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
We end up with a complex picture of how the adverbs
can be characterised with regard to text type and what
their function is in different text type. For example,
actually and really have in common that they are
frequent in interactional text types with a typical
polite function. On the other hand, actually and in fact
(but not really) are frequent in demonstrations but not
necessarily with the same function. In fact conveys
the meaning of novelty in addition to other meanings
such as factual evidence. Actually seems to be more
closely linked with the adversative function to refute
an earlier statement. In cross-examinations on the
other hand in fact had the functions of rhetorical
strengthening or elaborating (making something more
precise, summarize) with the implicature request for
confirmation. Indeed on the other hand was typically
in parliamentary debates with the meaning rhetorical
strengthening.
Conclusion
Modal adverbs are notoriously difficult to study
because their meanings vary depending on both the
immediate syntactic context and the social context. It
follows that they occur in many different lexical fields.
For example in fact occurs together with lexical items
such as what’s more and indeed (Schwenter and
Traugott 2000) in some of its uses but it can also have
the same meanings as actually. Such observations cam
be strengthened by considering how their meanings are
„mirrored‟ in the translations into a target text.
The contrastive or translation method has the effect to
sharpen the description of the polysemy or
multifunctionality of the adverbs and to show how they
are related to each other in terms of shared or different
meanings. The adverbs can be analyzed in terms of
how they divide up the semantic space consisting of
meanings such as novel and surprising information,
actuality, adversative meaning, strengthening of
argumentation.
The functions of the adverbs can be further
characterized with regard to frequency in different text
types in speech and in writing. By taking into account
text type for example if the adverb is used in a
demonstration or debate or informal conversation we
can throw light on the correlation between function and
social activity.
Appendix 1
Table 1: Translations of actually into Swedish
faktiskt (in fact) 35
egentligen (in actual fact) 8
i själva verket (in actual fact) 13
verkligen (really) 8
rent av (practically) 4
åtminstone (at least) 3
till och med (what‟s more) 2
förresten (by the way) 1
på riktigt (for real) 1
i verkligheten (in reality) 1
118
i praktiken (in practice( 2
i realiteten (in reality) 1
över huvud taget (at all) 1
other 4
ø 35
total 119
Table 2: Translations of in fact into Swedish
faktiskt (in fact) 24
i själva verket (in actual fact) 14
faktum är (fact is) 10
verkligen (really) 3
till och med (even) 2
nämligen (the reason is that) 2
i verkligheten (in reality) 1
de facto 1
rent av (practically) 1
väl (surely) 1
förstås (of course) 1
nog inte utan (probably) 1
egentligen (in actual fact) 1
ø 13
total 75
Table 3: Swedish translations of really
verkligen („really‟) 47
riktigt („really‟) 16
verkligt 4
egentligen („actually‟) 45
faktiskt („in fact‟) 19
i själva verket („as a matter of fact‟) 2
särskilt mycket („very much‟) 2
ändå („anyhow‟) 1
mycket („much‟) 1
i grund och botten („basically‟) 1
är det säkert („is it certain‟) 1
är det sant („is it true‟) 1
alldeles („quite‟) 1
banne mig („in truth‟ 1
allt („indeed‟) 1
i praktiken („in practice‟) 1
på allvar („seriously‟ 1
direkt („directly‟) 1
alls („at all‟) 1
en riktig („a veritable‟) 1
förstås („of course‟) 1
i sanning („in truth‟) 1
men („but‟) 1
bara (inte) („only not‟) 1
på hedersord („on my word of honour‟) 1
ø 135
Table 4: Translations of indeed into Swedish
verkligen („really‟) 20
faktiskt („in fact‟) 19
i själva verket („as a matter of fact‟) 10
rentav („practically‟) 4
(ja) minsann („yes‟), jajamänsan 3
mycket riktigt („very much the case‟) 3
och naturligtvis („and of course‟) 3