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Attachment ambiguities, reported speech with humor

From:FFlores <fflores@...>
Date:Saturday, October 2, 1999, 14:54
OK, I hope I can get away with this... I remember
we were talking about attachment ambiguities some
weeks or months ago, and now someone lends me this.
It's a recording of a show by a group of comediens
that play home-made instruments (they are called
'Les Luthiers'). This is the transcription of a
part of that show, where a king gives a serenade
to his beloved Mar=EDa; he can't sing, so he tells
a minstrel what to say, and the minstrel puts music
to it.

K:- Por ser nido de ternura oh Mar=EDa yo te amo
'Being a nest of tenderness o Mary I love you'

M:- Por ser nido de ternura oh Mar=EDa yo te amo
'Being a nest of tenderness o Mary I love you'
(Small discussion in the background, the minstrel corrects:)
M:- ... Oh Mar=EDa =E9l la ama
'... o Mary, *he* loves you'

K:- =C1mame como yo te amo a ti
'Love me as I love you'
M:- =C1melo como =E9l la ama a usted
'Love him as he loves you'

and so on...

K:- Oh mi amor Mar=EDa m=EDa
'O my love, my Mary'
M:- Oh su amor Mar=EDa suya
'O his love, his Mary' (begins to get ridiculous)

K:- Mi brillante mi rub=ED
'My gem, my ruby'
M:- Su brillante surub=ED
'His bright surub=ED' (a kind of fish!)

The minstrel automatically changes _mi_ 'my' to _su_
('your', _de usted_) and _m=ED_ 'me' to _usted_ 'you' (polite).
But he confuses things... On top of everything, the third
person pronouns can refer to the king, or to the woman
(the king uses the normal 2s for her, but the minstrel
politely transmits the message in the 2s polite form,
which uses 3s pronouns and verbs).

K:- Mi canci=F3n mi poes=EDa nunca te olvides de m=ED
'My song, my poem, never forget about me'
M:-Su canci=F3n su poes=EDa nunca se olvide de su
'His song, his poem, never forget about his'

K:- T=FA est=E1s encima de todas las cosas mi vida
'You are above all things, my life'
M:- Usted est=E1 encima de todas las cosas subida
'You are climbed on top of all things'

K:- Eres mi sana alegr=EDa
'You are my healthy joy'
M:- Usted es Susana... Mar=EDa... alegr=EDa
'You are Susan... Mary... joy' (stumbling)

K:- Mi amor
'My love'
M:- Su amor
'His love'

K:- Mi tesoro
'My treasure'
M:- Su tesoro
'His treasure'

K:- M=EDmame
'Caress me'
M:- S=FAmame
'Add me'
(Discussion, he corrects:)
=A1... S=FAmelo!
'...Add *him*!'

K:- Pareces fr=EDa, sujeta
'You look cold, contained'
M:- Parece fr=EDa su j... su cara
'It looks cold, your m... your face'
(_jeta_ is a rude word for 'mouth')

K:- Por ser tan grandes tus dones no caben en m=ED, mi bien
'Your gifts are so great they don't fit in me, my goodness'
M:- Por ser tan grandes sus dones no caben en su soutien <sp?>
'Your gifts are so great they don't fit your bra'

(From here on it's meaningless)
K:- *@#! =A1Tunante! (insults the minstrel)
M:- Su nante
K:- =A1Miserable!
M:- Su serable

K:- =A1Guardias, a m=ED!
'Guards, on me!'
M:- =A1Guardias, a =E9l!
'Guards, on him!'


--Pablo Flores
  http://draseleq.conlang.org/pablo-david/