¹ The editors have decided that it would be advantageous to create space from time to time, alongside its major papers and survey articles, for the publication of short articles describing problems of topical interest concerning the contemporary French language. These articles will be published under the rubric A I'ecoute du langage. The terms of reference will be as follows:

1 the subject-matter will be a description of or comment on an aspect of contemporary French language which is of topical interest;

2 the treatment of the topic should be reasonably original, well illustrated and linguistically informed, but need not have a focus which is primarily theoretical;

3 the article should be pithy and concise, and the normal maximum length will be 2,000 words (approximately four pages ofJFLS).

Marina Yaguello has agreed to offer the following as a model of the genre.