Chtimi: The Urban Vernaculars of Northern France

Front Cover
Multilingual Matters, 1996 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 318 pages
"The different ways in which a language may be pronounced is not only a constant source of fascination for speakers and learners, but also a powerful symbol of regional identity. Using recordings of spontaneous speech by working-class speakers from an urban, industrial environment in northern France, Tim Pooley traces the development of the urban vernacular of the Lille area - often referred to as Chtimi - from a traditional patois to a variety of Regional French against the background of the social changes that have occurred in the speakers' lifetimes." "The result is, firstly, a study in sociolinguistic variation (both from the structural and sociolinguistic viewpoints); secondly, an analysis of language shift in a context where the obsolescent language is closely related to the dominant variety; and thirdly, a detailed analysis of the key features of the phonology and grammar of northern Regional French." "It is also one of the first studies concerned with France to show how network factors may influence speakers' use of French."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 

Contents

The Place of Roubaix and MarcqenBaroeul in the Lille Conurbation
15
Chtimi and Regional Varieties
51
Fieldwork Approaches Objectives and Problems
76
Picard Phonological Features
97
Phonological Features of Regional French in the CUDL
122
Morphology
149
Syntax
166
Characterising the Speakers
210
The Roubaix Corpus
231
Twelve Years On The RougesBarres Corpus
276
Conclusions
304
Appendices
310
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