Identités de genre, identités de classe et insécurité linguistique (review)

This book is the result of collaborative research carried out by a team based at the Université de Lausanne. It is a sociolinguistic study of aspects of and attitudes to the variety of French spoken in the Canton de Vaud, with a focus on gender and class variables. The design and results of the study are presented in detail, and the book also provides data on the variety of French in question as well as a more general overview of relevant issues in the sociolinguistic literature. The authors refer, with justification, to the relative paucity of work on the relationship between language and gender in French. The study is small-scale, by contrast with a much larger project involving over 600 participants published by Singy (L'Image du français en Suisse romande: enquête sociolinguistique en Pays de Vaud, L'Harmattan, 1996). The small size of the study limits generalization of results. A total of seventy-six semi-directive interviews were conducted with fifty-three participants, twenty-two from the 'classe moyenne traditionnelle, les petits indépendants' (farmers, artisans, shopkeepers) and thirty-one from the 'classe moyenne nouvelle' (teachers, nurses, middle management). The 'petits indépendants' were selected because of the relative homogeneity of socio-professional background of the women and men in that group. The objectives of the research include the investigation of attitudes to 'le parler vaudois' and any evidence of 'linguistic insecurity' (Labov). Some interesting findings emerge on interviewees' awareness of their socio-spatial class, though there is at times an over-emphasis on detail. In the context of attitudes to language, there are three examples of gender identity taking precedence over class identity. The majority of women in the study take the view that the best French is spoken in France, that it is more important for a woman to 'bien parler' than it is for a man, and that schools should favour the teaching of standard French rather than the regional variety (p. 175). A problematic issue put to interviewees (male and female) is the question of their opinions on the relationship between the Vaudois accent and 'le charme féminin' (p. 149), a concept which is not defined. The question of the compatibility of the Vaudois accent with any masculine equivalent is not raised, though some reference is made to masculinity and 'covert prestige' (following Labov and Trudgill) in the conclusion. The analysis of language use produces some notable findings, such as a change in progress in the lexical system, that is, the presence of the two variants 'huitante' and 'quatre-vingts', with the latter set to replace the former (p. 128).

One of the main points of interest of the book is the insight it provides on the variety of French spoken in this area of Switzerland. Its specific characteristics are discussed extensively and a glossary of regionalisms collected during the course of the research project is included as an appendix. Linguists interested in international examples of variation in French will find the descriptive data very valuable.