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| Grammont Monsieur Grammont and his theoryCurrent usage of the term OPOL belies the origin of the term and it's French history over a hundred years ago. The original term came from the French linguist, Maurice Grammont, who published a book in 1902 titled Observations sur le langage des enfants (Observations on Children's Language), in which he introduced the idea of une personne; une langue. Literally translated from the French as one person; one language.Maurice Grammont theorized that by strictly separating the two languages from the beginning the child would subsequently learn both languages easily without too much confusion or mixing of languages. By associating each language with a specific person the chances of mixing languages are significantly reduced. Furthermore, by using his or her own language each parent gives an example of adult language use. They also have the opportunity to form a natural emotional relationship with the child through their language. Several years later Grammont's friend and fellow linguist Jules Ronjat sought advice from him. Ronjat was married to a German national living in Paris and they had a son, Louis, born in 1908, whom they wished to bring up bilingually. Ronjat reports Grammont's advice (1913: 3): Nothing has to be taught to the child. You must simply speak to him, when there is something to be said, in one of the two languages that you want him to learn.But there is a key factor, and that is that each language must be represented by a different person, you, for example always speak French to him, his mother German. Never reverse these roles. In this way, when he begins to speak he will speak the two languages without being conscious of doing so and without having made any special effort to learn them. (Translated from French). Ronjat went on to record and transcribe Louis' language development until he was four years and ten months old. He then published this linguistic biography as Le Developpement du langage: observe chez un enfant bilingue (The Development of Language: Observations of a Bilingual Child). Ronjat recommended what he called the Grammont Formula in his description of Louis' positive child bilingualism. He cited the continual use at home of two languages from birth as a major factor in achieving bilingualism and noted that Louis had acquired and mastered two languages in a similar phonological order to that of the average monolingual child. Louis learnt German from both his mother and his German nanny, and French from the father and from the French-speaking community he grew up in. Ronjat also spoke German to his wife thus giving her linguistic support as the minority speaker. Louis rarely mixed languages and after age of three was clearly aware of the difference in his two languages and would change languages to adjust to the person he was talking to. We even have some information on Louis Ronjat as a teenager, aged 15. He apparently remained bilingual throughout preferring to read in German and take his school examinations in French. How the term evolvedThe anglicised version of the term became common within linguist circles and was in frequent use in books and articles by the 1980s as a way to describe a child being brought up as a simultaneous bilingual. Typically, this is a child learning both languages at the same time from parents using two different languages right from birth). Here are some examples from well-known researchers working in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and child bilingualism, which show the evolution of the original term: Variations on the Terms: une-personne; une langue Grammont (1902) The Grammont Formula Ronjat (1913), Schmidt-Mackay (1971) Ronjat's one parent, one language principle Bain and Yu (1980) one-parent-one-language principle Döpke (1992a) one-person-one-language system Saunders (1982) one-person/one-language principle Taeschner (1983) one-person/one-language procedure Taeschner (1983) one-person/one-language strategy Arnberg (1987) one-person-one-language method Romaine (1995) one-person-one-language approach Lyon (1996) one-person-one-language strategy Lanza (1992) one-person-one-language policy Juan-Garau and Perez-Vidal (2000) Grammont's one-parent-one-language rule Hamers and Blanc (2000) Grammont's Principle Hamers and Blanc (2000) OPOL 'The Bilingual Family Newsletter' (1996) and Bilingual website (2000)
As we can see, along the way it has been adapted to suit the author. Some terms that have evolved along the way are very strong, such as Principle, System, Strategy, Procedure, Rule or Policy and imply strict adherence. The only exception to this is Approach, which I prefer myself as it seems less rule bound.
Grammont is mentioned a few times, particularly by Hamers and Blanc (2000) although it was once attributed to Ronjat by Bain and Yu. The most striking difference is the inclusion of the word 'parent' as opposed to 'person', which began around 1980. This minor but significant change could affect the success of the approach since it implies that the parent is the only linguistic role model in the child's world. Grammont chose to label it une personne; une langue with the wider implication that it could be any person – an extended family member or employee such as a nanny who only uses one language too. The final stage is to abbreviate the sometimes wordy 'one person; one language' and make it OPOL and we see in current literature and on bilingual websites. |
Grammont