On Manners and Circumstances* Cathrine Fabricius-Hansen 1. Introduction Prototypical verbs are so-called content words that classify events (in the broad sense of eventuality, including activities and states) in more or less conventional ways. In general such event concepts are quite abstract or schematic, focusing on specific aspects or dimensions of the events they subsume. Consequently, event descriptions encoded in corresponding sim- ple verb-argument structures are often modified in various ways, along parameters that depend on the meaning of the verb in question. Manner ad- verbials, instrumentals and related adjunct categories are one type of lin- guistic means serving such an end. Thus König, in his paper The meaning of converb constructions (König 1995: 164), argues that the term ‘manner adverbial’ “should only be used for sentences describing two aspects or di- mensions of only one event” as in (1a): You cannot stammer without (try- ing to) say something, stammering relates to one particular dimension of speaking, viz. articulation, which is always present in a speaking event, whether or not anything is explicitly said about that dimension. (1) a Thanks, he said stammering. (König 1995: 64) b He earns money by accompanying new members. (ib.) c He opened the door with his own keys. Similarly, sentences containing instrumental adverbials like the by-lo- cution in (1b) and the with-phrase in (1c) describe “one single action from two different angles”; but instrumentals differ from manner ad- verbials in that they occur only with event or action predicates that are “neutral in [their] meaning with respect to the method of performing the action in question” (König 1995: 67). 1 Fretheim ombrukket 2:Layout 1 10-04-07 13:00 Side 29