konungursvia: I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.
I gave it little thought before this thread. Because 'I am good' sounded completely wrong to me - as a speaker of BrE, I found only 'I am well' natural' - I assumed that 'good' must be a an uneducated mis-use of an adjective for an adverb.This thread has made me realise that in 'I am X', words that fill the X gap are always adjectives, and that 'well' must be functioning as an adjective here. We see the same in "She looks intelligent, worried, well, good, etc'. I had previously realised that, as well as being the adverb we use when we require an adverb for 'good', 'well' means 'in good health. What I should have realised that if 'ill' in 'I am ill' was an adjective, 'well' must also function as an adjective at times.
The only question now is: 'does "I am good" mean exactly the same as "I am well"?'
k: But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".
5: This also happens with many speakers of BrE. It is still, in my opinion, is sub-standard usage.