Chapter 6 - Inflectional Phrases4 Adjunction within IP
In the last section of this chapter we will briefly consider adjunction within the clause.
We have seen in the last chapter that adverbs come in at least two types: sentential
adverbs and VP adverbs. The two can be distinguished by what they modify and also
in terms of where they attach to a structure.
Sentential modifiers are normally considered to have the whole sentence as their
domain of modification, i.e. they add an extra meaning to the sentence as a whole:
(68) a she will certainly be offended
b it will probably never happen
c I had luckily saved the envelope
Note that the most natural position for these adverbs is after the modal but before the
rest of the sentence, suggesting that it adjoins to the phrase headed by tense:
(69) IP
DP I'
I vP
AP vP
v'
v vP
We do however find them following the subject but before the inflection:
(70) a he naturally could cook
b they hopefully might know the way
c I regrettably have forgotten your name
The only place that an adverb would be able to attach to, to come between a head and
its specifier, is the X'. So unless we assume either that subjects are not necessarily in
the specifier of the inflection or that the modals are not necessarily in the inflection
position itself, it seems that we must also allow adjuncts to adjoin to the I':