Talk:Grammelot

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[edit] Origins

I have a suspicion that the actual term "Grammelot" may not be of great antiquity, and may even have been coined by Dario Fo. Dario Fo's book "Tricks of the Trade" and the article "Unmasking the holy jester Dario Fo" (Antonio Scuderi, Theatre Journal - Volume 55, Number 2, May 2003, pp. 275-290) apparently have details on the history of Grammelot. I don't have access, but if anyone does, these should fill in details. (Ray Girvan, March 14 2005).

Update: linguistics professor Mark Liberman at Language Log has concluded that the term "Grammelot" is a modern invention. The alternative is the highly unlikely possibility that this word has been going around as a pan-European theatrical term for 500 years, yet never been documented in major English, French and Italian lexicographical and theatrical sources. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001990.html (Ray Girvan, March 21 2005).

[edit] Franco Rame

Mistake here:

Franco Rame is also said to have used the term Grammelot in describing his literary inventions.

Franca Rame is Fo's wife, so I guess this is talking about Fo, not about another author who uses Grammelot. 86.141.82.100 03:22, 29 November 2005 (UTC)