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[+] I. Modal adverbs

The adjectival modal adverbs express to what degree of probability/plausibility the proposition expressed by the clause is true. Some typical examples of such adverbs are given in (20).

20

a.

blijkbaar

'apparently'

f.

ontegenzeglijk

'undeniably'

b.

beslist

'definitely'

g.

schijnbaar

'seemingly'

c.

misschien

'maybe/perhaps'

h.

vermoedelijk

'presumably'

d.

mogelijk

'possibly'

i.

waarschijnlijk

'probably'

e.

natuurlijk

'of course'

j.

zeker

'certainly'

In (21) two examples are given in context; the paraphrases in the primed examples show that we are indeed dealing with modification of the full clause.

21

a.	Jan is (heel)	misschien/zeker	ziek.
	Jan is very	perhaps/certainly	ill
	'Jan is perhaps/certainly ill.'

a'.	Het	is (heel)	misschien/zeker	zo	dat	Jan ziek	is.
	it	is very	perhaps/certainly	the.case	that	Jan ill	is
	'Itʼs perhaps/certainly the case that Jan is ill.'

b.	Jan is (zeer)	waarschijnlijk	ziek.
	Jan is very	probably	ill
	'Jan is (quite) probably ill.'

b'.	Het	is (zeer)	waarschijnlijk	zo	dat	Jan ziek	is.
	it	is very	probably	the.case	that	Jan ill	is
	'Itʼs (quite) probably the case that Jan is ill.'

The fact that the heads of the adverbial phrases in (21) can be modified by the intensifier heel/zeer'very' unambiguously shows that they are adjectives. However, with the exception of (zeer) beslist'definitely', using an intensifier is impossible with the other adverbs in (20). Nevertheless, there are other indications that these are adjectival in nature: the elements blijkbaar, schijnbaar, natuurlijk and vermoedelijk, for instance, contain the adjectivizing affixes -baar and -lijk.
Observe that, despite the fact that the clausal adverbs in (21) can be modified by means of an intensifier, comparative formation is excluded. This is especially conspicuous in the case of the adjective waarschijnlijk, which normally does allow the comparative form. This contrast has already been illustrated in the examples in (14) in Section 8.2, sub I, which also show that on- prefixation of adverbially used waarschijnlijk is excluded.

[+] II. Subjective adverbs

The adjectival subjective adverbs express some subjective evaluation by the speaker of the assertion expressed by the clause. Some typical examples are given in (22).

22

a.

gelukkig

'fortunately'

b.

helaas

'unfortunately'

c.

hopelijk

'hopefully'

d.

onverhoopt

'unhoped for'

The primeless examples in (23) provide some sentences in which these adverbs are used; their paraphrases are given in the primed examples.

23

a.		Jan	is helaas	ziek.
		Jan	is unfortunately	ill

a'.		Het	is helaas	zo	dat	Jan ziek	is.
		it	is unfortunately	the.case	that	Jan ill	is

b.		Jan	is gelukkig	weer	genezen.
		Jan	is fortunately	again	recovered

b'.		Het	is gelukkig	zo	dat	Jan weer	genezen	is.
		it	is fortunately	the.case	that	Jan again	recovered	is

The adjectives in (22a) cannot be modified by means of an intensifier or undergo comparative formation if used subjectively. This is especially conspicuous in the case of gelukkig, which normally allows both. The adverbs are also special in that they do not allow on- prefixation. This is again conspicuous in the case of adverbial gelukkig, whose negative counterpart is not ongelukkig but ongelukkigerwijs'unfortunately'; see the discussion of (26b) below. We can illustrate all this by means of the examples in (24).

24

a.	De onsportieve atleet	is gelukkig	ten val	gekomen.
	the unfair athlete	is fortunately	ten fall	come
	Reading 1: 'Fortunately, the unfair athlete fell.'
	Reading 2: 'The unfair athlete fell in a fortunate manner.'

b.	De onsportieve atleet	is erg gelukkig	ten val	gekomen.
	the unfair athlete	is very fortunately	ten fall	come
	Only reading: 'The unfair athlete fell in a very fortunate manner.'

c.	De onsportieve atleet	is gelukkiger	ten val	gekomen	(dan zijn rivaal).
	the unfair athlete	is more fortunately	ten fall	come	than his rival
	Only reading: 'The unfair athlete fell in a more fortunate manner (than his rival).'

d.	De onsportieve atleet	is ongelukkig	ten val	gekomen.
	the unfair athlete	is unfortunately	ten fall	come
	Only reading: 'The unfair athlete fell in an unfortunate manner.'

Example (24a) is ambiguous: the adjective is either interpreted as a clausal adverb, in which case it expresses relief on the part of the speaker, or it is used as a VP (manner) adverb, in which case it indicates that the fall has no serious consequences. If the adjective is modified by means of the intensifier erg'very', as in (24b), it can only be interpreted as a VP adverb. The same thing holds if the adjective has the comparative form or is prefixed with on-, as in (24c-d).
Because subjective adverbs cannot be modified by an intensifier, it is difficult to establish that some of the adverbs in (22) are really adjectives. Still, the fact that onverhoopt is (in fact, must be) prefixed with the negative marker on- strongly suggests that we are indeed dealing with an adjective (cf. Section 1.3.1, sub II), and the same thing is suggested by the fact that hopelijk contains the adjectivizing affix -elijk. Another indication that we are dealing with adjectives is that some subjective clausal adverbs can be modified by the degree element genoeg. In fact, adding this element to example (24a), as in (25a), strongly favors the interpretation of the adjective as a clausal adverb. Recall, however, that the modifier genoeg'enough' may license an infinitival om-clause if it modifies, for instance, an attributive adjective. This is not possible if we are dealing with a clausal adverb; addition of an om-clause to (25a) forces an interpretation of the adjective as a VP adverb.

25

a.	De onsportieve atleet	is gelukkig	genoeg	ten val	gekomen.
	the unfair athlete	is fortunately	enough	ten fall	come
	Preferred reading: 'Fortunately (enough), the unfair athlete fell.'

b.	De onsportieve atleet	is gelukkig	genoeg	ten val	gekomen	om	door	te kunnen	gaan.
	the unfair athlete	is fortunately	enough	ten fall	come	comp	prt.	to be-able	continue
	Only reading: 'The unfair athlete fell in such a fortunate manner that he could continue.'

A remarkable property of genoeg is that it enables certain adjectives to be used as clausal adverbs, which otherwise cannot be used in this function; example (24d) has shown that the negative adjective ongelukkig normally cannot be interpreted as a clausal adverb, but if we add genoeg, as in (26a), this interpretation becomes readily available. Example (26b) shows that a similar effect obtains if we add the affix -erwijs to this adjective.

26

a.	De atleet	is ongelukkig	genoeg ten	val	gekomen.
	the athlete	is unfortunately	enough ten	fall	come
	Preferred reading: 'Unfortunately (enough), the unfair athlete fell.'

b.	De atleet	is ongelukkigerwijs	ten val	gekomen.
	the athlete	is unfortunately	ten fall	come
	Only reading: 'Unfortunately, the unfair athlete fell.'

Diepeveen (2011) has shown that genoeg also has the ability to convert basic adjectives like interessant'interesting', which normally cannot be used adverbially, into subjective adverbs. Some examples are given in (27).

27

a.	Interessant	*(genoeg)	is dat	ook	voor Clinton	zelf	belangrijk.
	interestingly	enough	is that	also	for Clinton	himself	important
	'Interestingly enough, this is also important for Clinton himself.'

b.	Gek	*(genoeg)	is het	in de pub	altijd	veel drukker.
	strangely	enough	is it	in the pub	always	much busier
	'Strangely enough, itʼs always more crowded in the pub.'

[+] III. Frequency adverbs

The third type of adjectival clausal adverbs are the frequency adverbs in (28), which differ from time adverbs like laat'late' in that they do not situate the event in a specific interval on the time axis, but indicate the frequency of the event.

28

a.

altijd

'always'

h.

nooit

'never'

b.

dagelijks

'daily'

i.

soms

'sometimes'

c.

wekelijks

'weekly'

j.

steeds

'constantly'

d.

maandelijks

'monthly'

k.

telkens

'repeatedly'

e.

dikwijls

'frequently'

l.

vaak

'often'

f.

geregeld

'regularly'

m.

zelden

'rarely'

g.

gewoonlijk

'usually'

That the frequency adverbs can function as clausal adverbs is clear from the fact illustrated in (29) that they can occur in the het is adverb zo dat ... frame. 8.2.2, sub III, will return to the frequency adverbs and show that they can be used not only as clausal adverbs, but also as VP adverbs.

29

a.	Marie staat	vaak	laat	op.
	Marie gets	often	late	up
	'Marie often gets up late.'

b.		Het	is vaak	zo	dat Marie	laat	opstaat.
		it	is often	the.case	that Marie	late	up.gets

That most of the frequency adverbs in (28) are of an adjectival nature is clear from the fact that many of them can be modified by means of an intensifier or a quantifier. This is illustrated in (30).

30

a.

bijna altijd

'almost always'

b.

heel dikwijls

'very frequently'

c.

zeer geregeld

'very regularly'

d.

heel soms (lit: very sometimes)

'occasionally'

e.

erg/zeer vaak

'very often'

f.

zeer zelden

'very rarely'

That dagelijks/wekelijks/maandelijks are adjectival in nature is beyond doubt, given that they may occur in attributive position; cf. (31). Finally, that gewoonlijk is adjectival is plausible since it contains the adjectival affix -lijk.

31

		een	dagelijkse/wekelijkse/maandelijkse	bijeenkomst
		a	daily/weekly/monthly	meeting

In some cases, however, it is not possible to determine the categorial status of frequency adverbs, because they do not allow modification or comparative formation.

32

a.

steeds

'constantly'

b.

telkens

'repeatedly'

a'.

*

heel steeds

b'.

*

heel telkens

a''.

*

steedser/het steedst

b''.

*

meer/het meest telkens

[+] IV. Time adverbs

The (a)-examples in (33) show that adverbial phrases of time like laat'late' cannot be used as sentence adverbs; Section 8.2.2, sub II, will show that adverbs like these act as VP adverbs. Nevertheless there are certain adverbial phrases of time that can sometimes act as sentence adverbs, which is illustrated in the (b)-examples by means of the adverbial PP op zondag'on Sunday'.

33

a.		Marie staat	vaak	laat	op.
		Marie gets	often	late	up

a'.	*	Het	is laat	zo	dat Marie	(vaak)	opstaat.
		it	is late	the.case	that Marie	often	up.gets

b.	Marie staat	op zondag	vaak	laat	op.
	Marie gets	on Sunday	often	late	up
	'On Sundays, Marie often gets up late.'

b'.		Het	is op zondag	vaak	zo	dat	Marie	laat	opstaat.
		it	is on Sunday	often	the.case	that	Marie	late	up.gets

The primeless examples show that this difference in function is reflected by the position of these adverbial phrases relative to the frequency adverb vaak'often': whereas the VP adverb laat'late' follows the frequency adverb, the adverbial phrase op zondag'on Sunday' precedes it. The semantic contributions of the two adverbial phrases also differ: whereas the adjective laat seems to situate the event on the time axis, the phrase op zondag expresses a restriction on the proposition: it is specifically on Sundays that Marie gets up late (not on other days).
Adjectives cannot be readily used as clausal adverbs of time. Possible cases are vroeger'in the past', tegenwoordig'nowadays', and later'in the future'. It is not clear, however, whether these elements are really adjectives. The element vroeger in (34), for example, has a slightly different meaning than the attributively used counterpart in zijn vroegere vrouw'his former wife', and resembles the complement of the PP in We spraken over vroeger'We talked about the past'. The fact that later can be also used as the complement of a PP, as in We sparen voor later'We are saving money for later', suggests that we are actually dealing with nominal elements. We leave this for future research.

34

a.	Jan ging	vroeger	vaak	naar de kerk.
	Jan went	in.the.past	often	to the church
	'Jan used to go to church often.'

a'.	Het	was vroeger	zo	dat Jan	vaak	naar de kerk	ging.
	it	was in.the.past	the.case	that Jan	often	to the church	went
	'It used to be the case that Jan went to church often.'

b.	Jan staat	tegenwoordig	laat	op.
	Jan stands	nowadays	late	up
	'Nowadays, Jan gets up late.'

b'.		Het	is tegenwoordig	zo	dat Jan	vaak	laat	op	staat.
		it	is nowadays	the.case	that Jan	often	late	up	stand

For completeness’ sake, note that the adverb vroeger in (34a) is certainly not the comparative form of the adjective vroeg'early', which is clear from the fact that vroeger cannot be replaced by the positive adjective vroeg or the superlative form het vroegst, as is shown in (35a). Example (35b) shows that all these forms are easily possible if we are dealing with a VP adverb. Similar facts can be observed for the adverb later'later'.

35

a.		Jan ging	vroeg/#vroeger/het vroegst	vaak	naar de kerk.
		Jan went	early/earlier/the earliest	often	to the church

b.		Jan	ging	vaak	vroeg/vroeger/het vroegst	naar de kerk.
		Jan	went	often	early/earlier/the earliest	to the church

Other possible cases are adverbs like zojuist'just now', straks'later/soon', gisteren'yesterday', and morgen'tomorrow'. The examples in (36) illustrate for straks that it may function both as a clause and as a VP adverb; see also the discussion of the examples in (18) from Section 8.2, sub III, which show that the position of the time adverb relative to the modal adverbs determines its construal as a clause or a VP-adverb. It is again difficult, however, to prove that we are dealing with adjectives.

36

a.	Jan koopt	straks	het boek.
	Jan buys	later	the book
	'Later, John will buy the book/John will buy the book later.'

b.		Het	is straks	zo	dat	Jan	het boek	koopt.
		it	is later	the.case	that	Jan	the book	buys

b'.		Jan koopt het boek	en	hij doet dat	straks.
		Jan buys the book	and	he does that	later

[+] V. A note on emphasizers/amplifiers

The final set of adverbs that we will discuss here are the emphasizers/amplifiers. Some examples are echt'truly', absoluut'absolutely', and duidelijk'clearly'. The main function of these elements is to emphasize the truth of the assertion, or to scale upwards from an assumed norm. Some examples are given in (37). This class of adverbs is problematic as the paraphrases in the primed examples may seem somewhat unnatural and do not fully cover the meaning of the primeless examples.

37

a.		Hij	is echt	een held.
		he	is truly	a hero

a'.		Het	is echt	zo	dat	hij	een held	is.
		it	is truly	the.case	that	he	a hero	is

b.		Jan	vertelt	absoluut	onzin.
		Jan	tells	absolutely	nonsense

b'.		Het	is absoluut	zo	dat	Jan onzin	vertelt.
		it	is absolutely	the.case	that	Jan nonsense	tells

c.		Jan	heeft	duidelijk	een fout	gemaakt.
		Jan	has	clearly	a mistake	made

c'.		Het	is duidelijk	zo	dat	Jan een fout	gemaakt	heeft.
		it	is clearly	the.case	that	Jan a mistake	made	has

The examples in (38) show that adjectives like these can also be used attributively (cf. Section 1.3.5, sub II); their adjectival status is therefore beyond doubt.

38

a.		Hij	is een echte held.
		he	is a true hero

b.		Dit	is absolute onzin.
		this	is absolute nonsense

c.		Dit	is een duidelijke fout.
		this	is a clear mistake

Actually, the adverbially and attributively used adjectives in (37) and (38) are quite close in meaning in the sense that the adverbs in (37) are intimately related to the noun phrases they precede, which perhaps accounts for the fact that the paraphrases in the primed examples of (37) do not seem to fully capture the meaning of their primeless counterparts. One indication for this is that, unlike the clausal adverbs discussed earlier, the emphasizer/amplifier must be immediately left adjacent to the predicative noun phrase in (37a) and the direct objects (37b&c). This contrast is illustrated in (39), by means of the modal adverb waarschijnlijk and the emphasizer absoluut from (37b).

39

a.		Jan zal	waarschijnlijk	dat verhaal	vertellen.
		Jan will	probably	that story	tell

a'.

Jan zal dat verhaal waarschijnlijk vertellen.

a''.

Waarschijnlijk zal Jan dat verhaal vertellen.

b.		Jan heeft	absoluut	onzin	verteld.
		Jan has	absolutely	nonsense	told

b'.

*

Jan heeft onzin absoluut verteld.

b''.

*

Absoluut heeft Jan onzin verteld.

The value of this particular argument is perhaps not entirely clear since it could be the case that the unacceptability of (39b') is accidental: the unacceptability of the examples in (40) shows that the emphasizer absoluut is only possible if the direct object is a nonspecific indefinite noun phrase, and such noun phrases can never be placed in front of a clausal adverb; cf. *Jan zal een verhaal waarschijnlijk vertellen'Jan will probably tell a story'. Nevertheless, the contrast between the doubly-primed examples in (39) shows clearly that some adjacency requirement is at work.

40

a.	??	Jan heeft	absoluut	die onzin	verteld.
		Jan has	absolutely	that nonsense	told

b.	??	Jan heeft	duidelijk	die fout	gemaakt.
		Jan has	clearly	that mistake	made

Other evidence that the emphasizers/amplifiers must be left adjacent to the nominal predicate or direct object emerges if we compare the double object constructions in (41) (and the same thing can be shown on the basis of example (42c) in the next subsection). In (41a) the indirect object niemand'no one' may follow the modal adverb waarschijnlijk'probably', whereas the placement of the indirect object after the emphasizer/ amplifier absoluut'absolutely' in (41b) is impossible on the intended reading.

41

a.		Jan heeft	waarschijnlijk	niemand	het hele verhaal	verteld.
		Jan has	probably	no one	the whole story	told

b.	#	Jan heeft	absoluut	niemand	onzin	verteld.
		Jan has	absolutely	no one	nonsense	told

Given that example (41b) is acceptable if the adverb is construed as an emphasizer of the negation expressed by the pronoun niemand, perhaps we should conclude that these adverbs are actually not clausal adverbs but function as modifiers of nonspecific indefinite noun phrases. If so, the het is adverb zo dat ... frame may not be a fully reliable test for detecting clausal adverbs.

[+] VI. The position of the clausal adverbs

In the examples in the previous subsections, the clausal adverbs occupy a position in the middle field of the clause. With the exception of the emphasizers/amplifiers in (42c), they may also be topicalized, that is, be placed in clause-initial position. This is illustrated in (42a) for the modal and subjective adverbs and in (42b) for the frequency adverbs.

42

a.	Het boek	is waarschijnlijk/helaas	uitverkocht.
	the book	is unfortunately	out.sold
	'Probably/Unfortunately, the book has been sold out.'

a'.

Waarschijnlijk/Helaas is het boek uitverkocht.

b.		Ik	ga	zelden	naar de bioscoop.
		I	go	rarely	to the movies

b'.

Zelden ga ik naar de bioscoop.

c.		Jan heeft	duidelijk	een fout	gemaakt.
		Jan has	clearly	a mistake	made

c'.

*?

Duidelijk heeft Jan een fout gemaakt.

Placement of the clausal adverbs in a position following the verb(s) in clause-final position is normally not an option, although it should be observed that example (43a), with a modal/subjective adverb, is acceptable if the clause-final verbs are followed by an intonation break.

43

a.		dat	het boek	uitverkocht	is *( , )	waarschijnlijk/helaas.
		that	the book	out.sold	is	probably/unfortunately

b.	*	dat	ik	naar de bioscoop	ga ( , )	zelden.
		that	I	to the movies	go	seldom

c.	*	dat	Jan een fout	gemaakt	heeft	duidelijk.
		that	Jan a mistake	made	has	clearly

Some of the clausal adverbs discussed above can co-occur in a single clause. Although the judgments are sometimes somewhat unclear, the preferred order of these adverbs seems to be as indicated in (44); cf. Cinque (1990).

44

subjective – modal – frequency – emphasizer/amplifier

It is not always easy to combine a subjective and a modal adjective, but if it is possible, as with vrijwel zeker'almost certainly' in (45a), the subjective clausal adverb must precede the modal one. The subjective and modal clausal adverbs precede the frequency adverbs, as is shown in (45b) and (45c), respectively. The examples in (45d) show that the frequency adverbs in turn precede the emphasizers/amplifiers.

45

a.		Het boek	is helaas	vrijwel zeker/??waarschijnlijk	uitverkocht.
		the book	is unfortunately	almost certainly/probably	out.sold

a'.

*

Het boek is vrijwel zeker/waarschijnlijk helaas uitverkocht.

b.		Ik	ga	helaas	zelden	naar	de bioscoop.
		I	go	unfortunately	seldom	to	the movies

b'.

*

Ik ga zelden helaas naar

de bioscoop.

c.		Hij	gaat	vermoedelijk	regelmatig	naar de bioscoop.
		he	goes	presumably	often	to the movies

c'.

*

Hij gaat regelmatig vermoedelijk naar de bioscoop.

d.		Jan is soms	echt	een held.
		Jan is sometimes	really	a hero

d'.

*

Jan is echt soms een held.

The examples in (46) show that the order in (44) must be preserved under topicalization, that is, topicalization of a clausal adverb across another clausal adverb is blocked. We do not give examples with echt, as this element does not allow topicalization anyhow; cf. (42c).

46

a.

Helaas is het boek vrijwel zeker/??waarschijnlijk uitverkocht.

a'.

*

Vrijwel zeker/waarschijnlijk is het boek helaas uitverkocht.

b.

Helaas

ga ik zelden naar de bioscoop.

b'.

*

Zelden ga ik helaas naar de bioscoop.

c.

Vermoedelijk gaat hij regelmatig naar de bioscoop.

c'.

*

Regelmatig gaat hij vermoedelijk naar de bioscoop.

For completeness’ sake, note that helaas can also be used as an interjection, as in Helaas, het boek is vrijwel zeker/waarschijnlijk uitverkocht. This example differs from (46a) in that helaas does not occupy the regular clause-initial position, which is occupied by the subject het boek, and is therefore extra-clausal.