CLICHÉS AND STEREOTYPES IN FRENCH CHILDREN'S COUNTING RHYMES: LINGUISTIC MECHANISMS OF SYMBOLIC RACISM AND THEIR ROLE IN CHILDREN'S SOCIALIZATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2663-6530.2026.49.41-51Keywords:
French counting rhymes for children, game-based folklore, linguistic stereotypes, symbolic racism, exoticization, clichés, socializationAbstract
The article is devoted to the analysis of clichés and stereotypes in French counting rhymes for children as forms of symbolic racism realized through linguistic and discursive mechanisms. Based on the counting rhyme « Chang le petit chinois » and related texts, the article examines how the image of the ethnic Other is constructed in children's play folklore. Particular attention is paid to diminutiveness, generalization, exoticization, and phonetic caricature as key tools of stereotyping. The thesis that counting rhymes for children play an important role in early socialization and the uncritical assimilation of hierarchical cultural models is substantiated. The results of the study fit into the broader context of critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics of racism, and also correlate with parliamentary debates in France on the normalization of Asiaphobia in the public sphere.
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12. https://comptines.tv/chang_song
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