The actuality adverbs in fact, actually, really and indeed - British ...

Proceedings of the BAAL Conference 2007 The actuality adverbs in fact, actually, really and indeed- establishing similarities and differences
Karin Aijmer
writing and really was seven times as frequent in
speech as in writing. On the other hand, indeed was
only four times as frequent in speech as in writing
which is similar to the distribution of in fact. The high
frequency in spoken language does not mean that the
adverbs are frequent in conversation only but we need
to consider a number of different categories of spoken
English. It is important to also consider where they
occur in written text types.
We know from earlier studies that the adverbs can vary
their meaning depending on text type. Thus Biber and
Finegan (1989) have investigated stance markers
(expressions of „attitudes, feelings, judgments and
commitment concerning the propositional content of a
message‟) in different text types. They identified the
stance markers in the LOB and the LLC corpora on the
basis of their frequencies in the corpora and sorted
them into clusters representing different stance styles
based on the common situational characteristics of the
cooccurring text types in speech and writing. Certainty
adverbs (which include the adverbs discussed in this
paper) were for instance frequent in the cluster
„interactional evidentiality‟: an „involved
conversational style‟ characteristically made up of
face-to-face conversation and telephone conversation
(and a sprinkling of other texts such as public
conversations, personal letters, radio broadcast,
academic prose). The adverbs were however also
frequent in the cluster „oral conversational persuasion‟
where the majority of texts were spontaneous speeches,
interviews, public conversations and romance fiction
and characterised as „informational discourse where
there is a certain amount of controversy or
disagreement concerning the topic of discussion‟
(Biber and Finegan 1989: 115).
The ICE-GB Corpus allows an even more fine-grained
analysis of the adverbs on the basis of a large types of
spoken and written texts. We can for instance study the
use of the adverbs is public dialogues such as
classroom lessons, parliamentary debates and legal
cross-examinations and make comparisons with
unscripted monologues such as speeches. The written
texts range from professional writing to more popular
genres and fiction. It is obvious that even adverbs
which have a similar meaning can have a different text
type distribution and are indexed to different social
situations, activities or events and their participants.
Taking a look at the frequencies of the adverbs in the
ICE-GB corpus we can see for instance that in fact was
infrequent in face-to-face conversation (only 38
examples per 100, 000 words) and in telephone
conversations, i.e. in very interactive text types. The
lowest frequency was in broadcast talks. On the other
hand, in fact was common in demonstrations, in
unscripted speech and in legal cross-examinations. In
the written part of the corpus in fact was frequent in
business letters and in popular writing, especially in the
natural sciences.
116
Demonstrations (and unscripted speeches) are
monologues. A typical example of a demonstration in
the corpus would be a lecture where the speaker is
explaining or demonstrating something to an audience
who do not interfere. There is a link between text type
and a particular function of in fact. In fact in
demonstrations was typically used to present the
information as novel, unexpected or even remarkable
(evidential meaning). The lecture from which the
following example is taken takes place in the university
and is about caricatures and satires in art.
(10) now you‟ve got no uh physiognomies uh
physiognomies are always distorted but you
notice that dress is often used to signify different
social class here uhm there you‟ve got the fops
gentleman uhm and there is a satire on an
individual this time uhm this is in fact a satire
on the Earl of Burlington (S2A-057 43)
In fact in demonstrations has medial rather than initial
position. If the speaker had said In fact this is a satire
on the Early of Burlington this would have sounded
less like a demonstration or a lecture. In fact in initial
position would be used to strengthen the assertion and
make it more precise (the rhetorical in fact).
The next example has a similar provenance and shows
how in fact is used to attract the audience‟s attention to
an unusual event:
(11) You‟ve got the Monument which is in effect a
kind of takeoff of the uhm monument to the Great
Fire of London and this monument here was in
fact erected in memory of the destruction of the
city by the South Sea uh Islands in fact not by fire
(S2A 57 12)
The aspect of novelty and unexpectedness was also a
feature of in fact in academic writing and in business
letters:
(12) I see that your statement is in fact despatched to
you in the middle of the month. (Business letter:
W16-016019)
In fact has the highest frequency in legal crossexaminations.
In fact was also more frequent in this
context than any of the other actuality adverbs. In the
following example the lawyer cross-examines the
witness:
(13) So you didn‟t speak to Mr. Sherwood. But you
must at some time have told Mr. Sainsbury who
your solicitor was.
yes
And in fact it‟s written in the letter which I gave
him before we went away whom he should
contact. (S1B 061 175)
And in fact is part of the prosecutor‟s argumentation.
Unlike in fact in demonstrations it has a rhetorical or
focusing function. By means of in fact the speaker
summarises and makes more precise the results of the
interrogation in the cross-examination. The following
example is also from a legal cross-examination and