Verlan
Information about Verlan
In the French language, verlan is the inversion of syllables in a word which is found in slang and youth language. It rests on a long French tradition of permuting syllables of words to create slang words. The name verlan is itself an example: verlan = lan ver = l'envers (meaning the inverse).
might be transformed into
Verlan generally retains the pronunciation of the original syllables. In particular, French words that end in an e muet (a schwa, eu, such as femme) and words which 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. Some words have had their syllables inverted twice; for example, femme > meuf > feumeu or arabe > beur > reub/rebeu.
Different rules apply when dealing with one-syllable words, and, in certain dialects of verlan, certain words are usually inverted and certain words are not. Words like très remain unchanged in most dialects, while femme is usually inverted. Some verlan words (like meuf, from femme=woman) have become so commonplace that they have been included into the Petit Larousse, that a doubly "verlanised" version was rendered necessary, and the singly verlanised meuf became "feumeu".
As with many language games, the study of verlan suffers from the fact that it is primarily a spoken language passed down orally, and thus there exists no 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 spelt as to best approximate pronunciation, hence the use of verlan as opposed to versl'en.
Theoretically any word can be translated into verlan but by reflex 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 most of the time verbs are used in the infinitive, past participle or progressive form.
For example :
Generally speaking, creating a verlan word on the fly from any random French word will result in smirks. However, understanding verlan words heard in specific situations will help one understand what many young people living in French banlieue (suburbs) actually say. Using such words can help one become ingratiated with these groups.
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 African descent. (It has since been verlanised a second time into rebeu, which is now widely used.)
The use of verlan is less widespread in English-speaking countries, likely because morphology in French is less strict than in English, and so French syllables are more conducive to inversion from linguistic and aesthetic standpoints. However, similar manners of speaking such as Pig Latin or "backslang", are used in English-speaking cultures (see Language game). A form of slang very similar to verlan is used in Greek, called "podana", itself an inversed form of "anapoda" (i.e. backwards).
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Pig Latin}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: — Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language primarily used in English, where the first syllable of English words is placed at the end
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Pig Latin}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: — Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language primarily used in English, where the first syllable of English words is placed at the end
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General characteristics and some examples
Below is an English approximation of verlan, which could be called versin (inverse).- My piano is broken, phooey. /mai pijanou 'iz broukən fuwi:/
might be transformed into
- My nopia is kenbro, eephoo. /mai noupija 'iz kenbrou, i:fu/
Verlan generally retains the pronunciation of the original syllables. In particular, French words that end in an e muet (a schwa, eu, such as femme) and words which 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. Some words have had their syllables inverted twice; for example, femme > meuf > feumeu or arabe > beur > reub/rebeu.
Different rules apply when dealing with one-syllable words, and, in certain dialects of verlan, certain words are usually inverted and certain words are not. Words like très remain unchanged in most dialects, while femme is usually inverted. Some verlan words (like meuf, from femme=woman) have become so commonplace that they have been included into the Petit Larousse, that a doubly "verlanised" version was rendered necessary, and the singly verlanised meuf became "feumeu".
As with many language games, the study of verlan suffers from the fact that it is primarily a spoken language passed down orally, and thus there exists no 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 spelt as to best approximate pronunciation, hence the use of verlan as opposed to versl'en.
Theoretically any word can be translated into verlan but by reflex 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 most of the time verbs are used in the infinitive, past participle or progressive form.
For example :
- J'étais en train de pécho une bombe but not je pécho[ais] or je p[ais]cho ("I was hitting on a hot chick")
Cultural significance and similar phenomena in other languages
Verlan is not so much a language as a means of underlining certain words. The fact that a lot of verlan words refer either to sex or drugs stems from its original purpose: to keep the communication secret from institutions of social control. Nobody would solely use verlan while talking. Usually, the use of verlan is limited to one or two key words per sentence. Verlan words and expressions would rather be mixed inside a more general argotique language.Generally speaking, creating a verlan word on the fly from any random French word will result in smirks. However, understanding verlan words heard in specific situations will help one understand what many young people living in French banlieue (suburbs) actually say. Using such words can help one become ingratiated with these groups.
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 African descent. (It has since been verlanised a second time into rebeu, which is now widely used.)
The use of verlan is less widespread in English-speaking countries, likely because morphology in French is less strict than in English, and so French syllables are more conducive to inversion from linguistic and aesthetic standpoints. However, similar manners of speaking such as Pig Latin or "backslang", are used in English-speaking cultures (see Language game). A form of slang very similar to verlan is used in Greek, called "podana", itself an inversed form of "anapoda" (i.e. backwards).
More Examples
- Persons
- Femme (woman) → meuf
- Mec (guy) → keum
- Pute (whore) → teu-pu
- Pétasse (slut) → tasspé
- Frère (brother) → reuf
- Sœur (sister) → reus
- Mère (mother) → reum
- Père (father) → reup
- Moi (me) → ouam
- Toi (you) → ouat
- Parents (parents) → remps
- Flic (cop) → keuf → fuek (sounds similar to the English curse word)
- Arabe (Arab) → `beur → reubeu
- Noir (Black person) → renoi
- Celui-la (Him) → la-cui, lawis
- Celle-la (Her) → la-celle
- Français (frenchman) → céfran
- Adjectives
- Méchant (mean, but also wicked in a positive way) → chanmé
- Gentil (friendly, nice) → tigen
- Enervé (angry) → vénèr
- Bête (silly) → teubé
- Défoncé (stoned) → fonsdé
- Louche (weird) → chelou
- Pourri (rotten, corrupt) → ripou
- Lourd (heavy, boring) → relou
- Bizarre (weird) → zarb/ zarbi
- Fou (crazy, insane) → ouf
- Comme ça (this way) → kom ass or ça com or ass com
- Moche (ugly) → cheum
- Vite fait (quickly made/done, too quick so it's bad done)→ vite aif
- Verbs and verbal forms
- Choper (hit on a girl, buy drugs, or generally grab or obtain something), also "se faire choper" (get caught) → pécho
- Mater (check out) → téma
- Fumer (smoke) → méfu
- Vas-y (come on) → zyva
- Carrot’ (being deceived by someone or steal) → rotca
- Branché (trendy, stylish, in) → chébran
- Nouns
- Métro (subway) → tromé or trom
- Truc (stuff) → keutru
- Soirée (party) → réssoi
- Cigarette (cigarette) → garetci → garo
- Gramme (gram) → meug
- Herbe (weed) → beuher → beuh
- Barette (stick of hash) → retba
- Disque (CD) → skeud
- Joint (spliff) → oinj
- Fête (party) → teuf
- Pétard (joint) → tarpé
- Chien (dog, insulting : selfish person) → ienche
- Racaille (rabble, in french very insulting) → Kaïra
- Chatte (in the sense of vagina) → Techa
- Bite (dick) → teub
Other words
Some words are used by the young French people as well as verlan. These words are sometimes inspired by the English words or are created with other kind of modification than the syllabic inverses;- RER (kind of metro) → reu-reu
- Mère (mother) → Daronne
- Père (father) → Daron
- Soeur (sister) → Sister (like in English)
- Frère (brother or very close friend) → Brother
- Salope (bitch) → Bitch → Biatch
- Ta Gueule (shut up) → T.G.
- Chat (cat) → Cat
See also
- Argot
- Back Slang
- Cockney rhyming slang
- Panamanian Spanish
- Language game
- Langue verte
- Louchebem
- Lunfardo
- Pig Latin
- Polari
- Šatrovački - same principle as verlan, in Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian
- Shelta (ISO 639-2: cel http://www.ethnologue.com/14/show_country.asp?name=Ireland) - similarities to verlan, in Irish.
- Spoonerism
- Vesre
- Nadsat
- Variety (linguistics)
External links
French (français, pronounced [fʁɑ̃ˈsɛ]) is a Romance language originally spoken in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and today by about 300 million people around the world as either
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For the computer operating system, see .
A syllable (Ancient Greek: συλλαβή) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds...... Click the link for more information.
Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often highly regional, specific to a particular territory.
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schwa can mean:
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- An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in any language, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel. Such vowels are often transcribed with the symbol <ə
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Le Petit Larousse is a French-language reference book (although a Spanish-language version is also published) first appearing in 1905 and later published in a 100th anniversary edition in 2005.
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language game (also called secret language or ludling) 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.
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Pronunciation refers to:
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- the way a word or a language is usually spoken;
- the manner in which someone utters a word.
Introduction
A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as:..... Click the link for more information.
Sex refers to the male and female duality of biology and reproduction. Unlike organisms that only have the ability to reproduce asexually, sexed male and female pairs have the ability to produce offspring through meiosis and fertilization.
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Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational purposes rather than for work, medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear.
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For the fungus, see .
Argot (French and Spanish for "slang") is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations...... Click the link for more information.
Banlieue /bɑ̃ˈljø/ is the French word for "outskirts." A banlieue can be rich or poor; Versailles, Le Vésinet, Orsay and Neuilly-sur-Seine are affluent banlieues
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Beur is a verlan (French slang) term for a descendant of immigrants of North African origin living in France. The word is a reversal of the syllables for the word "Arab" (arabe in French). It is a term that can be pejorative in certain circumstances.
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North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven territories:
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- Algeria
- Egypt
- Libya
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For other uses, see Morphology.
Morphology is the field within linguistics that studies the internal structure of words. (Words as units in the lexicon are the subject matter of lexicology...... Click the link for more information.
For the journal, see .
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. Someone who engages in this study is called a linguist...... Click the link for more information.
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is a branch of philosophy, a species of value theory or axiology, which is the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. Aesthetics is closely associated with the philosophy of art.
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Pig Latin}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: — Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language primarily used in English, where the first syllable of English words is placed at the end
..... Click the link for more information.
Back slang is a language created by phonetically speaking words backwards and is typically pronounced from the written word and not the spoken word. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butchers[1]
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language game (also called secret language or ludling) 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.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Beur is a verlan (French slang) term for a descendant of immigrants of North African origin living in France. The word is a reversal of the syllables for the word "Arab" (arabe in French). It is a term that can be pejorative in certain circumstances.
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For the fungus, see .
Argot (French and Spanish for "slang") is primarily slang used by various groups, including but not limited to thieves and other criminals, to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations...... Click the link for more information.
Back slang is a language created by phonetically speaking words backwards and is typically pronounced from the written word and not the spoken word. It is thought to have originated in Victorian England, being used mainly by market sellers, such as butchers[1]
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Cockney rhyming slang is a form of English slang which originated in the East End of London.
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Overview
Traditional Cockney rhyming slang works by taking two words that are related through a short phrase and using the first word to stand for a word that rhymes with the..... Click the link for more information.
language game (also called secret language or ludling) 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.
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Louchébem or loucherbem is Parisian and Lyonnaise butchers' (French boucher) 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
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Lunfardo is a colorful argot of the Spanish language which developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the lower classes in and around Buenos Aires.
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Pig Latin}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: —
ISO 639-3: — Pig Latin (Igpay Atinlay in Pig Latin) is a language primarily used in English, where the first syllable of English words is placed at the end
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Serbian}}}
Official status
Official language of: Serbia
Republic of Macedonia (in some municipalities)
Regulated by: Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1: sr
ISO 639-2: scc (B)
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Official status
Official language of: Serbia
Republic of Macedonia (in some municipalities)
Regulated by: Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1: sr
ISO 639-2: scc (B)
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Central South Slavic
languages and dialects
(Central South Slavic diasystem)
Bosnian Bunjevac
Burgenland Croatian Croatian
Montenegrin Našinski Serbian Serbo-Croatian
Šokac
Romano-Serbian Slavoserbian
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languages and dialects
(Central South Slavic diasystem)
Bosnian Bunjevac
Burgenland Croatian Croatian
Montenegrin Našinski Serbian Serbo-Croatian
Šokac
Romano-Serbian Slavoserbian
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Croatian}}}
Official status
Official language of:
Burgenland (Austria)
Caraşova in Caraş-Severin County (Romania)
Croatia
Molise (Italy)
Vojvodina (Serbia)
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Official status
Official language of:
Burgenland (Austria)
Caraşova in Caraş-Severin County (Romania)
Croatia
Molise (Italy)
Vojvodina (Serbia)
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