Re: [edict-jmdict] Adverbs

[Francis Bond <bond@********>]

G'day,


> I want to get some views about representing adverbs.
>
> Scott has just put in:
> 壁際 [かべぎわ] /(n) close to the wall/alongside the wall/
>
> My first reaction was that it's an adverb, and usually 壁際に.
> That set me thinking - should such lemmas be recorded as
> 壁際に or 壁際 or both? The に isn't mandatory; GG5 gives
> the example "壁際まで下がる move over to near a wall".

Does it ever appear without the postposition?  A quick search didn't
turn up any examples.   In that case I would say it is just a noun.

> I looked to see what happens now, and found things like:
>
> 力一杯 [ちからいっぱい] /(adv) with might and main/(P)/1554870/
> 力一杯に [ちからいっぱいに] /(adv) with all one's strength/1554880/
>
> and
>
> 一心 [いっしん] /(adv,n) one mind/wholeheartedness/the whole heart/(P)/1163580/
> 一心に [いっしんに] /(adv) with one mind/(P)/1163590/
>
> Candidates for merging, but which way?
>
> My inclination is to go without the に as far as possible, and have
> a PoS of "adv" or "n-adv" (and I admit I'm vague about the difference.

That sounds like the right way to go.  There are some adverbs that
take both ni and to, some that only really take one or the other and
some that take neither.  Most of these can also modify a noun with no.
 Some computationally grammars mark them as different parts of speech
but I don't know of  easily accessible comprehensive lists.

Yours,

-- 
Francis Bond <http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/fcbond/>
Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies
Nanyang Technological University