Typological characteristics of the adverb

The adverb in 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. Adverbs⁷ in English and Ukrainian have some common, as well as some diver­gent, features in their morphological structure and syntactic functions. Thus, 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: -о (гарно, надійно), -е (добре, зле), -а (дарма, лежма), -и (по-людськи, по-французьки), -ому (по-їхньому). -ему (по-моєму, по-своєму) and by means of prefixes, eg: no- (по-людськи, по-свин-ськи), най- (найкраще, наймолодше), щонай- (щонайбільше); якнай- (якнайшвидше).

Several prefixes in Ukrainian and some in English (cf. ahead, across, beside, outsides, etc.) form adverbs from other parts of speech. Thus, the prefex в/у- in Ukrainian may form adverbs from nouns in direct and indirect cases or from numerals, eg: в + гору — вгору, в + день — вдень, в + друге — вдруге, в/у + третє — утретє. A characteristic feature of Ukrainian adverbs is their correlation with indirect case forms of prepositional nouns, for example: I) adverbs correlating with the genitive case forms of nouns and the prepositions без, від/од, до, з/с, за: безвісти, безперестанку, від разу/од разу, догори, додому, зранку, зрання, скраю, спочатку, etc.; 2) adverbs cor­relating with the accusative case forms of nouns and the prepositions в/у, на, за, над, під, по, через: вдень/удень, вмить/умить, надвечір, навіки, заміж, надвір, підряд, повік, через силу, etc; 3) adverbs correlating with the instrumental case nouns and the lexicalization of different phrases. Hence, they have become compound words: day­long, henceforward, upside-down, moreover, therefore, within, by chance, by heart, by turns, one by one. day in day out, etc. In Ukrainian: водночас, насамперед, напівдорозі, віч-на-віч, всього-на-всього, пліч-о-пліч, день у день, нога в ногу, рік у рік, etc.

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

A morphologically common group present pronominal adverbs (simple and compound) which are of the same roots as their correspon­ding pronouns. These adverbs indicate in a relative way time, place, direction or manner in which the action/slate proceeds. Some of these English adverbs and their Ukrainian equivalents are tabulated below (table 15).

Table 15

Language/ Meaning	Time	Place	Direction Manner
English	now, then, when, hence	here, there, where, nowhere	hence, thence, whence	hence, now, how, so
Ukrainian	доти, іноді, тоді, коли	всюди, куди, туди, де	туди, сюди, звідти, вліво	так, сяк відтак, як

In accord with their lexico-syritactic meaning, adverbs in the cont­rasted languages fall under the following three main divisions: 1) gualifying adverbs denoting the quality or state of an action; 2) expressing the manner in which the action is performed, and 3) 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).

Qualitative adverbs also include adverbs of degree (denoting the degree of a quantity: almost, entirely, too, rather, enough — майже, цілком, дуже, досить). These adverbs in English and Ukrainian express the intensity of an action, eg: "She scarcely knew her neighbours yet". (Lawrence) "I was completely happy". (Galsworthy) Вона майже не знала ще своїх сусідів. Я був цілком щасливий.

Qualitative adverbs in both contrasted languages may be used in the comparative and superlative degrees. These are formed with the help of synthetic or analytical means. Synthetic means are suffixes -er, -est in English and -ше, -іше, -чій in Ukrainian where prefixes are also used (най-, щонай-, якнай-) to form the superlative degree (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/particles in Ukrainian, eg: often, oftener/more often, oftenest/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: Л йди хутчій. (JI. Українка).

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 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 characterized by a shifting stress that differs from that in the word the adverb is derived from. Cf. важний — важно, глибокий — глибоко, тонкий — тоненько, важкий — важко, смішний — смішно. But: завзятий — завзято, пиха­тий — пихато, день — вдень тощо.

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, sufficiantly, very — вголос, напам'ять, скоса, спросоння, догори дном, дуже, також, багато, більше, менше, ледве, надто, майже тощо. 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 гуманно, 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, then, today, tomorrow, just, so far, sooner or later (зараз, тоді, сьогодні, завтра, щойно, рано чь пізно); 2) adverbs of frequency/repetition of an action: always, daily, frequently, twice, usually (завжди, щоденно, часто, двічі, зсичайно); 3) adverbs of place/direction of an action: here, there, 01 tside, somewhere, to and fro (тут, там, надворі, десь, туди й сюди); -1) adverbs of cause and purpose (very few): why (чому, на зло).

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