Paper presented at the Linguistic Section of ACFAS in Ottawa, Canada, October 13, 1972. (DS)

The history of "Verlan," a form of French word play involving inversion of syllables with varying degrees of complexity, is described and its phonological and morphological patterns are outlined. Appropriate and inappropriate contexts for use of Verlan, extralinguistic functions, and the results of lexicalization of verlanized words are…

The use of "a,""de," or nothing preceding complement infinitives in French is addressed from the perspective of the deeper grammatical relations involved, and possible instructional strategies are suggested. Examples and comparisons are made in English. Unlike the traditional approach, it is assumed that a preposition is…

Analysis of the linguistic borrowing from French of American newspapers looks at the areas where vocabulary is borrowed and stereotypes are perpetuated. The alterations made in French expressions, as a result of ignorance or in order to suit American habits, are examined. (MSE)

Surveys conducted among secondary school students in Toulon, France in choice of personal pronouns indicate more prevalent use of tu''. Students consider widespread use of tu'' to be more democratic and thought employment of vous'' on certain occasions is a hypocritical and bourgeois habit. (DS)

Presents a conversation between representatives of various generations to illustrate the social changes influencing usage of pronouns of address in France. (DS)

Presents a set of rules for learning grammatical gender in French. (AM)

A survey of student use of French outside the classroom during a six-week summer abroad program found the language skills and functions most commonly used were not those stressed in the language classroom, including comprehension skills and use of numbers. The survey is recommended for assessing student language needs. (MSE)

This article discusses the difference between French and English constructions of motion and change of place, by contrasting French and English examples of such constructions. (CLK)

Comments on the usage of the second person pronouns of address ( tu" and vous") in French, and traces the usage from the fifteenth century to present day, reflecting social, religious, and political attitudes. (DS)

Patterns of use of the French particles "bon, (eh) ben, and enfin" were analyzed in a corpus of spontaneous multispeaker conversation. Results show that each particle marks a particular type of discontinuity in the discourse. Turn-initial and turn-medial patterns are described for each. (17 references) (Author/MSE)

Two surveys of Parisian French mid-vowel articulation and preference, performed in 1986 and 1988, are reviewed and compared. Informants were 21 male teacher trainees (study 1) and 60 male local transportation workers, aged 20 to 60 (study 2). Conclusions are drawn concerning mid-vowel opposition, anteriorization, and vowel harmony. Emphasis is…