Grammelot is an imitation of language used in satirical theatre, an ad hocgibberish that uses prosody along with macaronic and onomatopoeic elements to convey emotional and other meaning, and used in association with mime and mimicry. The satirical use of such a format may date back to the 16th centurycommedia dell'arte; the group of cognate terms appears to belong to the 20th century.
History
In an essayentitled “L’art du grommelot”, French scholar Claude Duneton suggests the word – in its French form, grommelot – has its origins in the commedia dell’arte-derived Italian theatre of the early part of the sixteenth century. Duneton studied briefly with Léon Chancerel, who was a major figure in this branch of theatre. Chancerel in fact uses the word in his book, Le théâtre et lajeunesse. Others, such as theatre scholar John Rudlin in Commedia dell'arte: An Actor's Handbook, suggest this origin as well. While the historical origin of the term is unclear, it has been particularly popularized by the Nobel-winning Italian playwrightDario Fo. His 1969 show Mistero Buffo was a satirical touring performance involving sketches based on mediaeval sources, told in Fo's own grammelots constructed from Gallo-Italian languages and phonemes from modern languages. In his Nobel lecture, Fo referred to the 16th-century Italian playwright Ruzzante's invention of a similar language based on Italian dialects, Latin, Spanish, German and onomatopoeic sounds. Another notable modern Italian exponent is the Milan actor/writer Gianni Ferrario. Voice actorCarlo Bonomi, also from Milan, used grammelot to voice Osvaldo Cavandoli's cartoon La Linea and many years later, outside Italy, Otmar Gutmann's Pingu. Mainstreamcomics have also used Grammelot-like language: for instance, Stanley Unwin. The Canadiancircus and entertainment troupe Cirque du Soleil uses in its routines similar forms of language; journalists often term them "Cirquish", but Cirque du Soleil's own staff use the word "Grommelot".
