The discourse-motivated potential of view-point adverbs in -wise: A Functional Discourse Grammar perspective

- View-point adverbs in -wise are not necessarily topic restrictors.
- View-point adverbs in -wise can serve different functions in interaction.
- In interactional contexts adverbs in -wise are not typically clause-initial.
- View-point adverbs in -wise also perform a role in discourse structuring.
- FDG is a suitable framework to account for the different functions of -wise adverbs.

The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the various discourse uses of view-point adverbs in -wise and to provide an account within the Functional Discourse Grammar model. Semantically, adverbs in -wise are generally regarded as identifying a relevant point of reference in respect of which the clause derives its truth value, that is, the scope of view-point adverbs is not the phrase but the whole clause. However, a closer look at their use in larger stretches of discourse and in conversational contexts reveals several functions other than restricting the scope of the proposition. The main concern of this paper will be to disentangle the semantics and discourse functions of this type of adverbs and to propose how they can be accounted for using the FDG architecture.