adverbs - Adverbial Nouns and Temporal Nouns

I'm wondering about the difference between adverbs, adverbial nouns, and temporal nouns.^*

I know that adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They usually tell amount, weight, time, distance, etc.

So here are my questions:

1. 
   

   Does that mean that all temporal nouns are also adverbial nouns? I know that the other direction is not true.

   
   


2. 
   

   Also, I'm under the impression that adverbs can't be the topic of a Japanese sentence, but adverbial nouns and temporal nouns can. Is this correct?

   
   

---

^*Terminology (as used by edict/jmdict):

• temporal noun (n-t): 時相名詞 (list)


• adverbial noun (n-adv, formerly adv-n): 副詞的名詞 (list)


• adverb (adv): 副詞 (list)

Answer

First of all some remarks on the terminology used.

Adverb (副詞) is the usual definition as it can be found in dictionaries. The other two words require some more thought.

It seems 時相名詞 is a technical term used by jumandic, a dictionary for morphological parsers. Here's the only insight I could find:

EDRは時詞という名前で、JUMANは時相名詞という名前で、副詞としても振舞い得る名詞を分類している。しかしこのような分類は、名詞か副詞のどちらかであるという‌曖昧性の表現の仕方としては変則的である。

Thus: temporal noun = a noun that can be used adverbially. You can use a word such as 今年 like a noun or adverbially:

• 今年の目標


• 今年起きた事件

Often these are nouns related to time (hence the name), but not necessarily. 全部 is classified as a temporal noun as well. However, I would judge this to be a classification error, considering the name and that most of them are indeed related to time.

Furthermore, this classification might be necessary in the context of parsing Japanese, but I suppose it is probably irrelevant if you only want to learn the language. Also, the paper I linked mentions that this classification might not be the best.

---

Next, 副詞的名詞 is used by jumandic too. It's also used on the net and in papers in the context of Japanese and other languages. In ipadic this is called 副詞可能. It refers to nouns (or words originating from a noun) that can be used adverbially such as ところ, ため, ぐらい. For example:

試験を棄権するぐらいつらいことはない。

(from the noun 位【くらい】, from 座【くら】居【い】る)

In this paper there is a remark on adverbial nouns:

副詞的名詞(連体修飾を受ける副詞)

This seems to suggest that an adverbial noun must admit the possibility to accept modifiers (adjectives, relative clauses &c.), such as in the above example or this:

• 住所等を変更した場合すぐにお知らせください


• 肝炎ウイルスは多くの場合、 感染しても自覚症状が無く本人が気がつかない。

Are all temporal nouns also adverbial nouns?

First of all, it should be obvious that not all adverbial nouns are temporal. As for the other direction, most temporal nouns appear to be adverbial nouns too, namely 445/592(75%) of them. Those that are alo adverbial can be modified:

• 楽しい毎日


• ほとんどまた何も見えない未明の視界

However, here are some words marked only as temporal noun in jmdict:

月【つき】、今日【きょう】、明日【あした】、此【こ】れから、大部分【だいぶぶん】

Referring to the definitions given above, here the explanation for this would seem to be that while 今日【きょう】 or これから can be used adverbially in a sentence, you cannot modify it usually.

○今日通知を受けとりました。

？通知を受けとりました今日

On the other hand, 昨日【きのう】 is marked as both temporal and adverbial noun in edict/jmdict. If we look it up directly in jumandic, we find:

明日,1501,1501,6660,名詞,時相名詞,*,*,明日,あした,代表表記:明日

昨日,1501,1501,6670,名詞,時相名詞,*,*,昨日,きのう,代表表記:昨日

Thus my conclusion is that the tagging of 昨日【きのう】 is a mistake in edict/jmdict.

Is it true that adverbs can't be the topic of a Japanese sentence; but adverbial nouns and temporal nouns can be?

I'm going to assume that by can be the topic you mean can be marked with the focus/topic particle は. Also, any word can be used with は when making a comment about that word in the form 「甲」は乙 (mentioning rather than using it, eg. 恰【あたか】もはかたい表現), so I will exclude this usage from the following discussion.

First temporal and adverbial nouns. This is easily answered by providing some examples. Many words can be topicalized:

• 毎月第2火曜日^{temporal, adverbial}は庁舎周辺のごみ拾いをしましょう。


• 3月10日未明^{temporal, adverbial}は敗戦の序章・東京大空襲の日


• 今日^temporal天気がいいですね。


• 父が原稿を書いている最中^adverbialは、だれが話しかけても返事がない。

Now let us turn to adverbs. Some words marked as adverb in edict/jmdict include:

普通、特別、正直、一番、屡々【しばしば】、度々【たびたび】、本当、時々、多分、幾【いく】つ、迚【とて】も、若【も】し、忽【たちま】ち、のんびり、頗【すこぶ】る、更【さら】に

Some of these are not only marked as adverb, but also as (na/no-)adjective &c., which might explain why they can be used with the focus particle は. For example:

しかし、これが大変に難しくて、普通はできないものだ。

So let us consider a word marked as adverb only: いくつ, たびたび, とても, and もし.

It's true that usually you wouldn't use them as the topic of the sentence or with the particle は. However, language is flexible and people use it to fit their needs. Often, whether something is possible or not is only a function of how hard you're looking. Consider the following sentences:

いくつ:

この１２という数字には色んな意味が込められてて、そのうちの幾つは冒頭でも話したけど、その他にもいくつかあって、 例えば１６進数の「C」は１０進数で１２。 そして時計の針は１から１２。

たびたび:

「あのお母さまも、誠に頼りなく暮らしていらつしやるやうでございますから、あの辺【へん】お二人でいらつしやるやうなことがあつたら、偶【たま】には寄っておあげなさいまし。それこそ如何【どんな】にお悦びなさいますか。」

「でも知れると悪いでせう。」

「だから[度々]{たび/\}は可【い】けません。[…]」

from 徳田秋声全集 第三期 長篇小説, ISBN 4-8406-9693-4

とても:

This is the best I can come up with.

とてもは言い過ぎだけど、たまにくるこの痛みはなんでしょ～

But it's borderline mentioning the word.

もし:

〔蜻蛉日記・上〕例の人は、案内【あない】するたより、若しはなま女などして、いはすることこそあれ。

《訳》ふつうの人は、取り次ぎをする縁故者、または身分の低い女房などを介して、(意のあるところを)言わせることが例であるのに。

(from 全国ご古語辞典 第三版 旺文社 2003)

In edict/jmdict, these words are marked only as adverb. I'll leave it to you to decide whether they are adverbs in the above sentences. The point is, some of them can be used with は.

Other adverbs such as のんびり or あたかも are extremely rare with the particle は, so we can't make a general statement that they could or couldn't be used with は.

• most temporal nouns are adverbial nouns


• some adverbs can be used with the particle は, but it depends upon the word and isn't too common


• these classifications are not important unless you're a linguist or programmer