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On subject-orientation in English -ly adverbs1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2008

Salvador Valera
Affiliation:
University of Jaén

Abstract

This paper challenges the view that subject-orientation in English de-adjectival -ly adverbs is a syntactic attribute, and favours the hypothesis that orientation is, rather, a lexico-semantic feature. An important part of the evidence supporting this hypothesis derives from the examination of constructions in which an -ly adverb modifies an adjectival head (as in his genially informal manner) and displays a (potential) orientation to a co-occurring noun. The discussion is based on examples from the LOB Corpus.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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