These considerations give some support for a thesis that that I formulate
as a fi rst approximation:
Thesis about adverbs: Verb-modifying adverbs refer to a single domain.
This thesis can be defended at least for adverbs functioning as multipliers.
To what extent the thesis is more generally valid, also for other
types of adverbs, remains to be further evaluated. One limitation of the
more general thesis is that adverbs modifying adjectives (and other adverbs)
can be zero-dimensional, for example, very and completely, and
therefore cannot be associated with any domain.
10. Conclusion: The general single-domain thesis
In this article I have presented a semantic analysis of the major word
classes based on conceptual spaces as a modelling tool. The observant
reader has noticed that I have tried to argue for a general semantic
rule:
Universal single-domain thesis: Words in all content word classes,
except for nouns, refer to a single domain.
I am not certain how far I can push this thesis. To a large extent, its
validity is dependent on how abstract domains are described. There are
also word classes I have not considered, for example quantifi ers and
connectives, where the general single-domain thesis may not be valid
or may not even apply. And I have noted that certain adverbs are zerodimensional
and thus not dependent on any domain.