Elite Writing Styles: Zero and -ly Adverbs in The Mary Hamilton Papers

This article explores adverbs in The Mary Hamilton Papers, examining the factors which may influence correspondents' decisions as to whether or not to use the -ly suffix (e.g. exceedingly/exceeding). While the use of -ly forms is generally well established in the dataset, tendencies differ depending on the specific adverb. This study investigates some factors determining the choice of forms — e.g. the nature of the word that the adverb modifies — arguing that linguistic factors are more influential than extra-linguistic factors in the data examined. Mary Hamilton's own writings exhibit a slightly delayed adoption of -ly compared to the overall trend in the entire dataset, suggesting possible linguistic conservatism that warrants further research.