Knowledge base · Part XVIII — Information Structure, Sentence-Final Particles, and Minor Classes · this topic as a network
146. Adverbs, Degree Words, and Comparison Strategies
How does the language express adverbial modification, degree, and comparison?
The adverb class
What defines the adverb word class and how does it differ from prenominals?
Adverbs in Ainu are generally derived or converted from other parts of speech such as nouns and verbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936, Shibatani 1990) Adverbs form integral parts of sentences, serving to modify the predicate or the whole sentence. (Refsing 1986: 132) Adverbs of emotion and emphasis differ from interjections in being unable to stand as isolated expressions. (Refsing 1986: 137) Adverbs in Ainu are divided into postpositional adverbs and adverbs according to whether they take personal affixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 117) Adverbs are independent words that modify verb phrases, verbs, and similar elements. (Nakagawa 2024: 273) Adverbial phrases have an arity of 0 and can be added to a clause as many times as meaning permits. (Nakagawa 2024: 273) Even when derived from verbs, adverbs differ from verbs in that they do not take subject personal affixes and directly modify verbs and similar elements without connective particles. (Nakagawa 2024: 273) An adverb alone can constitute an adverbial phrase. (Nakagawa 2024: 387) Conjunctions, interjections, and adverbs in Ainu are all free forms that can function as adverbial adjuncts and modify whole sentences. (Refsing 1986) Adverbs occur before the verbs they modify. (Shibatani 1990)
Lexical adverbs
What lexical adverbs exist and what functions do they serve?
The phrasal expression kesto an kor is used idiomatically with the meaning 'every day'. (Satō 2008: 34, 241) Nouns relating to time are often used as adverbs as they are. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The suffix -ne, which derives adjectives, also forms adverbs from nouns. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The suffix -ko attaches to nouns to form adverbial expressions meaning 'together with'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Inherent adverbs, which are basic forms rather than derived or converted from other parts of speech, express time, manner, degree, conjecture, negation, and similar notions. (Nakagawa 2024: 273) Adverbs meaning 'was on the verge of doing X' or 'narrowly escaped danger' show dialectal variation, such as naani in Upper Saru, Chitose, Horobetsu, and Ishikari, naanihonko in Chitose, naanipakpe in Chitose and Horobetsu, and ya(a)ni in Middle and Lower Saru. (Nakagawa 2024: 275) The three adverbs eattukonnoan, sonno, and sorekuska function solely to emphasize the succeeding sentence or predicate while indicating the speaker's emotions towards it. (Refsing 1986: 137) The adverb hene means 'incidentally'. (Refsing 1986: 175) While tane means 'now', tanepo means 'just now' or sometimes 'only now at last'. (Satō 2008: 114) The temporal adverb tane expresses a relatively broad 'now' centered on the present moment, including the immediate past ('a little before now') and immediate future ('a little after now'). (Satō 2008: 185) The adverb tane can be used when narrating past events as if they were occurring right before the speaker's eyes. (Satō 2008: 185) The temporal adverb téwano is used synonymously with tane wano to mean 'from now on'. (Satō 2008: 185) The temporal adverb tap means 'now' or 'just now'. (Satō 2008: 185) kuskeraypo can also appear in the form kusukeraypo. (Satō 2008: 242) The expression ene is largely synonymous with ene an ma. (Satō 2008: 295) ene an ma is an adverbial phrase meaning 'like this, in this way'. (Satō 2008: 299) The word sonno can be used adverbially. (Satō 2008: 343) Although teeta is an adverbial form meaning 'in the past', it can be used adnominally or like a compound element modifying nouns (as in teeta huci, teeta ekasi). (Satō 2008: 348)
Deverbal adverbs: the -no adverbializer and bare conversion
How are adverbs derived from verbs using the -no suffix or bare conversion?
Stative verbs (adjectives) are used as adverbs without formal modification, especially in classical or poetic registers. (Shibatani 1990, Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Certain verbs such as rai 'to die' and hetopo 'to turn back' are used as adverbs without modification. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Some intransitive verbs such as tunas 'fast', moyre 'slowly', hanke 'near', and tuyma 'far' can be used adverbially without -no in their bare verb forms, functioning identically to forms with -no. (Nakagawa 2024: 276) The stative verbs pirka and wen may be used adverbially without suffixing no. (Refsing 1986: 135)
Directional adverbs from locative roots
How are directional adverbs formed from locative roots?
Location nouns take -ta and -un to form adverbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The directional suffix -na also forms adverbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Directional adverbs are formed by prefixing e- ('head') or o- ('buttocks') to a type-2 locative noun, followed by the verb ne or un. (Nakagawa 2024: 277) Directional adverbs derived with e-/o- and -ne were originally verbs and are still frequently used as verbs. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 278) Directional adverbs are formed by prefixing he- ('head') or ho- ('buttocks') to a type-2 locative noun, followed by the verb asi 'stand sth up'. (Nakagawa 2024: 279) In contrast to hepasi 'downstream' and hopasi 'from downstream', the expression for 'upstream' has a different word structure, appearing as hepera (Saru, Chitose, Shizunai), heperay (Horobetsu, Shizunai), and eperay (Tokachi), and 'from upstream' as hopera (Saru, Chitose, Shizunai), hoperay (Horobetsu), and operay (Tokachi). (Nakagawa 2024: 279)
Postpositional adverbs
How do postpositional adverbs function and how are they distinguished from case postpositions?
Some nouns relating to time take the particle -ta 'at' and are used as adverbs. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In addition to ordinary adverbs, Ainu has postpositional adverbs that take an antecedent or personal affixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 273) Conversion from transitive verbs into adverbs is more diverse and frequent than from intransitive verbs, and when functioning as adverbs they retain the ability to take an object and often function as postpositional adverbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 276) Unlike Japanese case particles, postpositional adverbs derived from transitive verbs can also be used independently without an immediately preceding noun phrase, having an antecedent located elsewhere in the discourse. (Nakagawa 2024: 277) While some postpositional adverbs converted from transitive verbs, such as tura, can also occur in a -no form (turano) with virtually identical meaning, many cannot take -no (for example, *ani-no is ungrammatical). (Nakagawa 2024: 277) Horobetsu nepkor and Tokachi/Shizunai nepkon mean 'like', but because they are preceded basically by nouns and are postpositional adverbs, they are grammatically distinct from pekor. (Nakagawa 2024: 354) Case particles do not inflect, but some postpositional adverbs inflect by taking objective personal affixes, such as akkari taking en- to form en-akkari 'more than me'. (Satō 2008: 36) akkari is a postpositional adverb meaning 'more than, than'. (Satō 2008: 38) The clause-initial patek in patek a-kor pe may be regarded as a kind of independent post-adverb. (proposed in Satō 2008: 348)
Degree and intensification
What strategies express degree and intensification?
The auxiliary verb 'ekasure expresses excessive action or state ('to overdo', 'to be excessively...'). (Murasaki 2025: 37, 43, 69) The diminutive suffix -po, the particle ka, the adverb sui, and the emphatic suffix -un frequently attach to adverbs to intensify their meaning. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The element kasui expresses excessive degree, meaning 'overly' or 'too much'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The element raike expresses excessive degree, meaning 'too much'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The prefix or- serves as an intensive prefix. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The auxiliary verbs 'ekasre and ~ 'ekas express excessive degree ('too much, over-'). (Murasaki 2025: 94) Postpositions and other words are often added to adverbs as adverbial intensifiers (副詞強調語) to intensify or augment their meaning. (Murasaki 2025: 106) Both ponno and poronno are frequently used adverbially. (Refsing 1986) The prefix ar- functions as an intensifier of degree meaning 'truly' or 'really'. (Satō 2008: 289) iyotta 'most' is morphologically analyzed as i-y-or-ta. (Satō 2008: 289) The adverb arikinne expresses high degree ('very'), but can also be used with verbs of non-existence in the sense of 'completely'. (Satō 2008: 344) The word po is an adverb meaning 'all the more, even more'. (Satō 2008: 355) The expression po anakne means 'all the more, even more', and appears to be used mainly in oral literature. (proposed in Satō 2008: 355)
Comparison: the akkari strategy and the absence of a morphological comparative
How is comparison expressed in the absence of a dedicated comparative morpheme?
The comparative relation or degree is not morphologically marked on the verb. (Refsing 1986: 169) Ainu has no overt parameter marker in its equative construction. (Bugaeva 2015: 54) In the Ainu equative construction equivalent, the parameter usually functions as an attribute of the comparee while the main clause predicate is an 'exist' or isam 'not exist'. (Bugaeva 2015: 55) In the Ainu equative construction equivalent, the parameter may be implicit or semantically included in the meaning of the standard noun, such as nispa 'rich/wise man' or katkemat 'fine woman'. (Bugaeva 2015: 55) The comparative ('than') case is expressed by kasuno and akkari. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The particles neno, nepkor, nepekor, shinne, kunne, and korachi all mean 'like, as'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) The postposition akkari 'than' marks the standard of comparison in an unequal comparison, and originates in a transitive verb meaning 'overtake/pass'. (Refsing 1986: 169) The postposition koraci 'like' is used for comparisons of equality, marking the element that is similar to something else. (Refsing 1986: 169) In comparative constructions, the order is standard + marker + adjective/stative verb. (Shibatani 1990: 24)