In français contemporain des cités (FCC) – the contemporary French of urban low income housing projects, otherwise known as “ youth language ”, or “ project language ”, several types of linguistic formation tend to show that language varieties detected in French urban housing projects have a “ mirroring ” function in relation to what is generally observed in the French language : among other things, there are many words in verlan (backwards language) and there is apheresis at the expense of apocope. Such language behaviors are manifestations of the way the young – and the not so young – from the projects and the working class neighborhoods of France are rejecting the language legitimized by school and by French society. It is one of their ways of reacting to the social violence being carried out against them.
Archives par mot-clé : Social violence
Jean-Pierre Goudaillier : languages and linguistics practices reflected ofsocials practices of young people living in z.u.s.
In France, the so-called Z.U.S (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, meaning Sensitive Social Areas) are places of the social deprivation. Among others, young people live there, often descendant of immigrants. The language they speak shows clearly they belong to the world of the suburbs, as it contains the typical linguistic forms, the so-called F.C.C. (Français Contemporain des Cités, or French Suburbs Language). A certain social behaviours, typical for their environment, are reflected in these forms that also demonstrate an existence of the social and reactive violence, a straight consequence of the previous. All these can be seen in the suburbs of the French cities.
Adolescence, 2009, T. 27, n°4, pp. 849-857.