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. Adverbs in English and Ukrainian have some common, as well as some divergent features in their morphological structure and partly in their 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: -o (гарно, надійно), -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).

Several prefixes in Ukrainian and some inEnglish (cf. ahead, across, beside, outside, etc.) form adverbs from other parts of speech. Thus, the prefix в-/у- in Ukrainian may form adverbs from nouns in direct and indirect cases or from numerals, eg: в + гору — вгору, в + день — удень/вдень, в + друге — вдруге, в-/у-+ третє — втретє/утретє. A characteristic feature of Ukrainian adverbs is their correlation with indirect case forms of prepositional nouns, for example: 1) adverbs correlating with the genitive case forms of nouns and the prepositions без, від/од, до, з/с, за: безвісти, безперестанку, відразу/одразу, 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 in Ukrainian with nouns in the instrumental case and the lexicalisation of different phrases: водночас, насамперед, напівдорозі, віч-на-віч, всього-на-всього, пліч-о-пліч, день у день, нога в ногу, рік у рік, etc. Consequently, they correspond to the following English compound adverbs and adverbial phrases: day-long, henceforward, upside-down, moreover, therefore, within, by chance, by heart, by turns, one by one, day in day out, etc.

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.

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/state proceeds. Some of these English adverbs do not always have their Ukrainian equivalents that are tabulated below (Table 21).

Table 21