Le français et l’acquisition transethnique spontanée (crossing) de l’arabe parmi des adolescents à Lille

This article presents field studies in 3 areas of Lille which focus on the linguistic repertoire of adolescents of various backgrounds. It shows differences in the social factors correlating with the use of marked regional variants in French from those which correspond to competence in Dialectal Arabic. The study also shows that the phenomenon of crossing or spontaneous acquisition of Arabic by non-Maghrebians correlates with friendship groups, the area of residence and schooling.