Adverbial Modification

The aim of this paper is to investigate how Japanese as a Second Language (JSL) learners comprehend the adverbial “ôkiku,” which has seven different readings depending on the meaning of the modified verb. This has been a blind spot in JSL textbooks, for which reason I examined the comprehension of sentences by 24 learners via questionnaire and also surveyed the frequency with which each reading appeared in the corpora. These investigations revealed the following: (i) the degree reading such as “ôkiku kawaru” (“change drastically”) had a significantly lower score than the other readings; (ii) the degree reading appears in the corpora most frequently. Little attention has been paid, in the teaching JSL, to adverbial adjectives. This paper therefore provides teachers with an alternative perspective on the proper treatment of adverbials.

Uriah Kriegel (2007, 2008, 2011) has recently developed (but not fully endorsed) an adverbial account of intentionality, in part to solve the problem of how we can think of non-existents. The view has real virtues: it endorses a non-relational (internalist) conception of intentionality and is ontologically conservative. Alas, the view ultimately cannot replace the act-object model of intentionality that it seeks to, because it depends on the act-object model for its intelligibility at key points. It thus fails as a revisionistic theory. I argue that the virtues of adverbialism can be had from within the act-object framework, provided we understand intentional objects correctly. I use Tim Crane (2001a, 2001b, 2013) as a guide here, and build on his work on intentional objects. In the end, we can provide a suitable solution to the problem of thinking of non-existents within the act-object framework without adopting implausible ontological or metaphysical views. So, adverbialism is neither a possible stand-alone revisionary option nor a needed modification of the common-sense act-object framework of intentionality.