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In:Adverbs and Particles at the Form-Meaning Interface
Edited by Marco Coniglio, Kalle Müller and Markus Steinbach
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 292] 2026
► pp. 260–277

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On the arguments for analyzing adverbs as PPs

 | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Published online: 23 March 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/la.292.12ale
Abstract
This paper argues that adverbs in English do not constitute a separate lexical class, neither are they positional variants of a single category together with adjectives, but rather they can and should be assimilated to PPs. In particular, the paper provides evidence from the complement-taking capacities of adverbs that the morpheme -ly is not a suffix but a nominal root, which forms the basis of the analysis of adverbs as PPs. Furthermore, it shows that the PP analysis of adverbs is also able to account for the facts that have been previously used as arguments for alternative analyses.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Adverbs in the system of categories
  • 2.The PP analysis of adverbs
    • 2.1The morpheme -ly as a nominal root
    • 2.2The internal structure of -ly adverbs as PPs
  • 3.Accounting for other facts
    • 3.1Degree modifiers
    • 3.2Synthetic comparatives and superlatives
    • 3.3Further derivational suffixation
    • 3.4The syntactic distribution of adverbs
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (39)
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