90

There survives from 17th-18th-century Paris a significant number of ephemeral political pamphlets written in a style imitating low-class vernacular speech and ridiculing the activities of members of the establishment. The linguistic value of these texts has hitherto been minimised or misunderstood. Although they must not be read as authentic vernacular data, this study shows that they embody a large number of authentic vernacular forms (phonetic, morphological, syntactic, lexical) and, studied chronologically, provide a valuable barometer of their salience, as this evolves across time. Social information of this type is of great value as we try to understand the process of linguistic change in Parisian French over this period.