{{Short description|Adverb that refers to a location}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2026}} {{Expand German |date=January 2026}} A '''locative adverb''' is a type of adverb that refers to a location or to a combination of a location and a relation to that location.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lee | first1 = Hannah | last2 = Allen | first2 = Shanley E. M. | title = The acquisition of demonstratives and locative adverbs in Inuktitut | journal = Journal of Child Language | year = 2025 | pages = 1–33 | doi = 10.1017/S0305000925100172 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Psycholinguistics and Language Development Group, RPTU University of Kaiserslautern‑Landau, Kaiserslautern, Germany | doi-access= free }}</ref> Generally, a locative adverb is semantically equivalent to a prepositional phrase involving a locative or directional preposition. In English, for example, ''homeward'' is a locative adverb, specifying a location "home" and a relation "toward" (in this case a direction), and is equivalent to the phrase "toward home". The relation need not be a direction, as it can be any relation that can be specified by a locational preposition such as ''to'', ''from'', ''in'', ''at'', ''near'', ''toward'', or ''away from''. For example, the word ''home'' is itself a locative adverb in a sentence like "I took him home today" or "I found him home today"; in the former case, it is equivalent to the phrase "to home", and in the latter to the phrase "at home".
Pro-form locative adverbs generally form a closed class and are particularly important in a language. Examples in English include ''there'' (meaning "at that place"), ''whither'' (= "to what place"), and ''hence'' (= "from this place"). As can be seen from the examples below, these anaphoric locative adverbs generally have a close relationship with the demonstratives (in English, ''this'' and ''that''). They are also usually closely related to locative interrogative adverbs; in English, there is a formal relationship between here, hence, hither; there, thence, thither; and where, whence, whither.
==Usage in English== {|class="wikitable" ! Demonstrative or interrogative !! "At" locative (Location) ! "From" locative (Origin) ! "To" locative (Direction) |- | What || Where || Whence || Whither |- | This/these || Here || Hence || Hither |- | That/those || There || Thence || Thither |- | Yon{{efn|name=fn1|Archaic or obsolete.}} || Yond{{efn|name=fn1}} || || Yonder{{efn|name=fn1}} |- |} {{notelist-la}}
==See also== * Pro-form
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{wti}}
{{lexical categories}}
Category:Adverbs by type