ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the pragmatics of co-occurrence, especially in the light of speech act theory, and focuses on the pragmatic function of modal, adverb expressions in terms of the 'face-saving' view of politeness. It takes a closer look at the adverbs involved, in terms of their syntactic and semantic behaviour in the environment of the modals. Before examining the various ways in which adverbials can be classified and the significance this has for modal, adverb co-occurrence, a basic distinction needs to be drawn between the terms 'adverb' and 'adverbial', since both are relevant to the present study. Syntactically, adverbials are the most peripheral element in clause structure, to the subject, verb, object, and complement; they enjoy much mobility within the clause, are usually syntactically if not semantically optional, and do not determine what other clause elements occur.
