Craig,

Adverbial yes, but a noun phrase used adverbially rather than a true adverb.
Consider the intensifier:

I do it often / very often.
I do it a lot / *very a lot / a whole lot.
I do it a bit / *very a bit / a little bit.

Dick

On Sat, Aug 13, 2011 at 9:09 AM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Bill,
>    I was thinking about situations like "I own a lot, which I check a
> lot." Or "I check a lot a lot." If we had a different spelling for the
> adverbial use (which I hear as "alot," not "a lot" in the above
> instances), I think it would better represent the way the structure
> has evolved both phonetically and cognitively. I hear it and think of
> it as a single word spelled as two.
>   Of course, the written language is innately conservative in the classic
> sense of that term. People will treat it as an error. Even as I type
> this, the computer puts a red squiggly line underneath "alot" to cajole
> me back.
>
> Craig

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