Abstract
VERLAN: SCHOOL SLANG OR KEUMS' LANGUAGE? What is the real meaning of the word verlan (syllabic inversion of l'envers) which has been popularized by the mass media ? The authors define and examine four distinct senses. They subsequently undertake a sociolinguistic description of a new social phenomenon : the emergence of a peculiar kind of street slang, spoken especially by young people in housing estates in the suburbs of Paris.