horse racing are known as 'l'argot des casernes, l'argot des écoles,
l'argot des champs de courses' respectively. But the term is also used to
refer to the language which was associated with the criminal classes of France
up until the beginning of the 20th century.
'Argot'
was not a different language in the same sense as the regional languages, in that
it did not have a different phonological system, or different syntax. It was the
technical lexicon of the under-classes, and it was secret. This secrecy was possible
because the under-classes lived in specific, closed ghettos, such as the famous
'Cours des Miracles'. The areas where the people who used 'argot'
spent much of their lives were inaccessible to outsiders, especially the forces
of law and order. So it is not surprising that the variety of language spoken
within such communities was not understood by those living outside the confines
of the ghettos.
In
this sense, 'argot' contrasts with pidgin languages, which develop
when speakers of different languages come into regular contact. Pidgins also feature
a special lexicon with simplified syntax which is based on the language spoken
by the dominant group. In the case of 'argot' the special lexicon is grafted
on to the syntax of French, the language of the dominant social group. In this
instance however the distinct language variety was used, not as a means of communication
between the two speech communities, but to limit communication between the different
communities, thereby preserving the autonomy of the under- and criminal classes.
Speakers intentionally kept knowledge of their language from those who were not
part of their community.
It
was possible for these marginal groups to maintain a secret language variety because
their communities were highly organised. Those people who ended up living on the
margins of society following the hundred years war, vagabonds, those who had no
homes to return to, or who had no professional trade to take up because they had
only ever known war, were gathered together in groups like the 'Coquillards'.
This particular group was organised into a hierarchical community with apprentices,
masters and an elected head 'le Roi de la Coquille'. Travelling merchants
also belonged to hierarchical groups which held regular gatherings. In fact Alice
Becker-Ho (1993:11).observes that these criminal or marginalised groups were organised
along very similar lines to the Romany Gypsy communities who were travelling through
Europe at the same time.
The
existence of these groups and their secret language is evidenced mainly through
police records from the time. The secret language of the 'Coquillards'
was revealed by the trial of members of the group in 1455. Some attempts to represent
the talk of the poor or criminal classes may also be found in literary texts,
but such sources do not necessarily represent an accurate portrayal of the language
because the authors did not necessarily know more than a few stereotypical expressions.
We have to remember that their aim was more often to add a little 'colour' to
their writing rather than to record the features of the language used by marginalised
social groups.
So
how has the secret vocabulary of the under-classes become part of today's 'franças
non-standard'? The social isolation of the criminal classes was broken in
the 19th century. The police were reorganised into a more effective force. The
'quartiers' where the under-classes lived were demolished and their organised
communities were broken up. People were dispersed throughout the poor areas of
urban centres, particularly Paris. The poor of Paris thus came in regular contact
with the language used by the criminal classes and many of their words passed
into their own language.
If
the forms of the words used in 'argot' were no longer secret, the words
could nevertheless be used by the criminal classes as the basis for a coded message,
with alternative meanings attached to a particular form. The language was also
an effective in-group marker, providing a clear means of identifying members of
a criminal group. Pierre Guiraud (1985:6) suggests that the evolution of argot
can be summarised as follows:
langue
secrète des malfaiteurs>phraséologieparticulière>signum
sociale
The
lexicon of argot
Many
of the words making up the lexicon of 'argot' are technical words used to denote
precise referents related to the professional lives of the criminal classes but
there are also a number of what Guiraud (1985:32) calls 'termes affectifs',
words referring to feelings, attitudes and value-judgements.
As
an illustration of the sort of categories of words found in 'argot', Guiraud
found that Laccassagne's (1948) 'Dictionnaire français-argot' dictionary
listed 160 words for different sorts of theft, thieves and thieving, 50 words
for 'se moquer', 40 words for 'tromper', 45 words for 's'enfuir',
60 words for 'se battre', 60 words for 'un coup', 50 words for prostitutes
and 70 words pertaining to homosexuality.
Some
of these words were derived from the regional languages. 'Cambrioleur'
defined as 'un volelur de chambre', comes from the Picard word for a small
room, 'cambriole'. This particular word has subsequently passed from 'argot'
into the language of the poorer classes to be added to the lexicon of today's
standard French. Becker-Ho shows how many of the words in the lexicon of 'argot'
have come from the language of the Gypsies, such as 'pagaille' meaning
mess, from the Romany 'poggra' or 'moche', meaning ugly from the Romany 'malleco'.
Interestingly, she notes that such words are also closely linked to words in the
language of the under-classes elsewhere in Europe, where the Gypsies had travelled
(Cant was the English equivalent to 'argot'). Other words were borrowed
from the 'argots' spoken by other social or professional groups. 'Toubib',
meaning doctor, was an arab word which became part of the 'argot des casernes'.
Today the word is part of the lexicon of 'français familier'.
The
origins of some of the words of 'argot' provide us with interesting insights
into the lives of its speakers. The word for bed, 'pieu' comes from 'piau'
which is the Picard word for 'skin'. People probably used their cloaks, made out
of animal skins for bedding. Today the word has also provided the root for a verb,
'se pieuter'.
Words
were also formed by transforming either the meaning of an existing word, or from
a common association between different referents, as is the case for many of the
words for money which have their origins in different words for bread. 'Pognon'
for example, comes from the word for a type of 'brioche' made in Provence,
known as 'la pogne'.
Other
words were formed by transforming the shape of existing words, adding syllables
or changing the order of syllables. (see Guiraud, 1985 pp66-76 for a number of
examples of such transformations) There are few records to show the extent of
such transformations, but this is not surprising for such methods for forming
new words would quickly fall out of use once they became too popular. Today however,
the re-ordering of syllables is once again commonly used to produce new words
in the language of young people, 'verlan', from 'l'envers'.
Verlan
The
re-ordering of syllables to form new words is not a new innovation, it is thought
to date back to the 12th century (see Lefkowitz,1991 pp50-54 for an account of
the historical evidence for verlan). The current enthusiasm for 'verlan'
among young people living in the 'banlieues' arose in the climate of social
unrest in the seventies. It was adopted both as a means to obscure meaning, by
those who wished to communicate about taboo or private matters, from sex to drugs,
and as a means of identifying others with common interests or live-styles, in
other words as an in-group marker of social identity. It is thus used in playful
contexts, or in contexts where there is some threat of aggression or danger from
outsiders to the group.
C'est
plutôt un langage verniculaire, un "argot de groupe" - ceux qui
le parlent le mieux sont les jeunes les plus integrés au groupe de pairs
et à sa culture - avec ses champs sémantiques propres et sa capacité
à évoquer les différentes expériences (rixes, relations
sexuelles, activités, délictueuses …) qui constituent un vecu
partagé
Stébé, Jean-Marc 1999 La crise des banlieues Que sais-je
Paris: Presses Universitaires de France (p116).
Most
of the words transformed into 'verlan' are thus those which are relevant
to contemporary youth culture: words used for money, cloths and cigarettes; words
used as insults, playful or otherwise; words associated with relationships, and
also words referring to drugs or criminal activities (Lefkowitz, 1991 pp 116-119
gives a more comprehensive list of the sorts of words which are generally transformed
into 'verlan'). Its use has spread from the marginalised groups of young
people from the 'banlieues' to schools, where the playful nature of 'verlan'
is perhaps more significant to users than its potential to hide meaning from others.
The media have also contributed to its popularity.
How
to form words in verlan
Words
from standard French or from 'argot' are easily transformed into 'verlan'
by three basic methods.
The
most simple method involves dividing the word into its composite syllables and
swopping the order of these syllables around so that initial syllables come last,
that is inversion. So if we take the word 'tomber', this divides into 'tom'+'ber'.
And swopping the order of these two, we get 'béton' (the spelling
of 'verlan' words represents their prononciation, you will note in this
example that the word final sound '-er' of 'tomber' is written -é
when it occurs in the middle of a word, but the sound is nevertheless the same).
In just the same way, 'basket', the French for trainers, becomes 'sketba'.
In
forming certain words of 'verlan' another sound is added. An additional
vowel sound is added after the final 'f' of the word 'prof', so that this
single syllable word can be divided into two syllables, 'pro' and 'fe'.
These syllables can then be inverted, to produce the verlan word 'fepro'.
The
third method involes an additional step, truncating the word that is produced
by deleting a final sound. So for example, just as we saw for the word 'prof'
the single syllable word 'mec' is made into a two syllable word by adding
a schwa sound after the final 'c', these two syllables are then swopped and the
final vowel deleted to make a one syllable word as the original, ie 'keum'.
Similarly, 'puce', the word for flea market becomes 'suep'.
These
methods are used to produce new vocabulary, from their simple but effective nature
you can see how 'verlan' is a good word-game for children at school. The
cryptic nature of 'verlan' arises from the sort of words which undergo
these transformations. These words might be abbreviated forms, borrowings from
English or from 'argot', even borrowings that have been abbreviated in
some way. They may equally be used as a code, with an alternative significance,
as we saw was the case for 'argot' which was used as a code rather than
a secret lexicon as it was adopted by groups coming in contact with the under-classes.
And
today, 'verlan' words are used by most speakers, some of whom do so without
realising that words such as 'beur' from 'arabe' are actually 'verlan'.
Others use 'verlan' words to show their knowledge or affiliation with the
young generation, like Mitterand, who used 'verlan' during a TV interview
at a time of considerable social unrest, to show that he was in touch with young
people, without making any potentially harmful reference to the perceived distance
between the political elite and the marginalised young people living in the 'banlieues'
(see Lodge et al for a detailed analysis of this exchange).
If
you would like to know more
Have
a look at the language featured in films about young people living in the suburbs
of Paris, such as 'La Haine'. Non-standard language is also found in contemporary
popular music and the work of young writers and poets. Have a look at the language
used to write this poem.
DOUBLE
CULTURE
J'neco
ap La Marseille
Mais c'est ici que je mange mes fraises
Au deblé, j'suis céfran
Et j'suis robeu en cefran
Kéblo
entre ici et là-bas
Des fois j'ai envie de me séca
Mais c'est près d'Paris qu'j'ai grandi
Et l'Algérie j'l'ai tchav' quand j'étais p'tit
Alors
où j'me vétrou
J'me sens perdu, c'est chelou
Fierté d'être un djez à Paris
Tous les soirs, c'est Allah que je prie
Pascal
Aguillou et Nasser Saïki, 1996 La Téci à Panam: Parler le
langage des banlieues Paris: Michel Lafon
Bibliography
and further reading
Ager,
Denis 1990 Sociolinguistics and Contemporary France Cambridge University
Press
Battye,
Adrian & Hintz, Marie-Anne 1992 The French Language Today London: Routledge
Bec,
Pierre 1986 La langue occitane (5e édition) Que sais-je Paris: Presses
Universitaires de France
Becker-Ho,
Alice 1993 Les princes du jargon Paris: Editions Gallimard
Gadet,
Françoise 1992 Le Français populaire Que sais-je Paris: Presses
Universitaires de France
George,
Ken 1993 Alternative French in Sanders, C (ed) French Today pp 155-170
Cambridge University Press
Guiraud,
Pierre 1985 L'argot Que sais-je, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
Lefkowitz,
Natalie 1991 Talking Backwards Looking Forwards: The French Language Game Verlan
Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag
Lodge,
R A, Armstrong, N, Ellis, Y & Shelton, J 1997 Exploring the French Lanuage
London: Arnold
Stébé,
Jean-Marc 1999 La crise des banlieues Que sais-je, Paris: Presses Universitaires
de France
Walter,
Henriette 1988 Le français dans tous les sens Paris: Editions Robert
Laffont
Text: Yvette Ellis
The University of Sunderland
Last Update 28-Feb 2002
