Vers un réexamen des diatopismes lexicaux du nord de la France

Regional variations in French vocabulary have been described extensively in the context of differential lexicology and lexicography. For the Nord and Pas-de-Calais regions, the reference work remains Carton and Poulet's Parler du Nord–Pas-de-Calais, which lists around 850 lexical units based on surveys conducted between 1960 and 1990. This study, based on a survey of speakers, aims to assess the vitality, usage and sociolinguistic perception of a targeted lexical corpus, that of the field of meteorology. The results highlight a marked erosion of most units, albeit to varying degrees, with the exception of two highly emblematic forms, drache and dracher. Based on this analysis, we outline guidelines for extending the project to all lexical fields in order to provide an up-to-date overview of the lexical identity of French in Nord and Pas-de-Calais and to attempt to understand the mechanisms at work in the evolution of regional identities among French speakers in mainland France.