Lives with the French on Skye, perhaps (4)
I believe the answer is:
isle
'skye perhaps' is the definition.
(Isle of Skye is an example)
'lives with the french' is the wordplay.
'lives' becomes 'is' ('be' can be a synonym of 'live').
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'is'+'le'='ISLE'
'on' is the link.
(Other definitions for isle that I've seen before include "I shall hear" , "Of Man or Youth, for example" , "Insular place" , "Eg, Sheppey" , "See 10 Down" .)