dative + adverb constructions

[frazier melissa]

Dear Colleagues,

I wonder if someone could help me with a question that came up in my
beginning Russian class today.  As I presented dative + adverb
constructions like "mne khorosho," one of my students pointed out that
"khorosho" in this sentence is not doing what adverbs normally do, that is,
modifying a verb as it is for example in "Ia igraiu khorosho na roiale" --
so he wondered why I didn't call it some kind of predicate (short form?)
adjective which just happened to look like an adverb.  All I could say was
that I have never seen such constructions described as other than
adverbial, and I'd like to give him a better answer.  Are we missing
something here?  Is the concept of adverb different with regard Russian
than English?  Or is this "khorosho" a short form predicate adjective?  I'd
very much appreciate any thoughts on this off-line.

Thank you,

Melissa Frazier
mfrazier at mail.slc.edu


****************************
Melissa Frazier
Literature/Russian Dept.
Sarah Lawrence College
1 Mead Way
Bronxville, NY  10704
(914)395-2295
mfrazier at mail.slc.edu