Lexico-Syntactic Classes of Adverbs

 

Language Meaning	Time	Place	Direction	Manner
English	now, then, when, today, soon	here, there, where, nowhere	hence, thence, whence, inside, inwards	hence, now, how, so
Ukrainian	доти, іноді, тоді, коли, скоро, сьогодні	всюди, куди, туди, де, ніде, там, тут	туди, сюди, звідти, вліво, вправо, назад	так, сяк, як відтак, отак, сяк-так

In accordance with their lexico-syntactic meaning, adverbs in the contrasted languages fall under the following three main divisions: 1) qualifying adverbs denoting the quality or state of an action; 2) adverbs expressing the manner in which the action is performed, and 3) 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 майже не знала ще своїх сусідів. Я був цілком щасливий. Десь було біля десяти. Майже дві 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, -est in English and -ше, -іше, -ній in 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.

The suffix -ій/-чій is used to form the comparative degree of the adverbs хутко — хутчій, мерщій. Eg: А йди хутчій. (Л. Українка). Біжи мерщій додому.

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.

Note. Ukrainian adverbs are often characterised by a shifting stress that differs from that in the word the adverb is derived from. Cf. важний - валено, глибокий - глибоко, тонкий - тоненько, важкий -важко, смішний — смішно. But: завзятий — завзято, пихатий -пихато, день - вдень, 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, entirely, rather, sufficiently, very — вголос, напам'ять, скоса, спросоння, догори дном, дуже, також, багато, більше, менше, ледве, надто, майже, 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. They are:

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 adverbs of direction (nowhence нізвідки, nowhere/ nowhither 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, nowhere, to and fro, etc. тут, там, надворі, десь, ніде, туди й сюди, etc.; 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) Very few adverbs express also purpose, as for instance: purposely/intentionally, deliberately навмисне. Дерева, здавалось, навмисно заступають дорогу. (О. Донченко); ostentationally напоказ: Дами охали та пищали, кривлячи вуста та виставляючи напоказ які-то вони чулі та м'якого серця. (І. Франко).

An isomorphic feature is the existence in both languages of a large group of pronominal adverbs some of which are not available in English. Among these are: 1) interrogative and relative adverbs: where, when, why, how - де, куди, коли, звідки, чому, як, поки, доки; 2) demonstrative adverbs: there, here, then, so — там, тут, сюди, туди, тоді, так; 3) complementing adverbs: always, everywhere, sometimes, otherwise — завжди, всюди, інколи, по-всякому, по-іншому; 4) negative adverbs (more numerous in Ukrainian): nowhere, never - ніде, нізвідки, нікуди, ніяк, нізащо; 5) indefinite adverbs which are more numerous in Ukrainian as well: ever, somehow, somewhere, erewhile - десь, де-небудь, колись, коли-небудь, кудись, чомусь, казна-звідки, казна-коли, хтозна-де, казна-куди, etc.

Note. Completely allomorphic for English is the group of the so-called

"personal pronouns" adverbs available only in Ukrainian. They are as follows: по-моєму, по-твоєму, по-нашому, по-вашому, по-наськи and the reflexive adverb по-своєму. Their lexical equivalents in English are adverbial phrases like "in my opinion/ in my judgement, in your opinion, etc."

Also not available in English are some adverbs of comparison and likening (означально-уподіблювальні) as соколом, стрілою, зозулею, по-батьківському, no-новому, no-осінньому, etc. These and other adverbs of the kind have in English for their equivalents adverbial phrases like in a fatherly way (по-батьковськи), like a falcon (соколом), in a new fashion (по-новому), etc.