conundrum

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Sarah Hurst wrote:

> My point isn't whether or not these words are nouns or adjectives. In
> the case of the factory the type of food it produces is being used as
> an adjectival noun. But without the word "factory" after
> "confectionery" it sounds like "we built a confectionery" (whatever
> that is) and also "we built a pasta factory".

My earlier note, and one that you seem to agree with, was that in an "N1 
N3 and N2 N3" construction, where N1 and N2 are nouns modifying N3, 
omitting N3 in either case leaves us with a noun that must be construed 
as a modifier (adjective), and the listener/reader must be biased or 
cued somehow not to take that noun at face value. Adjectives by their 
very nature require a noun (if only by implication), so they usually 
don't suffer that risk of misconstrual (a few can serve as nouns in 
their own right). Thus, "We built a large and a small building" is not 
misleading. The different behavior of nouns and adjectives makes the 
classification critical to the analysis.

If we reverse the order and write "build a pasta and a confectionery 
factory," the reader will reject the idea of "building a pasta," since 
pastas cannot be built, and look for another reading, so we'll get by (I 
think it's ugly, but it will not be misunderstood). But in the original 
word order, "build a confectionery and...," the reader is accustomed to 
thinking of "a confectionery" as an establishment, so building one is 
quite plausible, and he will fall into the trap of thinking we're 
building a shop to sell candy or pastries.

The solution "... and a pasta one" works because the pronoun "one" 
forces the reader to construe "pasta" as a modifier. Here, too, we get 
an ugly sentence (by my taste), but one that will not be misconstrued.

The usual practice in English, as noted a few moments ago by Mary Delle 
LeBeau, is to give the full form on first occurrence and streamline the 
later ones (as I do here). We don't have the inflections that allow 
Russian to do the reverse: построить такую-то (...) и другую фабрику. 
But in cases where Russian uses a noun as a modifier, they're in the 
same boat as we are: построить производства стали и (...) других 
сплавов, not *построить (...) стали и производство других сплавов, 
because the listener/reader cannot reasonably be expected to leave room 
in his mind for the forthcoming noun. He thinks he already has the noun 
in hand and wonders how on earth you can build steels. ;-)

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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