Working on Marseille accents

Fanny Trifilieff: What is sociolinguistics?

Médéric Gasquet-Cyrus: Sociolinguistics is part of the language sciences. It looks at the social context, natural exchanges and spontaneous uses of language by individuals. We observe language as it happens in situ, in the street, in schools, in cafés. It's not formal linguistics, but empirical linguistics: we're interested in language as it's produced in society. It's a discipline that studies the societal stakes of language: what's at stake when we speak? Depending on our accent, our way of speaking, we can glimpse (but not always) our region of origin, our social background, our gender expression and so on. For example, how do interactions and social relationships evolve when you speak with an accent? Why can we be discriminated against (positively or negatively) as a result? We're talking about interpreting the social meaning of language.

F.T: How did you come to work on this subject?

M.G-C: My first work was on Marseille accents. People often talk about the "Marseille accent", whereas in Marseille there are many different accents and ways of speaking Marseille. I worked on these categorizations: what does it mean to speak of the "Vieux Port accent" or the "Estaque accent"? Why is the so-called "northern district accent" considered a "housing estate accent"? What are the social consequences? I'm now working on the contribution of new arrivals to Marseille. This sociologically new population is integrating into the city in different ways, and speaks a French that is not local French; these people have often lived in one or more of France's major cities and don't necessarily have regional markers, but rather a "standard" French. What's at stake at the social level in these exchanges: do the Marseillais change their way of speaking to adapt to the newcomers or, conversely, do the neo-Marseillais take on local traits? This gives us an idea of the social balance of power in Marseille.

F.T: How do you approach your research?

M.G-C: There's no experimental laboratory setting where I place people in situations. I work on concrete evidence of discrimination. Examples of this kind can be found on television: a person being subtitled in a report, even though their way of speaking is intelligible, or a presenter making fun of a person's accent that we've just heard. I'm interested in any sequence in which language judgments or categorization emerge. Another example is the systematic imitation of the "Marseille accent" when talking about Marseille, which can be perceived as a form of contempt. To gather these examples, I also conduct semi-directive interviews with people who tell me about their experiences of discrimination at school, in job interviews, in the workplace... I combine analysis of these accounts with direct observation of discrimination situations. They can be found in a multitude of media: radio broadcasts, Youtube comments or even Twitter.