[net.nlang] Puns in English and Esperanto

asente@Cascade.ARPA (06/19/85)

> I would think that tonal languages like
> Chinese would offer entirely new possibilities. [in puns]
> -Neal McBurnett, mcvax!seismo!ihnp4!druny!neal

Indeed, the Chinese seem to be quite fond of puns.  In the catalog for
the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco's show "The Hundred Flowers:
Botanical Motifs in Chinese Art" they describe the significance of
various flowers as puns.  In the introduction:

	Plant and floral motifs play a very important role in the
	decoration of both art objects and daily utensils in China.
	While these motifs are sometimes merely decorative, more often
	they represent hiddem meanings and symbolize a wish for all the
	good things in life.  The use of visual puns, or rebuses, is
	very prominent in Chinese art because many words in the Chinese
	language share the same sound.  This characteristic is
	particularly conducive to punning, not only in daily speech,
	but in art.

For example:

	The Chinese name for jujube [a datelike fruit, not a candy!]
	is zaozi, which is homphonous with the words "quick son" or
	"early arrival of a male offspring."  As a result of this very
	important association, the jujube is among the fruits and nuts
	scattered on the wedding bed.

or

	Among the many names for the peony is that of fuguihua, or
	"flower of wealth and rank."  It is therefor a pun for fugui
	and is often combined with the crab apple and magnolia to form
	the phrase "yutang fugui," or "wealth and rank in the jade hall."

	-paul asente
	    asente@Cascade.ARPA		decwrl!Glacier!Cascade!asente

neal@druny.UUCP (Neal D. McBurnett) (06/23/85)

When I began studying Esperanto, I thought that puns simply didn't
exist in the language.  Since then I've come to realize that this is a
foolish opinion, and in fact I've recently come across several books of
examples to the contrary.  I'm now interested in a more systematic view
of puns ("vortludoj" (word games) or "Kalemburoj") in English,
Esperanto, and other languages.

I would divide the world of puns into the following cases:
	Interchanging words which sound similar
	Rearranging letters
	Re-interpreting groups of morphemes
	Multiple interpretations of single morphemes
In each of these categories one can distinguish between spoken and
written puns in two ways.  First, unless the language is phonetic, some
puns will not work with equal precision in both forms, and second,
words are distinctly separated when written, but not when spoken, so
there is more flexibility in spoken puns.

Of these, Esperanto has few examples of homonyms (although I do have a
book of "Esperantonimoj": antonimoj, homonimoj, paronimoj, sinonimoj,
kaj vortludoj).  On the other hand, because the rules for forming words
out of morphemes are very flexible, Esperanto is very rich in opportunities
for the so-called "mis-cutting" of words.  Thus, "virtemo" can either be
interpreted as "virt-em-o" (tendency to be virtuous), or "vir-tem-o" (a
male topic or theme).  (I have a program to divide Esperanto words
which is quite good at finding these.)

In all languages, anagrams are potent sources of puns, and one is
always free to interchange words which sound similar.  Does anyone have
a better scheme for classifying puns (especially if it takes several
languages into account)?  I would think that tonal languages like
Chinese would offer entirely new possibilities.
-Neal McBurnett, mcvax!seismo!ihnp4!druny!neal