A woman pronounces parts of sentences. Via rigorous editing, the artist creates  anticipation with the silences, rhythm by the repetitions, temporal ellipses with music. The recording is diffused by a loud speaker placed on a plinth which gives the whole an anthropomorphic status which reminds one of Box with the sound of its own making by Robert Morris. “For me this is an emblematic piece of work. In fact Le bout de la langue could be the generic title of a large part of my work. Seemingly […] everything is obvious: the mental process along the way, speech is captured by disfunctional memory”. (« Notes, voix, entretiens », page 97). This metalinguistic artwork questions language in its relation to memory (blanks or losses) via fixed expressions: “Don't you see, I can't remember […] I have it on the tip of my tongue and it annoys me, […] Don't you see what I mean”. The density of the silences emphasizes the failing memory, the voice can only be quiet. Petitgand's characters spend their time trying to make an inventory, to classify, to order. Somewhere between a soliloquy and a monologue, the spoken sequences reintroduce a certain communication with the spectator who can become emotionally involved or have their imagination stimulated.