A pronominal adverb is a type of
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a determiner, a clause, a preposition, or a sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, or level of certainty by ...
occurring in a number of
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...
, formed in replacement of a
preposition
Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
and a
pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Interlinear gloss, glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the part of speech, parts of speech, but so ...
by turning the former into a
prepositional adverb and the latter into a
locative adverb, and finally joining them in reverse order.
For example:
* For that → therefor (not therefore)
* In that → therein
* By this → hereby
* To this → hereto
* In which → wherein
Usage in English
In modern
English, pronominal adverbs are most commonly encountered in literary registers or in
legal usage. They are used frequently by
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
s and
drafters of legal documents primarily as a way of avoiding the repetition of names of things in the document (or sometimes as a
self-reference
Self-reference is a concept that involves referring to oneself or one's own attributes, characteristics, or actions. It can occur in language, logic, mathematics, philosophy, and other fields.
In natural or formal languages, self-reference ...
to the document itself). For this reason, pronominal adverbs are often seen as a type of legal
jargon
Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...
.
Usage in Dutch
In
Dutch, pronominal adverbs are very common and are almost mandatory in many situations; neglecting to use them often makes a phrase sound unnatural to native speakers. Dutch maintains a three-way distinction of reference in its demonstrative pronouns, with pronouns for things close by and far away, and a third pronoun that is unspecific for distance. This distinction is faithfully reflected in the use of pronominal adverbs, and other pronouns also often have a corresponding adverbial form.
[ Joop van der Horst (2008) ''Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse syntaxis'', Deel 1: 272-277]
References
Adverbs by type
{{syntax-stub