RT Book, Section
A1 Fuchs, Sarah
T1 Verlan, l'envers
JF Educational Research and Innovation
YR 2012
FD Apr 24
SP 151
OP 168
AB This chapter explores the social and cultural implications of the contemporary use of verlan. Verlan is the language game which inverts the syllables of words in order to encode the French language. Not just a game, verlan usage pervades everyday language, music, and culture of the beur population, the children of immigrants from North Africa, who live in the suburbs of cities such as Paris and Marseilles, France. The author finds verlan to be inextricably linked to modern French language and culture, as it reflects of the mixed identity of those who most often use it: not quite French, but not entirely magrebin (North African) either. Rather than subverting it, the culture with which verlan is most closely associated enriches French culture, just as verlan adds nuance and complexity to the French language.
PB Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DO 10.1787/9789264123557-14-en
UL http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/;jsessionid=g6srbq0g5kcm7.x-oecd-live-02content/chapter/9789264123557-14-en