Japanese tapas

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 2, 2008, at 12:43 AM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> This extension of the word "tapas" (tapa?) is getting popular, with
> just under 20,000 Googits. "Tapas" is being used as a translation for
> ippin (一品), literally one dish/product.

interesting usage in english.  "tapa" is used as a singular (referring
to a food preparation*), with plural "tapas".  so "one tapa" gets
1,930 raw webhits, "three tapas" gets 2.490, and these all sound ok to
me.  (i do wonder how many people pronounce "tapas" with a final /s/,
modeling the spanish, and how many with a final /z/, nativizing the
plural.)

[*confounding these counts somewhat is "tapa" the plant and the bark
cloth made from it.]

in noun-noun compounds, however, "tapas" as the first element greatly
outnumbers "tapa" there:
"tapas dish" 5,810 vs. "tapa dish" 341**; "tapas restaurant" 187,000
vs. "tapa restaurant" 1,490 -- this despite the fact that english
strongly prefers singular over plural first elements in such compounds.

[**counfounding these counts somewhat is "tapa(s) dish" referring to a
dish or plate for serving tapas.]

"tapa(s) dish" would provide a way for individuating servings of
tapas, for those who aren't comfortable with "tapa" as a singular --
but "tapa" looks pretty strong against the competition: "one tapa"
1,930 vs. "one tapa(s) dish" 88.

so TAPA on its own sometimes acts like an ordinary count noun (sg.
"tapa", pl. "tapas").  but there's a competing mass noun TAPAS (hard
to count, for various reasons) in, e.g.:

   A definition of tapas - what tapas is, what tapas is not and a
little on the history of ... There are a number of myths about what
tapas is all about. ...
gospain.about.com/od/fooddrink/qt/tapasdefinition.htm

   Barrafina Tapas Is Worth the Wait -
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088& sid=ax_BYN8TxBV4&refer=home

   Tapas is frequently found around Spain: simple to complex ... Tapas
is a famous appetizer blend dish in Seville ...
www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/Spain.html

i assume that this is the "tapas" that occurs in noun-noun compounds.
(and i assume that it's always pronounced with final /s/ in such
occurrences, and also in "tapas is" examples like those above.  that
is, it's taken from spanish as a whole, without a perception of the
original as a plural -- cf. the english mass nouns "broccoli",
"rotini", etc., originally plural in form in italian.)

arnold

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