Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège -  Volume 71 - Année 2002  Numéro 4 

L'ARGOT : CODE, JARGON OU POÉSIE ? (Slang : code, jargon or poetry ?)
Colloque : PLUMAGE, RAMAGE ET CODAGE

Francis Edeline

Groupe m, Université de Liège, 12, rue de la Cabine, 4130 TILFF

Abstract

Slang has frequently been described as a cryptic language allowing criminals to communicate without being understood.  This theory does not stand against published evidence. Although there exist undoubtedly several real slang codes, such as verlen, largonji and javanais in French, or "backslang" and "centreslang" in English, it can be shown that secrecy is not the central issues. On the contrary, nearly al1 the slang words or expressions are of a rhetorical nature. They express the strong verbal creativity of some classes of the society and their common characteristic is to ridicule or destroy the "bourgeois" ethical values.

Pour citer cet article

Francis Edeline, «L'ARGOT : CODE, JARGON OU POÉSIE ? (Slang : code, jargon or poetry ?)», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 71 - Année 2002, Numéro 4, 229 - 248 URL : http://popups.ulg.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=1976.