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Corpora and the Changing Society: Studies in the evolution of English
Edited by Paula Rautionaho, Arja Nurmi and Juhani Klemola
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 96] 2020
► pp. 199–222

So-called -ingly adverbs in Late Middle and Early Modern English

| Kyoto University

This chapter traces the increase of -ingly adverbs from Late Middle to Early Modern English. Not only the frequency and versatility but also the functions of -ingly adverbs expanded in this period: from the modification of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs (found both in the Middle and Early Modern English data) to the modification of the whole sentence (found only in the Early Modern English data). Sentential adverbs of the commenting type (disjuncts) are still absent throughout the entire period of this study. Finally, this chapter discusses some -ingly adverbs of the so-called “Harry Potter” type, suggesting that their development is earlier than assumed in previous studies.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data
  • 3.The increase of -ingly adverbs in Late Middle and Early Modern English
  • 4.Different types of -ingly adverbs
  • 5.Functions of -ingly adverbs
    • 5.1Modification of adjectives, verbs, and clauses
    • 5.2Harry Potter adverbs
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 8 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.96.08iye
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