Hi Stephen and group,
>3. The last member of the compound that is being used in a Bbh fashion
>may already be an adjective, BUT if it is a noun, then that noun functions
>as an adjective.
The thing is, as I see it, even if the final member were some kind of
adjective (or past participle), it would be an adjective in a very
different way than the way in which the entire bahubbiihi is an
adjective. It's the entire bahubbiihi gets an -a ending and acts as
an adjective modifying some other item. This may seem petty, but I
believe it's actually an important difference.
Similarly, in the typical case where the final member is a noun, it
is not quite right to say that the final noun is 'functioning as an
adjective'. It is the compound as a whole that is functioning as an
adjective. This distinction is often glossed over when the point is
just to help students learn to read and understand bahubbiihis.
Warder is mainly concerned with helping students learn to read and
understand bahubbiihis. I don't think he intended it as a precise or
exhaustive treatment of the topic.
best regards,
/Rett