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The following is a "closing segment" for the show which aired Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 11:00 AM EDT.
Listen to this closing segment
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 11:00 AM EDT
Verlan

It started as a code for French prisoners, developed into a language of France’s immigrant periphery and today has infiltrated the country’s youth and pop culture. Verlan is a popular slang in which standard French spellings or syllables have been reversed, recombined or both (Jourbon is Verlan for Bonjour). The Verlan phenomenon has become more than the “cool way” of speaking, it has become a metaphor of opposition, an expression of solidarity and a means of integration.

Guests:

Natalie Lefkowitz, professor of French applied linguistics at Central Washington University and author of “Talking Backwards, Looking Forwards: The French Language Game Verlan”

 
 

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