As a child, the use of “Pig Latin”, a language game that inverts the syllables of words in English, makes the speaker seem “cool” and “mysterious”. Though “Pig Latin” might be categorized as a child’s game, it falls under the category of language games, speech play or Ludlings, a term coined by Don Laycock. Many languages have Ludlings that systematically reorder the sounds or syllables in a word or phrase to produce a new output that could be decoded by the listener (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1976). On the streets of France, a language game called Verlan can be heard quite regularly. Verlan differs from childhood language games because of its popularity throughout the country. It is the language of the “in-group, the group with social awareness”(Lefkowitz 60). In the world of the teenager, Verlan is French slang taken to a new level. In translations of originally French texts, the word Verlan actually translates directly to our word, slang. The original French words for slang are “argot” and “jargon”. The shift, at least in pieces from the media, suggest that Verlan is very integrated into spoken French. It originated in the banlieues, or suburbs, of Paris among minority groups that make up the approximately one-and-a-half million immigrants that live in that city alone (Lefkowitz 55). Verlan is intertwined with the culture of the banlieues and has spread through other social circles. This association with a specific culture, however, has lead to different stereotypes that are associated with the use of Verlan both good and bad (Hayes & Acton 2007). Unfortunately, not much research has been done on the perception of Verlan speakers. However, what information researchers have presented in English resonates very directly with the research done on African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or Ebonics. These similarities suggest that the debate on discrimination because of the use of AAVE can be directly applied to Verlan in order to help understand current tension in France that revolves around the banlieue culture that Verlan is distinct part of.
Basics of Verlan
Verlan follows a straightforward set of rules that dictate how to reorganize the syllables in the effected words. In the simplest case of two syllable words, the syllables are merely inverted. Some examples include (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 25):
“husband” mari > rima
“friends” copains > painsco
“cool” branché > chébran
Not surprisingly, the word Verlan results from this reordered rule and also introduces another rule of the code.
“inverse” l’envers > verlen > verlan
The syllable in “l’envers” are switched then spelt phonetically (Hayes & Acton 117). This applies to one-syllable words as well. For these words, speakers swap the first and last letters, or consonant groups, of the word. When written down, the spelling is phonetic.
“guy” mec > quem
The game extends even further and includes commonly used colloquial phrases such as ‘peau de balle’, which essentially means “nothing” (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 25). However, these too follow a set of rules. First, the “function words” such as prepositions, articles, and pronouns are deleted or just not inverted. Second, the affected words are completely are inverted. Lastly the words are combined to create a single word. In the end you get:
“nothing” peau de balle > balpeau
These straightforward rules play a crucial role in the formation of this and other language games. According to Kirshenblatt-Gimblett “a common function of play languages is concealment and a corresponding delineations of social groups and subgroups”(34). In other words Verlan, as well as other language games, focuses on concealing information that’s to be transferred to only people who understand the game’s rules. In essence, these games are meant to carve out distinct groups. Children discover this purpose early on, based on experience, but it is only put to work in childhood cliques and during playtime here in the United States usually. Speech Play suggests that the language games such as Verlan can be key in defining social groups in a much more powerful way than childhood play. Indeed much of the Arab immigrant population uses Verlan in order to differentiate themselves and their particular style of life. To truly understand the impact of Verlan on the French society, it is crucial to understand the history, lifestyle and culture of the immigrants in France.
Le Beurs
In 1950, in response to the housing crisis that resulted from World War II and a recession, the French government built the habitation à loyer modéré (HLM) sector in the banlieues of Paris (Loiseau & Bonvalet 2005). Similar to The Projects of Chicago, this was highly subsidized ghetto-like housing in the industrial area that attracted many immigrants that did not speak French fluently (Lefkowitz 1989). In these banlieues unemployment rates remain around 40% (Rieff). Among the minority groups that dominate these areas, the Beurs have a particular tie to Verlan. The word Beur come from Verlan itself:
Arab > Beur
This particular group usually consists of second or third generation immigrants that originate from the Maghreb (Hayes & Acton 117), an area in North Africa that includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania. This group generally does not speak their parent’s language fluently and feels estranged from that culture. At the same time this same group does not speak the formal French and are still often viewed as immigrants even though there were born in the country (Lefkowitz 1991). For this group, Verlan acts as a common language among a diverse group of immigrants that live in a very dismal situation. Lefkowitz (1991) expands on four reasons that create isolation within the banlieues that increases the sense of a defined group among the Beurs.
1. A declining job market due to deindustrialization.
2. Rejection of education by the youth.
3. Degrading housing facilities.
4. Strong deviant youth culture.
Just as isolation from a mother tongue creates new dialects in any language, the people of the banlieues adopted Verlan as their own distinguishing “dialect”. It both incorporates words from their parent’s and the language of their current country but it allows them to be unique and communicate exclusively with their own community. Lefkowitz (1991) confirms that “the game [Verlan] symbolizes the quest for identity”(62) among these estranged immigrant communities.
As the other parts of French society slowly adopted Verlan as a common slang, the core groups of Beurs have actually begun recoding their slang with what is called “Reverlanizations” or “Veul” which come from a Verlanization of the world Verlan itself (Hayes & Acton 123). They have even taken to recoding the word Beur in order to reclaim their own identity.
Beur > Roeb > Reubeu
The Reverlanization does not follow the same straightforward set of rule but instead just seems to be picked up within the community. Along with this distance from the rest of French society that shows through Reverlanization, expresses itself in a distrust of the government and a desire to spite “the man” as would be said in English. Many works echo Lefkowitz’s (1989) statement that Verlan “is a small scale symbol of revolt. Speaking backwards becomes a metaphor of opposition, of talking back”(8). The Beurs express this powerful desire through peaceful ways such as their music and hip-hop culture, intertwined with Verlan, and unfortunately, through a violent riot that was incited in 2006, which brought the banlieue culture to the front of every newspaper. Both the music and the riots spread Verlan dramatically increased the awareness and use of Verlan outside the banlieues.
Expressing the Malcontent of the Banlieues
According to Alain-Philippe Durand, the author of a book on Francophone Hip-Hop culture, in France "there are two ways to be heard. You can do it the rough way, through violence, or you can do it through art" (Papenfuss). Consequently, as the immigrant populations in the banlieues try to define their identity by using Verlan, it naturally slips into the music scene. The youth of the banlieues prefer rap as a way of expressing themselves and have identified with famous rappers such as MC Solar. Beginning in the 1980s almost all of the emerging rappers originated in the banlieues of Paris (Durand 9), As this type of music spread from the banlieues, the rappers themselves kept very close ties to their origins and expressed this through the language of their music, specific dedications, and “shout outs” to their homes (Durand 56). While this shows that the music of the Beurs was integrating throughout the rest of the nation, these open ties to their original culture only increased the isolation of their communities. Among the community of rappers, members of specific groups from the banlieues recognized each other as a consequence of the shared Verlan slang. The slang heavily influenced their music and introduced Verlan words, words from their parents’ original languages, and obscene insults to listeners outside of their home cities (Durand). An interesting law in France, originally designed to protect the language, now helps to spread Verlan rap by requiring radio stations to play at least 40% French music (Papenfuss). The language and music of the banlieues spread like wildfire across France, introducing slang to the language the government tried so hard to protect the purity of.
However, as the music of the banlieues spreads, so does the Beurs’ message of discontentment and frustration about the treatment of the immigrants. Aside from the dismal housing conditions inside HLM and throughout the banlieues, the immigrants also face the problem of being underrepresented politically. In France, unfortunately, only 77% of people with an immigrant background are on the electoral roll, compared to the 93% of the whole population of France (Smith). With a low amount of political influence little will be done to improve the situation in the banlieues and decrease the rate of unemployment. With no change on the political horizon, the rappers and hip-hop artists from the banlieues spread their message of malcontent through their music in a rather forceful manner. A group name NTM was fined and given jail time in 1993 for their lyrics that cursed at political figures and the police (Durand 45). Aside from name-calling, the rap community pushes buttons with Parliament as well who “called for sanctions” against a few rappers who they believed to be inciting unrest within in the banlieues (Maier). Though in this case the rappers were not condemned, this does reveal the suspicion that music was not the Beurs’ only for of expression.
As mentioned earlier, violence presented itself as the second way of expression for the immigrants because of their lack of political power. Most recently, the spark of violence in the banlieues was the death of two boys who were allegedly chased into a power plant by police (Smith). This incident incited three weeks of rioting that spread throughout France, affecting 300 different cities and leading to €200 million worth of damages (Smith). This incident brought the poverty of the ghettoes to the front page of every newspaper and forced many to question if efficiency of France’s integration policy for these immigrants. The police’s role was highly scrutinized, especially since an Amnesty International report had previously condemned the French law enforcement for breaches of human rights with particular regard to treatment of youths from immigrant cities (Smith). At this point in time, Verlan very much is a way for the Beurs to identify themselves but unfortunately it can also act as an easy identifying tool for people wishing to discriminate against them.
Discrimination
In an article about Verlan, Ngo states beautifully, “Since the 1920s, Verlan has been considered the language of thugs and delinquents… In the 1980s and 1990s, it not surprisingly became the language of the suburbs associated in mainstream French society with such characters.” With this widespread negative view of the banlieues, almost everyone associated with them experiences some form of blanket discrimination. The rioting brought out the worst in the government as well, as Sarkozy angrily swore that all the rioters were “racaille” or scum (Rieff). The use of “racaille” is particularly offensive because the people of the banlieues particularly avoid using this word to describe themselves. While the rioters may embrace other derogatory terms and use them ironically among themselves, “racaille” is almost always subject to the rules of Verlan and becomes “caillera” (Rieff). Such harsh words from the President of France exemplifies the disconnect the country as a whole feels with its immigrants and suggest that the discrimination pervaded further than unsolicited police brutality.
Indeed many suggest that this discrimination is at fault for the high rates of unemployment in the banlieues. Because of the high concentration of immigrants in the banlieues much of the discrimination can be related to race. This has becomes such a large problem that recently employers have considered removing the race question from job application form to avoid bias (Smith). However, race isn’t the only marker bring us back to Verlan. Mikael Jamin, a linguistics researcher at Britain’s University of Nottingham, is quoted by Papenfuss stating, “[Verlan] does not bring them food on the table. The way they talk can hurt them in a traditional society.” Considering the widening divide between the government and the immigrant community this statement rings true. Upon hearing Verlan, employers, in this case, form negative impressions about a person due to the association with the banlieues and the immigrant culture. While these associations have been commented on, research has not been done to understand to how deeply speaking Verlan impacts initial impressions negatively or positively.
Verlan and AAVE
Within the United States, researchers continue to study the effects of different dialects, accents, and slang on first impressions but in respect to AAVE. A comparison of Verlan and AAVE can be beneficial and even allow for some predictions of the results of a study of impressions of Verlan. The comparison of Verlan, a word game, with AAVE, which is a dialect of English, could seem a bit far-fetched. Despite the different linguistic categories, the major similarity between Verlan and AAVE presents itself in the cultures that both are associated with most often. Though there is some controversy over the origins of AAVE, most scholars agree that it originated with the slaves in the early Americas and fully developed into the dialect that is known today through the segregation of black and whites (Wolfram & Torbet). Both populations, African Americans and immigrants to France, experienced segregation, which was one of the crucial factors that spurred the development of differentiated language. In a compelling chapter of her book Teaching to Transgress, Hooks emphasizes the importance of the early slaves finding a common language because many of them would have spoken different African tongues upon arrival. She quotes a poem, “this is the oppressor’s language/ yet I need to talk to you”(Hooks 167, Rich). Though a poem does not constitute pure evidence of language development, it does, however, present a valid point. The immigrants of the banlieue undoubtedly experience the same language barriers within their isolated communities. Both AAVE and Verlan uniquely embrace the language of their home country in a way that differentiates themselves.
Though AAVE can differ across the country, most of these comparisons work best between the comparable situations of the ghettos in American and the banlieues of Paris. The northern ghettos, like the banlieues, possess their own culture and a high concentration of African Americans speaking AAVE and to some extent remain separated from the rest of American society (Wolfram & Torbet). The similarities continue between the two music cultures. Durand points out that “many French banlieue youths may thus be said to share several with their young American counterparts from African American ghettoes”(Durand 4). There are indeed many similarities with the style of rap music that originate in both countries, especially with high concentration of slang that it includes. Early in the development of the Verlan rap music, the artists followed the style of their African American counterparts. The youth in both countries embrace the rap culture and use it to spread their own unique twist on language. In 1995, the use of AAVE by the youth in Oakland school district started a debate about the validity of that dialect in an educational setting and even small debates about whether or not AAVE should be classified as its own language. This debate spurred more focus on the initial perceptions of speakers of AAVE.
The Studies and How to Relate to Verlan
Andrew Billings in an article titled “Beyond the Ebonics Debate” details many of the studies of AAVE and their results. Numerous studies show that others perceive speakers of AAVE are perceived as “less credible” than speakers of Standard American English (Billings 2). Fox offers an excellent explanation for this perception.
“Ebonics stirs images of the problems of urban life - poverty, crime, unemployment, substandard housing, inferior education. Accurate or not, those factors are what most Americans think characterize life in the inner city. No one wants to perpetuate the cycle of urban poverty, a cycle that ensnares a larger proportion of African Americans than of others.(Fox 4)
Language and culture become intertwined even within perceptions. People automatically associate the lifestyle of the ghetto and banlieues with the distinctly differentiated language spoken there. Fox explains here the crux of the debate started in Oakland that did not end with a definite ruling about ridding the school system of AAVE. Billings’s study continues to show how speakers of AAVE have diminished rankings on a series of scales that measure perceptions of competence, including intelligence, articulation, aggression, education and qualifications (Billings 8). The study also goes into perceptions of the speaker based on race for contrast and concluded that these rankings were not based on race itself. Instead, “Both White and Black speakers of standard dialect were deemed competent”(Billings 5). While these are the basic outlines of a more complex study, the message is clear. How one speaks undeniably changes others perceptions. It would be completely natural for a similar study to be applied to Verlan. It would serve the purpose of illuminating the discrimination against Verlan that is overwhelming the country.
Applications
Initially both Verlan and AAVE were used to create a unique identity for a group, as an act of solidarity for an underprivileged group. Now however, both deliberate alternations of the languages act as a way of focusing discrimination. It is becoming more clear that, “the only way to eliminate differences between the races is to first illuminate these differences”(Billings 13). For Verlan the time has come for more focus on the discrimination it can be subject to. After the riots of 2006, there has been progress to illuminate the culture of Verlan. As the language game crosses social boundaries through music and other means different classes of people adopt it as an act of solidarity and support for the immigrant population it originated with (Lefkowitz 1989). The time has come for the barriers to be broken down between the banlieues and the rest of France. One of the doors that would allow for that shift would be an acceptance in the banlieues of sharing their language, instead of just Reverlanizing. This shift will obviously take time but speakers of Verlan will now have to find a way to integrate their language, and thus their identity, in with the rest of France as the country takes steps to ensure their acceptance. By conducting studies of perceptions of Verlan, French researchers could highlight this crucial detail and help move towards acceptance of the Verlan speaking people of the banlieues.
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