Abstract: This article proposes a theoretical model and a descriptive methodology to account for verbal exchanges between the media and speakers, based on two examples of new expressions in French youth speak : bolos and faire le buzz. These two neologisms each embody a particular category according to the channel through which they were spread, through peer groups for the first and through organised media for the second. The theory of how new words expressing identity are spread is used to give some insight into the typology of speakers according to their degree of sensitivity and adaptability to innovative expressions.
The ideas of a “neological boom” and “media boom” are presented and a difference noted between the two. Whereas the media strive to use words which convey identity and expressivity linked with young people (who participate in a neological boom), the young themselves are rather hesitant about using words picked up from the media, unless these fill a semantic void. At the same time as the theoretical model is worked out, we sketch out the various steps in a quantitative survey on the use of bolos (in particular the methodological traps of a survey carried out using a questionnaire sent out by e-mail) and suggest a semantic analysis of faire le buzz in contrast to what French dictionaries indicate about the noun buzz.
