“C’est pas ma faute”: analyse ethnophraséologique

"C'est pas ma faute": analyse ethnophras鯬ogique Native speakers of English visiting France have often noted that phrases such C'est pas ma faute, C'est pas de ma faute, Ce n'est pas ma faute and Ce n'est pas de ma faute (all variants on a common theme; the literal meaning is 'It's not my fault') are more commonly heard in French than in English; they are used when a speaker is trying to avoid responsibility. In this paper, an ethnophraseological analysis of these phrases is undertaken. Ethnophraseology is one of a number of pathways within a more comprehensive framework known as "applied ethnolinguistics". The latter has been devised to guide advanced language learners in their discovery of cultural values commonly associated with a particular languaculture, using their language skills as one possible resource. Other evidence is taken into account as well. Ethnophraseology takes as its starting point a phrase or set of (related) phrases that are culturally and linguistically salient. The aim is to determine - using linguistic and non-linguistic resources - whether this phrase or these phrases are symptomatic of one or more cultural values. This may or may not be the case, but if it is, the value or values revealed in the course of the analysis can be either previously known values on which the ethnophraseological analysis can shed further light, or newly discovered, in which case other, independent, evidence will eventually need to be provided in support.