Interpreting the particles in this sentence

Question

today I came across a sentence with a structure I find difficult to understand:

精神的｛せいしんてき｝な拷問｛ごうもん｝で最も残酷｛ざんこく｝な拷問というのがあります。

There are two things I find hard to interpret: the particle で in this context, and the form of the ending, ～のがあります - which frankly I have no idea what it means here. I came up with two possible interpretations:

• It is psychological torture, and it is the cruelest form of torture;
• In psychological torture, we find the most cruel form of torture.

If anyone can tell me how to correctly read the sentence, I will be very happy! Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

This one would kill me if I were a Japanese-learner, too.

「精神的な拷問で最も残酷な拷問というのがあります。」

＝

「精神的な拷問で、最も残酷な拷問というのがあります。」

≒

「精神的な拷問であり、かつ、最も残酷な拷問と言われているのがあります。」

First and foremost, that 「で」 is not a particle. It is the 連用形{れんようけい} ("continuative form") of the declaration subsidiary verb 「だ」.

Falsely thinking that it is a particle should and will make the sentence look grammatically awkward. Frankly, the sentence will not make much sense that way, which, I suppose, is what happened to you this time.

Next, 「～～というのがある」.

This might also be slightly more complex in meaning than it appears if one is unfamiliar with the phrase. The nominalizer 「の」, of course, refers to 「拷問」, resulting in practically saying 「拷問」 three times in such a short sentence.

The phrase, in this context, is used to introduce a thing that is commonly called or considered 「～～」.

A literal kind of TL:

"It is a psychological torture and it is known as the cruelest kind."

I used "and" because the 「で」 is in the 連用形.

A freer TL:

"There is a psychological torture that is commonly called the cruelest kind."

Answer 2

It basically translates to: "There is one psychological torture that is the most cruel of all.", and the text supposedly goes on explaining about that form of torture.

I can't correctly analyze the grammar for you, but I can give you an idea of how you should read the sentence:

精神的せいしんてきな拷問ごうもんで

This で is the "interrupted" form of です that you use when you want to "go on with the description" instead of ending the phrase there.

Ex.

（この指輪は）綺麗でピカピカしています

With the difference that the subject is given afterwards, instead of beforehand:

Ex.

綺麗でピカピカする指輪があります

というのがあります is a very common pattern that means "There is such a thing as ". It is a little stronger than the simply "があります" as it gives the impression that we are talking about something that is not "ordinary" but is very specific/rare.