current AusE
4.1 Preliminary analysis: Distribution of dual adverbs in spoken and written discourse
The zero and -ly forms of the five dual adverbs in spoken and written data were extracted from the ICE-AUS corpus, and their relative frequencies are shown in Table 1 below. Both raw frequencies and normalised figures per one million words (i talicised in brackets) are provided, to allow direct comparisons between the instances in unequal-sizes of the spoken and written subcorpora. The normalised figures cannot support inferential statistics, and they are pre-empted in any case by low raw figures in some cells. However the raw totals shown below call for some comment, and will be used in comparisons with other tables.
Table 1. Frequencies of the two forms of dual adverbs in ICE-AUS, spoken and written Plain forms
of adverb Total zero/-ly
forms
% for zero(vs -ly) forms for each
pair
Spoken (600k wds) N (norm/1m)
Written (400k wds) N (norm/1m)
Comparative forms of adverb: synthetic
and analytic
bad 12 33% 10 (16) 2 (5)
worse 26
badly 24 67% 9 (14) 15 (38)
close 22 36% 11 (17) 11 (28) closer 24
closely 37 64% 20 (32) 17 (43) more closely 7
high 34 30% 15 (24) 19 (48) higher 10
highly 76 70% 24 (38) 52 (130) more highly 2
quick 6 5% 4 (6) 2 (5) quicker 4
quickly 113 95% 60 (96) 53 (133) more quickly 4
slow 10 27% 8 (13) 2 (5) slower 1
slowly 27 73% 14 (22) 13 (33) more slowly 0
Total zero
adverb 84 23% 48 (77) 36 (90) Total -er 39
Total -ly 277 77% 127 (203) 150 (375) Total more -ly 13
The overall frequency of zero forms is considerably lower than for the -ly form (23% vs 77%), reduced in this data by very low use for quick. The Australian average for zero adverbs otherwise ranges around 30%, raised by the substantial use of close and high in written data. This helps to explain the markedly higher average for zero adverbs in AusE data than that found by Tagliamonte & Ito (2002: 250) in contemporary spo- ken data from the north of England (15% overall), despite their inclusion of many
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two- and three-syllable adverbs. The normalised frequencies for zero adverbs bad and slow show their affinity with speech (16:5; 13:5), while the effect is reversed in those for close and high in written texts (17:28; 24:48). This generic differentiation among zero adverbs deconstructs the common assumption that zero forms are simply a ‘ver- nacular’ feature of English (Kortmann & Lunkenheimer 2012: 908, 911), associated with colloquial and informal style. It is the root of much prescriptive censure of zero adverbs, at least in the UK, which would help to explain their relatively low frequency relative to -ly forms. Zero forms have however been endorsed at regular intervals over the last two centuries in the US: in Webster’s early grammatical publications (1784 to 1789), as an “ancient and dignified part of our language” (Greenough & Kittredge 1901); as “good colloquial English” in usage research (Marckwardt & Walcott 1938);
and in successive editions of HL Mencken’s The American Language (1919/1945/1961).
Opdahl’s (2000 v.1:157) elicitation experiments showed the acceptance of zero adverbs to be consistently higher among her American than British informants, at least as an alternative. How far Australian usage aligns with contemporary British is the focus of Section 6 below.
The assumption that -ly forms occur more often in written English is underscored in Table 1 in the normalised frequencies for all five adverbs, as well as the overall percentages in each case. An underlying factor here is the fact that the -ly forms more often encode abstract meanings, especially when used as premodifiers in constituents other than the verb (see below Section 4.3).
The data for the comparative forms in Table 1 is of interest in showing the much greater frequency of zero adverbs close and high than their -ly equivalents, so as to reverse the relativities between them found for the plain/base forms. Collectively, the -er comparatives outnumber their analytic counterparts, in the ratio of 3:1. Much the same ratio was found by Opdahl (2000 v.1: 84–87) in her BrE and AmE corpus data, confirming the greater acceptability of the zero comparative adverb than the zero plain form.
4.2 Syntactic contexts of occurrence for dual adverbs in current AusE and their semantics
Grammatical commentators have long suggested that the syntactic position of indi- vidual adverbs might correlate with their forms, e.g. -ly only before the lexical verb but either form after it (see above, Section 3.3). The positional variation of adverbial adjuncts has also been found to correlate with their semantics, as adverbs of time, place, manner etc. in corpus-based investigation by Biber et al. (1999: 801–810), though without distinguishing zero and -ly adverbs. The relative frequencies of the two forms are shown in relation to their clausal syntax in Table 2 below. Instances from spoken and written ICE-AUS data have been pooled to provide sufficient instances for intercomparison.
Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.comDual adverbs in Australian English 189 Table 2. Distribution of dual adverbs: their syntactic roles in ICE-AUS data
Syntactic roles of adverbs
Total With dynamic copular verb in SVA + SVOA
Before lexical/
main verb
After verb intrans/
trans
Premodifying adv or prep phrase
Premodifier in adj phrase or compound
bad 12 6 + 2 2 2
badly 24 3 11 2 8
close 22 15 6* 1
closely 37 16 19 1 1
high 34 1 23` 10
highly 76 5 1 70
quick 6 4 2
quickly 113 27 86
slow 10 6 4
slowly 27 12 14 1
Total zero
adverb 84 (23%) 9 0 50 (28%) 6 19 (19%)
Total -ly 277 (77%) 0 63 131 (72%) 3 80 (81%)
* The count here and in all other tables excludes instances of close to: see below 4.2.2.
Table 2 shows that the two types of adverb are not equally distributed before and after the operator/main verb. Zero adverbs occur only post-verbally, where -ly forms overall occur about twice as often post-verbally (column 5) as preverbally (column 4).
The postverbal context is where the two forms are most interchangeable, other things being equal (e.g. go slow/slowly). Both forms are also found premodifying adjectives (column 7), and though zero adverbs are a good deal less frequently found in that function (19%), they are sometimes interchangeable, as in close-knit/closely knit. The discussion below takes up these issues for each dual adverb pair.
4.2.1 Bad/badly
Table 2 (column 3: dynamic copulas) shows that the zero form is quite often the com- plement to dynamic copulas, a role which is exclusive to it in this AusE data, although shared with -ly in AmE for feel (Websters Dictionary of English Usage 1989: 437–438).
In fact bad was also found with several of the static copulas (seem, look, sound), though they were excluded from consideration, as discussed above (Section 3.3). Among the copulas with dynamic potential, feel was used five times with bad in the Australian data, as in:
(1) I felt really bad about that (S1A-046) (2) I went off feeling pretty bad (S1A-095)
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The use by educated Australians8 of the zero adverb bad in complementing feel and go, and in SVOA structures (They just treated her so bad (S1A-013) and Women have had it bad (S1A-030)), makes it much like the “good usage in colloquial style” found in AmE didn’t do so bad (Marckwardt & Walcott 1938: 101). Other examples of adverbial bad found in Australian spoken data are:
(3) … gets treated bad (S1A-013) (4) … turns you off so bad (S1A-060)
In these constructions, badly might also be used in less casual conversation, as it is otherwise more common overall in postverbal position, as in:
(5) They played badly as well. (S1A-031)
(6) They fell out badly before the 1990 election (W2B-019)
Bad/badly can also be said to share the role of adverbial premodifier in adjectival phrases, if we regard (not) bad-looking as embodying the zero adverb because of the -ing participle. But as column 7 in Table 2 shows, the -ly adverb is more freely used in adjectival phrases coined to fit the context, as in badly housed, badly serviced, badly timed. In those examples, the meaning of the adverb is broadly descriptive or evalua- tive, like the zero form. But in other adjectival phrases in ICE-AUS, badly is used as an adverb of degree or intensifier of verbs with negative denotation, for example: badly broken (bitumen), badly damaged (jaws), badly infested (tree). This intensifier sense is found also in preverbal combinations such as badly battered, badly burned. In all such combinations where badly combines with a verb with inbuilt negative semantics, its role is to intensify rather than modify it (as in badly serviced). In this respect badly is becoming more abstract in some of its applications, like other -ly forms discussed below.
These data suggest that while bad and badly could possibly be interchanged in two of the syntactic slots shown in Table 2, there may be stylistic consequences that constrain free variation in a given context.
4.2.2 Close/closely
Spatial adverbs are frequently found adjacent to the verb, as noted by Opdahl (2000 v.2: 100, 288) for close/closely and high/highly. The data in Table 2 (columns 4 and 5) show that while both forms are to be found following the verb, only closely occurs before it, in line with the earlier observations of grammarians, e.g. Quirk et al. (1985: 405).
8. A prerequisite for all spoken data included in ICE-AUS was that the speakers must have completed a full secondary education. This was the benchmark for ‘educated usage’ in the ICE project.
Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.comDual adverbs in Australian English 191 After the verb the two forms are sometimes interchangeable, as in if you look very close/
look very closely. Yet in other examples they may carry slightly different meanings, as in work close together/work closely together, where the latter can convey something other than the sense of proximity (i.e. the more abstract sense of intensity).
One special role of the zero form is to combine with other adverbial elements, as in close by:
(7) I’d cancelled half the people and left only the ones close by (W1B-002) But the most frequent postverbal combination of this type in the ICE-AUS data is close to, as in:
(8) It’s the only major colony [of bats] left really close to Sydney (S2B-028) The close to combination is noted by Biber et al. (1999: 75) as a complex preposition, and as a prepositional idiom in Huddleston & Pullum (2002: 646). In this grammati- calised form (with 65 instances in the ICE-AUS data), it far outnumbers adverbial close, and shows substantial semantic extension from its ‘concrete’ sense of proximity (illustrated just above) to other more abstract senses. In the following example:
(9) … getting very close to a starter’s gun (S2A-020)
it refers to proximity in time. In the next, it expresses a more general sense of approximation:
(10) … would fetch close to a million dollars (S2A-054) In the third it’s the sense of a near miss:
(11) … came close to drowning (W2B-005)
All examples of this complex preposition were excluded from the counts in Table 2 (as well as Tables 1, 3, 4, and 5), since they could not be analysed as a premodified form of a prepositional phrase which could otherwise complement the verb.
The remaining postverbal uses of close show it collocating with intransitive verbs whose semantics are predominantly physical:
bend close came too close didn’t get that close keep fairly close live so close went close
Most of those verbs (come, get, go, keep) are high-frequency ones used in copular/
intransitive constructions with other zero adverbs rather than -ly forms. Meanwhile closely combines in postverbal position with a wider range of transitive and intransi- tive verbs, with physical and psycho-social senses:
watched him closely cling to those things pretty closely modelled closely on rely closely on
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Closely (but not close) is the form used for all preverbal uses (Table 2, column 4), and is notably abstract in its occurrences between the auxiliary be and past participles:
is closely mirrored were more closely coupled are closely interwoven were all closely tied up
Within this range of verbal constructions, the use of closely carries abstract senses including ‘exactly’, ‘intensely’, ‘densely’, ‘tightly’, none of which are borne by close as an adverb. The ICE-AUS data does however provided one neat example of the two forms instantiated in the same compound adjective, in close-knit community/closely knit teenage trio, both used written discourse. The shorter form with zero adverb is an established combination, on the OED record since 1912, whereas the -ly combination has yet to be documented as such. Since both carry the same psycho-social sense, they do seem to be interchangeable.
While the zero form close presents a high percentage of instances relative to its -ly counterpart in postverbal position (column 5), its predominantly concrete sense limits its interchangeability with -ly. As an adverbial modifier (column 6), in combinations like close by (three examples), the physical sense is paramount, and closely would be inappropriate. So the syntactic and semantic spaces in which the two can freely vary are quite limited.
4.2.3 High/highly
Both of these are quite well represented in the ICE-AUS data, but distributed very unevenly as the figures in Table 2 show. The zero adverb high appears quite often in postverbal position (column 5) with verbs of motion, transitive and intransitive, expressing its core spatial sense:
built high up going up very high kick it high strike high thrust it high turned up too high
Highly very rarely appears in this syntactic slot, the solitary example being the semi- conventional cannot speak highly enough (compare cannot speak too highly), where the adverb expresses the abstract realm of evaluation, rather than physical height.
Where both zero and -ly forms are found as adverbial pre-modifiers in adjecti- val phrases, their semantics overlap to some extent. High is used to express height in physical as well as figurative senses:
high-flying high-pitched high-powered high-priced high-rise high-spending
Highly can also combine with past participles to express an elevated point on a figura- tive scale, as in:
highly developed highly esteemed highly motivated highly respected highly skilled
Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.comDual adverbs in Australian English 193 But in such combinations, the meaning of highly shades into that of a general intensi- fier, especially when it premodifies an ordinary adjective:
highly aggressive highly dynamic highly effective highly likely highly selective
This intensifier use of highly is most striking when it appears as premodifier of negative adjectives, as in highly incorrect and highly uneconomic. As Table 1 above shows, highly is far more common in written discourse than in speech. It seems to be used as a marked alternative for very before adjectives (and for very well before participles).
The ICE-AUS data shows that the potential for free variation between high and highly is greatest in the context of adjectival phrases, where abstract scales of height are implied. Elsewhere, high is used for physical height, and highly as a general intensifier, with a semantic gulf between them. Although the intensifier sense goes back to Old English, it is not found among the commonest intensifiers of Early Modern English (Nevalainen 1997). This suggests that its currency has increased markedly over the last two centuries, for it to achieve such high frequency in current AusE (and to be listed among the amplifiers/boosters by Quirk et al. (1985: 591). In Biber et al.’s research (1999: 565) highly is strongly associated with academic prose, yet in the ICE-AUS data it is found also in everyday nonfiction prose and in spoken data (see Table 1). This broad generic base means that there is no stylistic impediment to interchanging it with high, where their senses coincide in the same syntactic slot.
4.2.4 Quick, slow
These two zero adverbs of manner/timing show very similar patterns of distribution vis-à-vis their -ly counterparts, in the two syntactic slots in which both occur in the ICE-AUS data shown in Table 2. One is postverbal position with verbs of motion ( column 5), especially with come and go, and a few others, transitive and intransitive with dynamic senses, such as play, run, and develop, usually immediately after the lexi- cal verb (apart from particles or other premodifying adverbs):
(12) I might go a bit slow today (S1A-081) (13) It’s going too quick (S2A-018)
The appearances of the zero forms in postverbal position (Table 2, column 5) are greatly outnumbered by those of the corresponding -ly form, especially in writing (see Table 1). They do however include examples with high-frequency verbs such as come and go, showing their interchangeability with the zero form in that role:
(14) He’s come on very quickly last year (S2B-017) (15) It [the signal] was coming in slowly (W2B-027)
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(16) Vacation employment [jobs] seem to go very quickly (S1A-043) (17) … going really slowly (S1A-036)
But as with close/closely, a much wider range of verbs is to be found with the -ly form:
people just age quickly they happened too quickly it dries really quickly revs decay very slowly
fluid sperm slowly hardens the NSW board is responding slowly
In preverbal position (column 4), only -ly forms occur (no zero adverbs), in line with Quirk et al.’s (1985) comment (see above Section 3.3). However the numbers for slowly are disproportionately large relative to its overall frequency and those for quickly. This marked use of slowly immediately prior to the verb gives it special prominence in oral and written reports:
(18) Australia’s [is] slowly coming out of a recession (S2A-031)
(19) Marine and river sediments slowly infill from either end (W2A-021)
The only other syntactic slot shown for both forms of quick and slow is in compound adjectives (column 7), where there are semi-institutionalised examples using the zero adverb, as in quick-draw (fashion), slow-release (fertiliser),9 and context-driven exam- ples such as quick-spreading (disease) and slow-writhing (movements).
Both quick/quickly and slow/slowly continue to be used to express timing/manner before and after the lexical verb, or as premodifiers in adjectival phrases. Both col- locate with verbs of motion, and a much more circumscribed set for the zero form, often symptomatic of idiomatisation (Huddleston & Pullum 2002: 264). Yet their inter- changeability with come and go in Australian speech as well as writing makes them core members of the Australian dual adverb set. The stability of their meanings helps to make them canonical examples of free variation, at least in the postverbal slot.
4.3 Summary of 20th century AusE usage of five dual adverbs
Based on the AUS-ICE data, -ly adverbs other than quickly/slowly all show degrees of semantic extension into the realms of intensifier, which limit their interchangeability with the simple spatial or evaluative sense of the zero form. Whether these seman- tic developments are a recent phenomenon, or long-established in Australia and/or matched in current BrE, invites further discussion using diachronic data.
9. The internal structure of these compound adjectives is analysed as zero adverb + unmarked verb, rather than adjective + deverbal noun (cf. Huddleston & Pullum’s (2002: 1660) comment on the similarly ambiguous example high-rise (building), that “it may be best to treat [it] as [a] compound adjective[s]).”