For adjectives which change meaning by position: why are they subjective before nouns but objective after?

Question

4. Meaning-changing adjectives

[Source:] Some adjectives can mean different things depending on their placement around the noun they modify.
When placed after the noun like normal, the adjective carries a fairly objective, descriptive meaning.
When placed before the noun, the adjective carries a more subjective, opinionated meaning.

Source: p 112, A Comprehensive French Grammar (2007, 6 ed) by Glanville Price

146 Some other adjectives have one meaning when they precede the noun and a different one when they follow the noun. In some cases the two meanings are very clearly distinguishable. In other cases, the distinction is less sharp but
[1.] there is a tendency for the adjective to have a literal meaning or to be used objectively when it follows the noun
[2.] and to have a more figurative meaning or to be used more subjectively when it precedes the noun.

What explains these semantic differences (due to syntax) shared by French and Spanish?
I already read this, but could not find the answer.

Answer 1

Well, here's a theory. Some Romance languages distinguish two sorts of attribution: essential versus accidental. In Portuguese, that's the difference between "estar" (accidental) and "ser" (essential). Since both orders of modifier-modified are permitted in French (as they are also, marginally, in English), the order has been specialized to express this difference: pre-nominal position for essential and post-nominal position for accidental properties.

This is an old way of distinguishing prenominal from postnominal. It is discussed in the 17th c. Port Royal Logic, a.k.a. The Art of Thinking, Port Royal Logic, using an example that also works in English (which I use here, since I've only read the book in English translation). The "visible stars" refers to those stars which are permanently classified as being visible to the naked eye under good seeing conditions, an essential attribute, while the "stars visible" refers to those stars you can see on some occasion of interest, an accidental attribute. When it's cloudy, the stars visible are only a small proportion of the visible stars.

Answer 2

Two observations with respect to English specifically:

• Placing adjectives after nouns is somewhat marked. It's generally preferred to put the adjective before the noun it modifies.
• Adjectives before nouns cannot be limited or modified by prepositional phrases.

Thus, using the examples in Greg Lee's and Moctadir's answers, you can have the stars visible on this date and the person responsible for this crime, but cannot have *the visible on this date stars or *the responsible for this crime person.

The decision to use the marked order rather than the unmarked order implies to me that there's a reason for it—in other words, there's some limitation implied on the adjective.

Answer 3

I have here an example. The word responsible when placed in an attributive position, say for example, that responsible person (only mean that the person is trustworthy) on the other hand, when placed in a predicative position, like, that person is responsible ( it would mean two, trustworthy and a person to blame. He or she has something to do with what happened). I actually have a lecture about this and I am trying to think of other example but I cannot think of any.

Answer 4

Depending on what language and global culture that "phenomenon" might change occurrence or even borderline the cusp of understandable and appropriate commentary either on topic or not rude..etc. In English it is because a subject always discusses an object in written language but if you pay attention to instances such as much of Ebonics often times the mode of speech does not follow colloquial rule. You can separately consider agglutinative vs. fusional languages to derive a complex understanding but it suffices to answer you question in provision of the English language without expanding on the topic of communication styles and effects.