Motivating the flexibility of oriented –ly adverbs

This paper discusses participant-oriented uses of adverbs and tries to motivate their conceptual flexibility within a framework largely inspired to Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar. Usually, at least two types of participant-oriented adverb are identified, manner and transparent adverbs. It is argued here that they define a network where both a schema and a prototype can be recognised and that the difference between manner and transparent adverbs results from a difference in vantage point. Transparent adverbs, which code either cause or result, imply an internal vantage point while manner adverbs imply an external vantage point. The prototype is identified with those (manner) adverbs which involve some (external) evaluation of the clausal event on the part of the conceptualiser. The schema is regarded as merely coding temporal coextension between the verbal event and the property hinted at by the adjectival base of the adverb. Finally, the relation between participant-oriented adverbs, on the one hand, and depictive adjectives and resultative adverbs is also briefly addressed.