On the Difference between Washing Machines and Waiting Lists
Luis González · Hispania · 2005
How do second-language learners of Spanish know that a washing machine is una (maquina) lavadora, una maquina que lava, una maquina de lavar, una maquina para lavar o una maquina de lavado but not *una maquina lavante? On the other hand, how do they know that a waiting list is neither *una lista esperadora, *una lista esperante nor *una lista que espera but una lista de espera? Finally, why is exciting news una noticia emocionante and not *una noticia emocionadora or *una noticia de emocion? This article proposes a way for speakers of English to predict the Spanish equivalent of these and countless similar pairs of adjectival gerund + noun phrases.