If you are learning French you might’ve heard of Verlan. The elusive and cryptic version of French, often referred to as speaking backwards in French. But what is Verlan?
Verlan is basically a type of slang most commonly used in ‘les banlieues’ by young people.
It’s often regarded as an identity marker, as it is used by second generation immigrants who despite being French, do not feel French, but also do not feel the same nationality as their parents. Therefore, they feel the need to form their own nationality, a mixture of French and their own, which is why the language of Verlan contains a lot of Arabic words and borrowings from other languages.
Verlan is formed by inverting the syllables in a French word, for instance bon-jour would be jour-bon in Verlan*. Hence it is referred to as speaking French backwards. (*This is not an actual word in Verlan)
Therefore, many Verlan words appear to be quite different from their French counterparts, due to this, many people refer to Verlan as a cryptic language, used by people who want to keep their conversation a secret from others.
Some Verlan words and expressions include:
Zarbi=bizarre
Meuf= femme
Ouf= fou
Zyva= vas-y
Teuf= fête
Chelou= louche
It can be found in a variety of films, rap music and daily conversation. Films that contain Verlan include: Les Keufs by Josiane Balasko, 1987; Les Ripoux by Claude Zidi, 1983; La Haine in 1995 and more recently, L’esquive, Kechiche, 2004 and Ch’tis in 2008.
Rap songs containing Verlan include: IAM; 113; Prodige Namor; Maitre Gims; Kerredine Soltani and Keblack.
Is it popular?
Verlan first hit the scenes in the 80’s and was incredibly popular. Some people argue that Verlan is not quite as popular nowadays, despite there is evidence of Verlan evolving into an intrinsic part of the French language.
For instance, many original Verlan words have become too mainstream, so have been reverlanised to maintain their cryptic nature, such as: beur (arabe) which is now rebeu. Furthermore, now we see the emergence of 3 distinct types of Verlan, the original Verlan used by the working class living in the banlieues; Verlan used by young, urban professionals who use it to show solidarity with migrant communities in the area; and lastly the Verlan used by teenagers to avoid authority figures and keep their conversations secret.
In conclusion, Verlan is a type of slang which is predominantly used by younger people, and like all slang it is constantly evolving. But if you’re ever in France, in the big cities, and you hear something that sounds French but not quite French you are probably listening to Verlan.