Crossing les barricades: The use of French in some English newspaper articles

This paper examines the use of French words and phrases in English-medium newspaper articles dealing with the November 2005 riots in France. After contrasting this type of language mixture with typical instances of borrowing and code switching, it examines the ways in which the French elements are incorporated into the English discourse, explores the motivations for such usage and illustrates a number of stylistic effects achieved via the use of French for an Anglophone audience. It is concluded that the use of French here is an effective communicative device, which can be used for clarity of reference, to evoke particular associations, to achieve an identifying or distancing effect, and for sarcasm and humour.