"cross-language homophonic poetry" -- or something

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Thu Jan 19 15:14:36 UTC 2006


I believe that in current usage a "macaronic" composition need not be, as OED stipulates, a "burlesque."

  JL

"Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Joel S. Berson"
Subject: Re: "cross-language homophonic poetry" -- or something
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A correspondent rejects "macaronic" with the following argument:

>Macaronic verse as defined here and in the article cited sounds more
>like Chuck Berry's "He truly loved that mademoiselle/C'est la vie,
>say the old folks, you never can tell" or Hank Williams' "I'm gonna
>see my ma cher ami-o". It would also be a natural mode for speakers
>of Spanglish or Franglais. Not at all the same thing as reproducing
>the sound, as opposed to the sense, of a poem from another language.

Looking at the OED2 definition and the Northwestern web page, I agree.

However, JL's reference does fit the description (but it does not use
the term "macaronic"):
>This technique has now become a useful method of scholarship :
>
> http://www.parrotshorsechat.com/Parrots_Perch/mailinglist/chap7.html

Joel

At 1/18/2006 04:33 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>The general category of burlesque verse in which one language
>masquerades as another is called "macaronics" or "macaronic verse."
>But I've never come across another example of macaronics with the
>precise phonological mapping found in __Mots D'Heures: Gousses,
>Rames_.
>
>More on macaronic verse here:
>
>http://www.library.northwestern.edu/collections/garrett/frivreadings.html

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org




---------------------------------
Yahoo! Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
 Photo Books. You design it and we’ll bind it!

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list