Would you consider the で in 日本食で一番好きなのは・・・ to be the particle で or the -te form of だ?


I've always taken this to be the -te form of だ. My reasoning is similar to the
discussion given here:

[What's the use of で in
「日本の食べ物で大好きなものは何？」](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/19731/whats-
the-use-
of-%E3%81%A7-in-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E9%A3%9F%E3%81%B9%E7%89%A9%E3%81%A7%E5%A4%A7%E5%A5%BD%E3%81%8D%E3%81%AA%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E3%81%AF%E4%BD%95/19758#19758)

However, I ran this by a native speaker, and she strongly felt that the で
should be understood as an abbreviation of ・・・の中で. (But perhaps that で is
itself still understandable as the -te form of だ. In fact, I have the feeling
that it is.)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.




Treating で as の中で:

> Among/in Japanese foods, as for the most liked thing, what is it?

Treating で as て-form of だ:

> It is Japanese food and, as for the most liked thing, what is it?

To me the first interpretation makes perfect sense. The second interpretation
doesn't work. What is it? It's Japanese food. We just said so.




Treating で as の中で:

> Among/in Japanese foods, as for the most liked thing, what is it?

Treating で as て-form of だ:

> It is Japanese food and, as for the most liked thing, what is it?

To me the first interpretation makes perfect sense. The second interpretation
doesn't work. What is it? It's Japanese food. We just said so.

