Formal Approaches to Semantic Microvariation: Adverbial ...

(Doetjes (1997: 271, her (40))
Secondly, Doetjes makes a crucial distinction between degree adverbs, and frequency
adverbs. Degree adverbs can satisfy a < q > position, but frequency adverbs cannot.
This is why, although beaucoup, trop, tellement etc. license the appearance of de
phrases in direct object position in QAD, adverbs like souvent ‘often’ do not.
(68) *J’ai souvent lu de livres
I have often read of books
However, there are frequency adverbs that license de phrases in their scope. This is the
case of the negative adverb jamais ‘never’.
(69) J’ai jamais lu de livre(s)
I have never read of books
‘I never read any books’
This is unexpected in Doetjes’ analysis, since, because we know that frequency adverbs
cannot satisfy < q > positions, the < q > position in the de phrase must be
being satisfied pragmatically. So the proposal that there is a < q > position in de
phrases that must be satisfied syntactically results in a contradiction.
An even clearer example of a frequency adverb that licenses de is souvent’s opposite:
rarement ‘rarely’. As discussed in Heyd (2003), for many speakers, rarement
also licenses de phrases.
(70) ?J’ai rarement lu de livres
I have rarely read of books
‘I rarely read any books’
It would seem that the only difference in the semantics of souvent, that does not license
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