Re: 'noun' and 'adjective' (fuit: To What Extent is Standard Finnish a Conlang?)

IML, "apple and blackberry pie" can only mean one pie with both apples
and blackberries in its filling.  If it were plural, however, it would
be ambiguous: I would tend to interpret "apple and blackberry pies" as
some apple pies and some blackberry pies, but it could also mean
several pies which each have both fruits (although I would personally
write that as "apple-and-blackberry pies").


On 3/4/06, Carsten Becker <carbeck@...> wrote:
> From: "Andreas Johansson" <andjo@...>
> Sent: Friday, March 03, 2006 6:07 PM
>
> > Quoting R A Brown <ray@...>:
> >
> >> Mark J. Reed wrote:
> >>
>    [...]
> >>
> >> Yes, and in English _apple pie_ is not a compound in the
> >> same way as the
> >> German compound nouns, as we can expand the phrase: apple
> >> and blackberry
> >> pie; apple, pear and quince pie etc.
> >
> > Er, we can do the same in Swedish - _äppel- och
> > björnbärspaj_ - and nobody has
> > ever suggested that _äppelpaj_ is anything but a compound
> > noun. If the
> > expandability of "apple pie" proves that "apple" is an
> > adjective here, Sw.
> > _äppel_ is some sort of weirdo adjective that can only be
> > used attributively.
>
> Well, in German there's _Apfel- und Brombeerpastete_ as
> well -- if it's about one pie made of apples and another one
> made of blackberries. And if it's just one pie made of both
> fruits, it's of course _Apfel-Brombeer-Pastete_.
>
> Greetings,
> Carsten
>
> BTW, is 'blackberry' in fact 'bear berry' in Swedish?
> 'Bärenbeere' -- Bären/Beeren is a pun in German: [E:] ~
> [e:], and many people even merge those.
>
> --
> "Miranayam cepauarà naranoaris."
> (Calvin nay Hobbes)
>

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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