Re: "He opened the door and he (same referent) left the room"

Trebor Jung wrote:

> Here's a list of SR examples I made up (#a=simultaneous, #b=sequential).
>
> 1a. He sang and danced.
> 1b. He sang and then danced.
Kash could say:  yarinju yakorandam or colloq. yarinju (i) korandam('dance'
has 0 subject marker); yarinju celuñi korandam
>
> 2a. He1 sang and he2 danced.
> 2b. He1 sang and then he2 danced.
Already a problem.  a. yarinju i iya korandam, b. yarinju (i) çeluñi iya
korandam. (iya switches subject, is somewhat emphatic, and eliminates the
need for a subj.marker on its verb.) Or, iya rinju, ya liya korandam 'hé
sang, that other danced'  Probably in decent narrative prose, you'd _have
to_ use a noun/name for he2
>
> 3a. He1 said that he1 sang and he1 danced.
> 3b. He1 said that he1 sang and then he1 danced.
These could just use a serial verb construction: yakota ~kotani yarinju
yakorandam
>
> 4a. He1 said that he1 sang and he2 danced.
kotani yarinju (i) iya korandam
>
> 5a. He1 said that he2 sang and he1 danced.
Aargh. yakota re yarinju (definitely switches subject) but...
In speech, yakota re yarinju, i _iya_(emph.) korandam...might work but is
probably ambiguous since iya could refer either to speaker or to a he3.

> 6a. He1 said that he2 sang and he3 danced.
Yakota re yarinju i ya liya korandam (...and that other danced)

> Wow, things can get pretty complicated :P How would natlangs handle
> sentences like 6b?
Indeedy.
The problem with multi-reference sentences -- unless the language has a
definite way to show SR -- is that _in print_ they will all look ambiguous.
In speech you can pause, place emphases, etc.  In my own writing, I'd
probably use demonstratives (this one, that one, another/the other one etc.)
or even personal names to make things clear to the reader. Or re-phrase!!

As best I recall, Spanish would have to resort to él, ése~éste, aquél (or
use personal names etc.) in something like no. 6