About
Dr. Stéphane Hardy is a researcher in Romance Linguistics at the University of Siegen, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, specializing in French language and secret language research. His academic work focuses on argotology, sociolinguistics, and onomastics with particular emphasis on historical and contemporary secret languages.
Hardy's primary research interests include secret languages (Geheimsprachen), argotology, zoometaphors in French, onomastics, and sociolinguistic aspects of French language variation. His work particularly examines the louchébem (butchers' secret language), criminal argot, animal metaphors in insults, and naming practices in digital contexts like food blogs. He approaches these topics from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives, often employing contrastive methods between German and French linguistic phenomena.
Analysis of Hardy's recent publications reveals a strong focus on secret languages and argot, particularly the louchébem language of Parisian butchers. His research spans historical documentation of secret languages from the 19th century to contemporary usage, with significant attention to sociolinguistic aspects of exclusion and identity construction through specialized language. He also explores zoometaphors, particularly bird names used as insults in French, and conducts comparative onomastic studies of digital naming conventions.
Hardy actively collaborates with Sandra Herling on numerous research projects, particularly in the areas of animal naming and food blog nomenclature. He regularly organizes and participates in international conferences on special language research, including the International Symposium on Special Language Research. His teaching includes French language practice courses and supervision of BA and MA theses, with a notable excursion program 'La France et ses régions' that takes students to different French regions for cultural and linguistic immersion.
