INSÉCURITÉ LINGUISTIQUE EN LANGUE FRANÇAISE CHEZ LES COUPLES À NIVEAUX D’INSTRUCTION INÉGAUX : CAS DES FEMMES À FAIBLE NIVEAU D’INSTRUCTION

Abstract

In Burkina Faso, women with low level of instruction in French who have married
men with a high level of instruction sometimes display language behaviours which suggest
that they are experiencing linguistic insecuity. The present study aims to analyse the
manifestations of this linguistic phenomenon, its explanatory factors and the strategies for
alleviating it. This direct observation and oral interviews that we have conducted show that
linguistic insecurity among these women manifests itself in approval-seeking, negative self
evaluation, body discomfort, muteness, anticipation, avoidance, hesitations, linguistic self-
exclusion and linguistic sublimation. This is due to academic, psychological and
sociolinguistic factors, which could be curbed by personal efforts, with the support of the
school and the whole French-speaking community.