Conversation started Aug 4, 2015 at 6:25.
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:25
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/feb/11/…
Anonymous
What sort of constituent would you call "free-from"?
Anonymous
> Berriedale-Johnson happily admits that a couple of decades ago most of the free-from products on the market were "pretty inedible".
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat Adjective?
Anonymous
An attributive-only, non-gradable adjective
Anonymous
> These products are *free-from.
> the *free-fromer products on the market
> the *freer-from products on the market
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Aug 4, 2015 06:28
Hooray! It crashed, finally!
Anonymous
I thought that perhaps if you use an arbitrary string of words like this, it's nominalized like a quote would be, so it might make sense to call it a noun
Anonymous
But I can't think of any tests that point in the direction of noun over adjective
Anonymous
(Or vice versa)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I wonder if it will sound too odd, These products are free-from.
Anonymous
Well, I think it does.
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:29
That's why I gave it a star.
Anonymous
I can't guarantee that other people agree.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods
Anonymous
Oh, hey.
Anonymous
> And the proliferation of good quality dairy and wheat-free ingredients (take a bow, Dove's Farm) has led to a recent flourish of small, UK-based artisan free-from producers.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
But its attributive use is new too, I think.
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:30
They're producing free-from.
Anonymous
That seems to imply that it's a noun, right?
Anonymous
At least, semantically, it seems noun-like.
Anonymous
I think angry producers can only mean producers (of something else) who are angry
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Could be. But its components aren't nouns.
Anonymous
Well, not etymologically.
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:32
Internally, it has the form of an incomplete phrase.
Anonymous
"Free from gluten!"
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Thinking of 'cold turkey', which somehow has become an adverb.
Anonymous
Here, free is an adjective, and from gluten is a preposition phrase.
Anonymous
But because "free from X" contains the words "free from" . . .
Anonymous
I think the string was nouned
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Aug 4, 2015 06:34
Hmm... What is "free from X"?
Anonymous
My best evidence is that "small, UK-based artisan free-from producers" phrase :-)
Anonymous
@DamkerngT. A product that does not include X.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
A phrase?
Anonymous
Yes.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
What kind of phrase?
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:34
Adjective phrase.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
nods
Free as the head?
Anonymous
Yes.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I think we have a similar term in communication technology, but I can't recall the word.
It means connect to X.
Anonymous
I don't know what the term is.
jimsug
jimsug
free from X sounds like a plausible adjective phrase, with free as the head and from X as a prepositional phrase adjunct to the AdjP.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Aug 4, 2015 06:40
But what about "free-from"?
Anonymous
I think it's been nouned.
Anonymous
9 mins ago, by snailboat
> And the proliferation of good quality dairy and wheat-free ingredients (take a bow, Dove's Farm) has led to a recent flourish of small, UK-based artisan free-from producers.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
It's obvious that it's from "free from X".
Anonymous
It refers to products which are marketed as "free from" something, for example gluten.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
@snailboat Because we can't modify it with an adverb?
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:41
@DamkerngT. Well, so far I've only seen it appear in attributive position without inflection, which doesn't rule out adjective or noun. But look: it represents a thing which can be produced.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Hmm... but "a leading manufacturer' doesn't manufacture "leading".
Anonymous
True.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Oh, I just recalled the word: FTTX.
Anonymous
I'm not familiar with that.
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Fiber to the X!
Anonymous
Aug 4, 2015 06:48
Oh!
Anonymous
I've definitely seen that with X replaced :-)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
I don't know if anyone has used "fiber-to-the" attributively before. :P
Anonymous
Probably not . . . ?
Anonymous
I think it would be confusing.
Anonymous
Hey, people have used plural "free froms" :-)
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
Aug 4, 2015 06:53
Hah!
The noun hypothesis sounds plausible now!
 
Conversation ended Aug 4, 2015 at 6:53.