Lexico-Syntactic Classes of Adverbs

Lesson 9. Typology of Adverb

Contents

1.Typological Characteristics of the Adverb. 1

2. Syntactic Functions of Adverbs in English and Ukrainian. 3

3. Statives and their Typological Characteristics. 4

Typological Characteristics of the Adverb

The adverbin English and Ukrainian is an indeclinable notional word expressing the quality or state of an action, the circumstances in which the action proceeds, or a degree of some other quality.

English adverbs are mostly formed with the help of the suffixes -ly(greatly, slowly), -ward/-wards(seaward, eastwards), -ways(sideways), -fold(twofold) and partly with the help of the prefixes -a- (aback, aside; astride) and be-(before, besides).

Adverbs in Ukrainian may be formed by means of suffixes, eg: -o (гарно), -е (добре, зле), -а (дарма, лежма), -и (полюдськи, по-французьки), -ому(по-їхньому), -ему (по-моєму, по-своєму) and by means of prefixes and suffixes (combined), eg: no-(no-людськи, по-свинськи), най- (найкраще, найзручніше), щонай-(щонайбільше); якнай-(якнайшвидше).

Equally common in both languages is the formation of adverbs by way of reduplication, eg: so-so, willy-nilly, fifty-fifty; ось-ось, ледве-ледве, скоро-скоро, тихо-тихо, etc.

Lexico-Syntactic Classes of Adverbs

In accordance with their lexico-syntactic meaning, adverbs in the contrasted languages fall under the following divisions:

• qualifying adverbs denoting the quality or state of an action;
• adverbs expressing the manner in which the action is performed
• adverbs giving a quantitative characteristics of an action/quality. These adverbs modify the verb, the adjective, or the adverb (cf. to pronounce sounds distinctly вимовляти звуки виразно).

Qualifying adverbs in both languages may be qualitative (badly, fast, slowly, well — погано, добре, швидко, повільно)or those denoting manner of action (unawares, upside-down, topsy-turvy, by chance — нехотячи, догори дном, випадково, несвідомо, спроквола).

Qualitative adverbs also include adverbs of degree (denoting the degree of a quantity: almost, entirely, too, rather, enough, almost — майже, цілком, дуже, досить, досить-таки). These adverbs in English and Ukrainian express the intensity of an action, eg: "She scarcely knew her neighbours yet." (Lawrence) "1 was completely happy". (Galsworthy) or quantity: almost nine, almost two-thirds. Вона майжене знала ще своїх сусідів. Я був цілком щасливий. Десьбуло білядесяти. Майжедві третіх.

Qualitative adverbs in both contrasted languages may be used in the comparative and superlative degrees. They are formed with the help of synthetic or analytical means. Synthetic means are suffixes -er, -estin English and -ше, -іше, -нійin Ukrainian. Unlike English, however, in Ukrainian prefixes are also used to form the superlative degree of qualitative adverbs (най-, щонай-, якнай-):найшвидше, найцікавіше, якнайшвидше, щонайменше, щонайбільше. The analytical means include auxiliary words (adverbs, particles): more, most, still more, less, least, still less in English and their equivalent adverbs and particles in Ukrainian, eg: often, oftener/more often, of-tenest/most often, less often, still more/less often, more slowly, less/ least slowly, ясно, ясніше, найясніше, більш/менш ясно, найбільш/ найменш ясно; ясно — ще ясніше/трохи ясніше, набагато ясніше.

A separate group in both languages constitute suppletive adverbs, whose grading is generally achieved by synthetic means, eg: well, better, best; bad, worse, worst; little, less, least; far, further, furthest, etc. There are fewer of such adverbs in Ukrainian: добре, краще, найкраще; погано, гірше, найгірше; гарно, краще, найкраще.

A particular (allomorphic for English) feature of many Ukrainian qualitative adverbs is their ability to take diminutive suffixes (-еньк-, -есеньк-, -юсіньк-, -очк-, -ечк-)and become diminutive: гарно — гарненько — гарнесенько — гарнюсінько — гарнюньо; тоненько — тонюсінько; трохи — трішечки; рядочком, шнурочком, etc.

Qualitative adverbs in both languages include large groups of adverbs of manner, quantity or degree, which have corresponding equivalents in Ukrainian, eg: aloud, how, aloof, upside down, by heart, in turn, one by one, almost, enough — вголос, напам'ять, скоса, спросоння, догори дном, дуже, також, багато, більше, etc. These adverbs express the degree of a quality of an adjective or adverb, or the intensity of an action expressed by a verb. Cf. less timid, very foggy, rather well; to read aloud, to read in turn менш боязкий, дуже туманна, читати вголос/по черзі, вчити напам'ять, добре знати.

The second large common group present adverbs denoting circumstances.

1) adverbs of time: now, always, then, today, tomorrow, just, so far, sooner or later - зараз, тоді, завжди, сьогодні, взавтра, щойно, рано чи пізно. Here also belongs the negative adverb never that has other similar negative derivatives within adverbs of place (nowhere ніде) and direction (nowhence нізвідки, nowhere/ нікуди);

2) adverbs of frequency/repetition of an action: always, daily, frequently, twice, usually - завжди, щоденно, часто, двічі, звичайно;

3) adverbs and adverbial phrases of place or direction of an action: here, there, inside, inwards, outside, somewhere, etc. тут, там, надворі, десь, ніде;

4) a small group of adverbs in both contrasted languages is presented by those expressing cause and purpose. Eg.: rashly згарячу (Марків партнер палахнув ізгарячу в його з обріза. С. Васильченко); headlong спрожогу/прожогом: Петро спрожогу вибіг. (П. Мирний)

An isomorphic feature is the existence in both languages of a large group of pronominal adverbs some of which are not available in English:

· interrogative and relative adverbs: where, when, why - де, куди, коли, звідки;

· demonstrative adverbs: there, here, then, so — там, тут, сюди, туди, так;

· complementing adverbs: always, everywhere, sometimes, otherwise — завжди, всюди, інколи, по-всякому, по-іншому;

· negative adverbs (more numerous in Ukrainian): nowhere, never - ніде, нізвідки;

· indefinite adverbs which are more numerous in Ukrainian as well: ever, somehow, somewhere, erewhile - десь, де-небудь, колись, коли-небудь,

Completely allomorphic for English is the group of the so-called "personal pronouns" adverbs: по-моєму, по-твоєму, по-нашому, по-вашому, and the reflexive adverb по-своєму. Their lexical equivalents in English are adverbial phrases like "in my opinion." Also not available in English are some adverbs of comparison and likening (означально-уподіблювальні) as соколом, стрілою, зозулею, no-новому, no-осінньому, etc.