Re: YAEPT alert! [Re: Not phonetic but ___???]

Ha ha, well seen.

But the point is that it's not only a problem of
vocabulary, but also of pronunciation and syntax. The
"melody" of the sentence is not at all the same in
that kind of slang and in usual French. The
pronunciation is different (for ex. "t" becomes
something like "tj". Adjectives are used in place of
adverbs (tju m'prends la tete grave la = now you're
annoying me; "grave" was an adjective until now, the
adverb being "gravement"); etc. I think even the sound
frequences are different: the voice used doesn't look
like a "French" voice - just like English or Russians
use parts of the audible spectrum we normally don't
use.

The manners are also different, of course: spitting on
the ground everywhere and at any time is highly
recommended; the way of walking is also very
specific... Music is rap, usually, or similar.
Pictural art is tagging. It's really a job for an
ethnograph. But this concerns hundreds of thousands of
people in France, so it's not a locally restricted
phenomenon.

--- Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:
> >
> My guess would be that the under-class, be it 19th C
> Irish-American, early
> 20th C. Italo-American, or in all times
> African-American (change the names
> for the country of your choice-- Russo-Uzbek e.g.)
> is going to develop a distinctive argot.  Whether to
> conceal illegal
> activities or merely to épater les
bougeoises..............


=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)


	
		
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