Well--I said "yes", but really it means "I, the speaker, hope that..." You can't say "Hopefully, I'll die" just because it's hoped by someone that you'll die. (And note that it can't be embedded: "Mary believes that hopefully she will arrive on time" does not mean either "Mary beleves that it is hoped that she will arrive on time", or "Mary believes that she hopes that she will arrive on time", or even "Mary believes she will arrive on time, and I hope she will.)
As taskboy says, this is one of a number of "speaker-oriented adverbs"; for instance, "frankly" has no paraphrase "It is frank that...", but means only "I, the speaker, am being frank when I say..." These share the above properties--they must refer to the speaker's opinions, and they can't be embedded.
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Date: 2006-06-27 07:07 pm (UTC)As taskboy says, this is one of a number of "speaker-oriented adverbs"; for instance, "frankly" has no paraphrase "It is frank that...", but means only "I, the speaker, am being frank when I say..." These share the above properties--they must refer to the speaker's opinions, and they can't be embedded.