Can a noun functioning as modifier of an NP fuse with the head?

Solution 1:

No, the noun acting as a stunt adjective cannot fuse without causing semantic chaos.

Examples should make that fairly obvious:

*The president nominated him for labor secretary and her for transportation.

*I ordered the duck soup and she ordered the chicken. (incorrect assuming she ordered soup)

*We gave Bob his tinfoil hat and Sally her witch.

In 9.3 Fusion of internal modifier and head, CGEL notes:


The head does not fuse so readily with an internal modifier as with a determiner, as evident from the ungrammaticality of such examples as:

[20]   i *Because the existing bridge is too narrow, we will have to build [a new].
      ii *The retreating troops were captured, but [the advancing] managed to escape. 
     iii *Bill likes the linguistics lecturer, but I prefer [the sociology].

The adjective new, the verb advancing, and the noun sociology require a following head, such as one.

_{Source: The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Ch. 5, §9.3}

Things that can fuse, says CGEL in that same section, include "Modifiers denoting colour, provenance, and composition." Examples offered are:

[25]   i  Henrietta likes red shirts, and I like [blue].
      ii Knut wanted the purple wall paper,but I wanted [the mauve].
     iii Henrietta likes Russian vodka, and I like [Polish].
      iv Knut wanted the French caterers, but I wanted [the Italian].
       v I prefer cotton shirts to [nylon].
      vi Knut likes malt whisky, but I prefer [blended].

Now, those all look like adjectives . . . except in v; cotton and nylon are nouns. Or are they?

I will leave you here to explore attributive nouns vs. conversion / "zero-derivation" denominal adjectives (it's a vast subject with little consensus).

But before I go, I will proffer that I think cotton and nylon—like stone and iron—are actually fully converted to adjectives, and that is what allows fusion. Check this out:

4.1 Conversion from noun to adjective

There are some clues, though, to make sure conversion has taken place. In the case of adjectives coming from nouns, the hints are quite easy: they can be considered as cases of conversion only when they can appear in predicative as well as in attributive form. If the denominal adjective can be used attributively, we can affirm conversion has happened. If it can only appear predicatively, it is merely a case of partial conversion. 'Mahogany music box' (62) can be used in an attributive way, "the music box is mahogany". This implies 'mahogany' is a denominal adjective. However, in the predicative phrase 'antiques dealers' (63) we cannot treat 'antiques' as an adjective because the attributive form of this expression is ungrammatical (*dealers are antique).

_{Source: Grammatical Conversion in English: Some new trends in lexical evolution}

Adjective test:

The shirt is cotton. (correct; cotton is a denominal adjective in cotton shirt)

*The soup is duck. (incorrect; duck is an attributive noun in duck soup)