Le Langage Populaire. Par Henri Bauche. (Paris : Payet. 9
francs.)—This scholarly essay on Parisian French will interest all serious students of the French language. The author com- piled a grammar, a syntax and a dictionary of the French that he has heard spoken in Paris or seen in letters from uneducated Parisians. This vulgar tongue is not slang any more than it is literary French ; it **presents a stage in the perpetual evolution of a powerful language and deserves the careful examination that M. Bauche has given it He attempts to define the Parisian accent. It is comforting to know that, if we English find the " r " difficult, the Burgundian and the Italian are equally perplexed. The Englishman is warned also not to make too much of the " ou," as French has no vowel-sound like that in " seen " or " boon." The dictionary appended is lengthy and will help English readers of some Modern French novels. We notice that to calla Parisian policeman a " aache " or cow is a very grave insult indeed, and that one must never refer to a man's wife as " femme," but always as " dame," however hrtrable her social position may be.
Previous page
