Verlan
Encyclopedia
Verlan is an argot
in the French language
, featuring inversion of syllable
s in a word, and is common in slang
and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words. The name verlan is an example: it is derived from inverting the syllables in l'envers ("the inverse," pronounced lan-ver).
Verlan generally retains the pronunciation of the original syllables. In particular, French words that end in a silent e
(a schwa
, eu, such as femme) and words that end in a pronounced consonant and which usually have an e muet added at the end (such as flic) retain the sound of the e muet in verlan. In addition, verlan often drops the final vowel sound after the word is inverted, so femme and flic become meuf and keuf, respectively.
Different rules apply for one-syllable words, and words with more than one syllable may be verlanised in more than one way. For example, cigarette may yield garette.
Some verlan words, such as meuf, have become so commonplace that they have been included into the Petit Larousse
and a doubly "verlanised" version was rendered necessary, so the singly verlanised meuf became feumeu; similarly, the verlan word beur, derived from arabe, has become accepted into popular culture such that it has been re-verlanised to yield rebeu.
Some verlan words, which are now well incorporated in common French language, have taken on their own significance, or at least certain connotations that have changed their meaning. For example, the word meuf, which can still be used to refer to any woman, also refers to the speaker's girlfriend, when used in the possessive form (ma meuf -> my girl); while the original word femme would refer to the speaker's wife when used in the same way (ma femme -> my wife). Such words retain a cultural significance from the time at which they appeared in common language. Widely spread in the second half of the 20th century, beur generally refers to first-generation immigrants from northern Africa in France. The re-verlanised word rebeu is much more recent, and is used to refer rather to second-generation Arab immigrants in France, and their social attitude.
In theory, any word can be translated into verlan, but only a few expressions are used in everyday speech. Verbs translated into verlan cannot be conjugated easily. There is no such thing as a verlan grammar, so generally verbs are used in the infinitive, past participle or progressive form. For example:
. Verlan is preferred to versl'en.
The French author Auguste le Breton uses numerous examples of verlan, for instance in Du rififi chez les hommes.
or drug
s, related to the original purpose of keeping communication secret from institutions of social control. Verlan is generally limited to one or two key words per sentence. Verlan words and expressions are mixed within a more general argot
ique language.
Verlan is used by people to mark their membership in, or exclusion from, a particular group (generally young people in the cities and suburbs); it is a tool for marking and delineating group identity. Speakers rarely create a verlan word on the fly; rather, their ability to use and understand words from an accepted set of known verlan terms allows them to be identified as part of a verlan-speaking group.
Some verlan words have gained mainstream currency. A notable example is the word beur
(from arabe), now widely used to describe a French-born individual of North Africa
n descent. (It has since taken on a second form: rebeu, which is widely used.)
Verlan is popular as a form of expression in French hip-hop. Artists claim that it fits well with the musical medium because "form ranks way over substance".
or "backslang
", are used in English-speaking cultures (see Language game
). A form of slang very similar to verlan is occasionally used in Greek
and is called "podaná", itself an inverted form of "anápoda" (i.e. backwards or "wrong way round"); it usually involves words that are already slang by themselves. Examples of podaná include tsosbá (inverted bátsos, slang for "cop"), zakipré (inverted prezáki, slang for "junkie"), dafoú (inverted foúnda, "hashish"), fosbá (inverted báfos, "joint") etc. Verlan is also very similar, if not identical, to the slang often used in Croatia
, Bosnia
, Serbia
and Macedonia
in the Serbo-Croat languages and Macedonian. This slang, "šatrovački
" and sometimes labeled as the 8th case
, is popular among the youth in especially Belgrade
and Sarajevo
. A recent trend of slang among the youth of Rio de Janeiro
also resembles verlan. In the Buenos Aires slang lunfardo
verlan-style words are often used, for example feca instead of cafe.
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
in the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, featuring inversion of syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s in a word, and is common in slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of transposing syllables of individual words to create slang words. The name verlan is an example: it is derived from inverting the syllables in l'envers ("the inverse," pronounced lan-ver).
Word formation
Words in verlan are formed by switching the order in which syllables from the original word are pronounced. For example, français fʁɑ̃sɛ becomes cèfran [sɛfʁɑ̃].Verlan generally retains the pronunciation of the original syllables. In particular, French words that end in a silent e
Silent E
Silent e is a writing convention in English spelling. A silent letter e at the end of a word often signals a specific pronunciation of the preceding vowel letter, as in the difference between "rid" and "ride" . This orthographic pattern followed the phonological changes of the Great Vowel Shift...
(a schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
, eu, such as femme) and words that end in a pronounced consonant and which usually have an e muet added at the end (such as flic) retain the sound of the e muet in verlan. In addition, verlan often drops the final vowel sound after the word is inverted, so femme and flic become meuf and keuf, respectively.
Different rules apply for one-syllable words, and words with more than one syllable may be verlanised in more than one way. For example, cigarette may yield garette.
Vocabulary
In certain dialects of verlan, certain words are often inverted and certain words are not. Words such as très remain unchanged in most dialects, while femme is usually inverted.Some verlan words, such as meuf, have become so commonplace that they have been included into the Petit Larousse
Petit Larousse
Le Petit Larousse Illustré, commonly known simply as Le Petit Larousse, is a French-language reference book first appearing in 1905 and later published in a 100th anniversary edition in 2005...
and a doubly "verlanised" version was rendered necessary, so the singly verlanised meuf became feumeu; similarly, the verlan word beur, derived from arabe, has become accepted into popular culture such that it has been re-verlanised to yield rebeu.
Some verlan words, which are now well incorporated in common French language, have taken on their own significance, or at least certain connotations that have changed their meaning. For example, the word meuf, which can still be used to refer to any woman, also refers to the speaker's girlfriend, when used in the possessive form (ma meuf -> my girl); while the original word femme would refer to the speaker's wife when used in the same way (ma femme -> my wife). Such words retain a cultural significance from the time at which they appeared in common language. Widely spread in the second half of the 20th century, beur generally refers to first-generation immigrants from northern Africa in France. The re-verlanised word rebeu is much more recent, and is used to refer rather to second-generation Arab immigrants in France, and their social attitude.
In theory, any word can be translated into verlan, but only a few expressions are used in everyday speech. Verbs translated into verlan cannot be conjugated easily. There is no such thing as a verlan grammar, so generally verbs are used in the infinitive, past participle or progressive form. For example:
- J'étais en train de pécho une bombe ("I was hitting on a hot chick") is said, but not je pécho[ais] or je p[ais]cho.
Spelling
The study of verlan is difficult as it is primarily a spoken language passed down orally, without standardized spelling. While some still argue that the letters should be held over from the original word, in the case of verlan, most experts agree that words should be spelled as to best approximate pronunciationPronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
. Verlan is preferred to versl'en.
The French author Auguste le Breton uses numerous examples of verlan, for instance in Du rififi chez les hommes.
Cultural significance
Verlan is less a language than a way to set apart certain words. Many verlan words refer either to sexSex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
or drug
Recreational drug use
Recreational drug use is the use of a drug, usually psychoactive, with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Such use is controversial, however, often being considered to be also drug abuse, and it is often illegal...
s, related to the original purpose of keeping communication secret from institutions of social control. Verlan is generally limited to one or two key words per sentence. Verlan words and expressions are mixed within a more general argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
ique language.
Verlan is used by people to mark their membership in, or exclusion from, a particular group (generally young people in the cities and suburbs); it is a tool for marking and delineating group identity. Speakers rarely create a verlan word on the fly; rather, their ability to use and understand words from an accepted set of known verlan terms allows them to be identified as part of a verlan-speaking group.
Some verlan words have gained mainstream currency. A notable example is the word beur
Beur
Beur is a colloquial term to designate French-born people whose parents are immigrants from North Africa. The word was coined by reversing the syllables of the word arabe, which means Arabic or Arab in French. For example, "arabe" becomes "a-ra-beu" then "beu-ra-a" and "beur" by contraction. The...
(from arabe), now widely used to describe a French-born individual of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n descent. (It has since taken on a second form: rebeu, which is widely used.)
Verlan is popular as a form of expression in French hip-hop. Artists claim that it fits well with the musical medium because "form ranks way over substance".
Other languages
The use of coded languages like verlan is uncommon in English-speaking countries, but similar manners of speaking, such as Cockney rhyming slang, Pig LatinPig Latin
Pig Latin is a language game of alterations played in English. To form the Pig Latin form of an English word the first consonant is moved to the end of the word and an ay is affixed . The object is to conceal the meaning of the words from others not familiar with the rules...
or "backslang
Back slang
Back slang is an English coded language in which the written word is spoken phonemically backwards. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butchers and greengrocers, to have private conversations behind their customers' backs and pass off...
", are used in English-speaking cultures (see Language game
Language game
A language game is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others...
). A form of slang very similar to verlan is occasionally used in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and is called "podaná", itself an inverted form of "anápoda" (i.e. backwards or "wrong way round"); it usually involves words that are already slang by themselves. Examples of podaná include tsosbá (inverted bátsos, slang for "cop"), zakipré (inverted prezáki, slang for "junkie"), dafoú (inverted foúnda, "hashish"), fosbá (inverted báfos, "joint") etc. Verlan is also very similar, if not identical, to the slang often used in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
in the Serbo-Croat languages and Macedonian. This slang, "šatrovački
Šatrovacki
Šatrovački is a feature of permuting syllables of words used in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Macedonian. It is similar to verlan and louchébem in French. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well.Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in...
" and sometimes labeled as the 8th case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
, is popular among the youth in especially Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. A recent trend of slang among the youth of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
also resembles verlan. In the Buenos Aires slang lunfardo
Lunfardo
Lunfardo is a dialect originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and the surrounding Gran Buenos Aires, and from there spread to other cities nearby, such as Rosario and Montevideo, cities with similar socio-cultural situations...
verlan-style words are often used, for example feca instead of cafe.
See also
- ArgotArgotAn Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
- Cant (language)Cant (language)A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
- JavanaisJavanaisJavanais is an element of French slang where the extra syllable "av" is placed inside a word , between every consonant followed by a vowel, rendering it more incomprehensible...
- Language gameLanguage gameA language game is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others...
- LouchébemLouchébemLouchébem or loucherbem is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' slang, similar to Pig Latin and Verlan. It originated in the mid-19th century. Each word is transformed by moving the first consonant to the end; and suffixes such as -ème, -ji, -oc, -muche are added at the end; the letter "L" is placed...
- PolariPolariPolari is a form of cant slang used in Britain by actors, circus and fairground showmen, criminals, prostitutes, and by the gay subculture. It was popularised in the 1960s by camp characters Julian and Sandy in the popular BBC radio show Round the Horne...
- ŠatrovačkiŠatrovackiŠatrovački is a feature of permuting syllables of words used in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Macedonian. It is similar to verlan and louchébem in French. The term is sometimes used to describe other slang in which words are deformed, as well.Šatrovački was initially developed by criminals in...
- same principle as verlan, in SerbianSerbian languageSerbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, BosnianBosnian languageBosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
, CroatianCroatian languageCroatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, MacedonianMacedonian languageMacedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora... - Shelta (ISO 639-2: cel http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_country.asp?name=Ireland) - similarities to verlan, in IrishIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
- VesreVesreVesre is one of the features of Rioplatense Spanish slang. Natives of Buenos Aires and Uruguay use vesre sparingly in colloquial speaking, and never in formal circumstances...