Re: word order of adjectives

--- Ian Spackman <ianspackman@...>
wrote:

> >transfer medical student
> >medical transfer student
> >
> >Problem is, you've only switched one compound
> -
> >medical student - for another compound -
> transfer
> >student. To each of those, you've appended a
> >modifier - medical or transfer. You haven't
> >actually stuck something in the middle of a
> >compound.
> >
> >Padraic.
>
> Possible - what's your evidence?
Transfer student is a compoud; medical student is
a compound. You put the modifier "transfer" in
front of the first one and "medical" in front of
the second one.

> The question was merely whether something could
> be inserted into "medical
> student" - I demonstrated it could.
And I didn't understand it that way! Because
things can't be inserted in the middle of
compounds that way.

> I myself was making no claim as to
> whether these things were compounds;
Fair enough. I understand them to be compounds,
though.

> I think my gut feeling is it's
> approaching a true compound but not quite there
> yet.
OK.

> Why do you argue that "medical student" and
> "transfer student" are
> compounds?  Intonation?
Possibly. And stress, and semantic
categorisation.

I'd stress a noncompound as "new stúdent", the
compound as "mèdical student". Also, there is
less of a division: /nu: 'studnt/ v.
/'mEdiklstudnt/.

As far as categorisation, that's a little dicey.
I understand "medical student" as a unit unto
itself, not a geenric student with a modifier on.

Dicey because not all "X student" juxtapositions
are compounds. I don't think I'd see "physics and
chemistry student" as a compound, for example.

Padraic.


=====
la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu ast meiyoer ke la cieurgeourea andrext ben trasfu.

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