The Social Impact of Verlan Today

Title: 'Young people: "Go f**k the rich off"'

Verlan continued to be popular in the early 1990s following its surge to the forefront of French society in the 1980s (read my post on the the reasons for verlan's popularisation in the 1980s now and then come back here). By the turn of the millennium, verlan was understood and used by more or less all echelons of society, forming a part of French language, and ending up far from its initially divisive image. However, there remain certain factions of society who continue to use verlan in its purest form in their daily lives. These factions are comprised largely (but not entirely) of immigrant communities who continue to inhabit the banlieues sensibles. 

French society remains incredibly divided and the inhabitants of these banlieues, while a part of France, certainly do not share the same sense of national pride, togetherness and fellowship as members of the working and middle classes. Their relationship with the rest of French society is incredibly fragile and, it is important to add, a two-way bond. 

While France’s intolerance towards outsiders is well-known, as is captured in films such as La Haine in which three young men are trapped in the Parisian economic, ethnic and social underclass and which evidently demonstrates the stigmatization of the multiracial communities of the banlieues. However, there are two sides to this hostility and there is no doubt that the vast majority of this so-called underclass do little to try to integrate themselves with the rest of society. Their use of verlan is one example of this.

As verlan became increasingly mainstream, so the banlieues searched to distinguish themselves further from the middle-class youths who had adopted their originally purposefully divisive language. According to linguist Alain Rey ‘Le verlan c'est devenu trop « relou»!’ Following a study into the use of verlan today within the suburbs of Paris, Rey ascertained that ‘almost all of France has adopted words such as ‘meufs’, ‘oufs’ and ‘chelou’ which were born in the suburbs. But this verlanis no longer popular in the suburbs where new words are making their appearance.’  It is for this precise reason that verlan continues to evolve, with new words formed daily in an attempt from those on the cusps of French society to remain distinct from their national counterparts. 

Abdelkarim Tengour – creator and owner of the website www.dictionnairedelazone.fr– who has spent years collating and recording the newest uses of argot within the French language said that the most potent force in the development of French argot has been, without doubt, the integration of more and more words of Arab origin. He said that these Arab words have then formed a new basis for ‘verlanisation’. 

Argot then represents identification for these banlieue members who use it as a means to cling onto some of their ancestry in their now much westernised surroundings by introducing words from Arabic or other languages into their French. For many in the banlieues sensibles this argot and use of verlan is viewed possessively as a product of their desire to remain distinct from the rest of society. It is far more than just a slang language; it represents their independence and they therefore feel an almost paternal protectiveness over it. 

There is no greater proof of their utter refusal to accept the use of their argot by members of wider society than their feeling for the need to ‘reverlanise’ words. This is to say that words which have become commonplace in the language of all layers of French society (such as beur) have been ‘reverlanised’ (to reub) by the suburbs specifically in order to symbolise their division from wider society.

Here we begin to see that verlan, in fact, presents a rather profound insight into French society as a whole and begins to illustrate the engrained social divide, whose eviction is currently far behind that of countries such as the United Kingdom. With far greater racial, social and political tension and a far less certain national identity, perhaps we finally begin to see why (as was touched on right at the start of this essay) the French language, and its argot in particular, remains quite so diverse. 

Different registers of language (including ‘slang’) in Britain would certainly have been present between different social classes in times gone by. For example, in the 17^th Century of Oliver Twist, Britain’s slang marked an apparent divide between the lower, working class (of pick-pockets for example) who used it, and the middle class who did not understand it in the slightest. However, this rigid social divide has perished and with it has much of the differentiation of language between classes. Today, as British society aims for a universally accepted means of communication which allows all people to learn and access information regardless of social standing, we strive for equality of literacy and speech. By apparent contrast, French society has not progressed quite so straightforwardly in this regard and its division of society is reflected in its division of language and in particular of slang.