Satu Manninen

The syntax of adverb(ial)s

In the past, adverb(ial)s have been analysed as adjoining freely to any V, V', or VP. Adverbials occupy various positions in the sentence, and the question of base generating adverbials in / moving adverbials to various positions has never been answered satisfactorily.

In my talk I am going to outline recent feature based theories of adverbials. According to Laenzlinger (1996), Alexiadou (1997), and Cinque (1997), adverbials are the (unique) specifiers of clausal functional heads. Because clausal functional heads have a universally fixed hierarchy, adverbials end up having universally fixed ordering. The "free distribution" of adverbials is thus only an illusion.

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