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Adverbs and Logical Form: A Linguistically Realistic Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Sally McConnell-Ginet
Sally McConnell-Ginet*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
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Abstract

‘Ad-Verbs’ modify (i.e. ‘change') verbs. Adverbs internal to a VP are Ad-Verbs modifying the verb that heads that VP. VP-external adverbs may be interpreted as Ad-Verbs only with respect to some higher verb (e.g. an auxiliary or a ‘verb' in the translation into an interpreted logic). Basic Ad-Sentences also exist; but neither they nor Ad-Verbs are adequately translated as functional operators applying to independently evaluated arguments. Adverbs typically translate into expressions like variable-binding operators which introduce the ‘variables’ which they ‘bind’. Adverbs signal re-evaluation of the expressions on which they operate, helping to ‘build’ logical form.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , March 1982, pp. 144 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 by the Linguistic Society of America

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