RESUME EN ANGLAIS DE LA THESE D'ERIC DICHARRY : DU RITE AU RIRE LE DISCOURS DES MASCARADES SOULETINES.

Language, society and Souletin culture analyzed during the carnival rural Souletin rite allows to grasp it with a new approach. This thesis analyzes the smallest of the seven Basque Provinces, through lyrics of the Carnival, considered as enunciation acts. The oral festive literature used during the masquerades by young people of the organizing village, has to comply with some traditional expression form (monorime isosyllabic verses). It has to refer to the collective memory of the ancients and language control finds here all its meaning. The actors know how consists in communicating criticisms, based on news and on life of the village, in a humoristic way, and in making people act. Work done on numerous masquerades shows that the rite can become therapeutic for the composers of the lyrics. The festival then becomes the way for a cultural minority of having its demands for identity and linguistic recognition being heard. Key words : Popular Theatre. Dance. Masquerade, Basc Country, Xiberoa, Carnival, Poetry.