Rhythm Types and the Speech of Working-Class Youth in a Banlieue of Paris 123
features, such as the ones shown in this study, are imitated and spread through
the daily actions and interactions of leaders like Yasin, negotiating fast and
with brilliant ef¿ ciency their positions of intermediaries between two cul-
tures, while embodying an authentic social persona of a new kind.
Appendix 4.1
Text read by the speakers in French
C’est une histoire incroyable. Notre prof d’anglais a disparu. Il n’est jamais arrivé à
l’école, alors qu’un élève l’a vu descendre du RER le matin. Il aurait disparu sans lais-
ser de traces. Il n’est plus jamais revenu. Sur le chemin de la gare, plusieurs l’avaient
reconnu, mais personne ne sait ce qu’il est devenu. En tous cas, c’est sûr qu’on ne
l’a plus jamais revu. Et toi, qu’est-ce que tu en penses? Qu’est-ce qui lui est arrivé?
Invente la suite de l’histoire, imagine que tu es le principal ou l’inspecteur de police.
Qu’est-ce que tu ferais?
Translation of the text to English
This is an incredible story. Our English teacher has disappeared. He has never arrived
at school, even though a student saw him get off the RER in the morning. He has
disappeared without a trace. He’s never come back. On the way from the station [to
school], many recognized him, but nobody knows what happened to him. In any case,
it is certain that he has not been seen ever since. And you? What do you think? What
might have happened to him? Invent the end of the story. Imagine that you are the
principal or a detective from the police. What would you do?
Notes
1 Ve rlan (f rom envers ‘backwards’): bizarre ĺ zarbi ‘strange’ (Méla 1991, 1997;
Azra and Cheneau 1994).
2 Contrary to many royal courtiers, Voltaire was of non-noble, provincial origin
(Gay 1965: 117).
3 “faire usage d’une langue française qu’ils tordent dans tous les sens et dont ils
modi¿ ent les mots en les coupant.”
4 Adolescence is de¿ ned as the period “extending from the ¿ rst notable changes
of puberty to the attainment of adult status [... ] i.e., from age 10 to the end of
secondary school at 18 or 19” (Arnett 2002: 309–310).