eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Linguistics and Literature 2020-11-11 4 2 79 84 10.12691/jll-4-2-5 JLL2020425 article Carmen Toudonou carmenfifame@yahoo.fr 1 Jean Euloge Gbaguidi 1 Laboratory for the Study of Media, Information and Communication (LEMIC), Abomey-Calavi, Benin The military stripe reveals a non-verbal discourse, linked, on the one hand, to the fact that it carries an implicit message: rank, but on the other hand, because beyond this message, which is based on conventions, the stripe also carries different values that ultimately induce social logics. The present study, based on a survey conducted among soldiers of different ranks and different branches within the Benin Army, allows us to highlight the non-verbal discourse of the stripe. This discourse, hardly perceptible to the layman's eye, induces several representations including that of hierarchy, pay grade and a certain notion of class, even of family. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jll/4/2/5/jll-4-2-5.pdf linguistics semiology army ranks stripe