Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Parler verlan : règles et usages

1988; Volume: 45; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/lsoc.1988.2405

2101-0382

Vivienne Méla,

French Language Learning Methods

Mela Vivienne - "Speaking Verlan slang: rules and use". Verlan is a form of back slang used in actual French groups of young petty delinquents in which whole syllables are inverted. This article gives an account of the way verlan words are formed, based on a phonological analysis of the syllable, and the way they are used in discourse. Two simple rules are formulated which can account for the majority of verlan words. The analysis of an interview of a college pupil, member of a group of petty delinquents, shows how verlan is used in narrative and the way in which it is linked to the speaker's social behaviour and speech habits. We discuss especially the function of secrecy of this «slang» and its role as a way of building up a social identity.