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> 特別に戦が神 (とくべつに いくさが かみ)

I think placing に after とくべつ makes it into an adverb, right? However, I'm
having a lot of trouble working out whether it means 'especially' or
'specially' or just 'special'. (I occasionally see adverbs used like
adjectives in Japanese.)

It would be nice if you could also explain why the adverb とくべつに is used
instead of just saying とくべつな いくさ. What difference is there between the two in
meaning?

Quick note: 神 means 'incredible, fantastic' in otaku (anime fan) slang. This
phrase was taken from a Youtube comment. Also, this is in the context of a
Pokemon battle.
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2019-02-08T12:31:58.430
65377
2019-02-09T14:54:22.887
2019-02-09T14:54:22.887
question
grammar translation adverbs word-order
Does 特別に戦 mean 'special battle' or 'specially battle'?
### Basics

As you note, 特別【とくべつ】 followed by に would have to be an adverb. As such,
_"special battle"_ **cannot** be the correct interpretation of
特別【とくべつ】に戦【いくさ】: just grammatically, that would be a mistaken translation into
English, and as a Japanese phrase, we know we're missing something.

So we look again at the fuller phrase, 特別【とくべつ】に戦【いくさ】が神【かみ】.

Considering the context, and that 神【かみ】 here is an adjective meaning
_"incredible, fantastic"_ , we can now tell that 特別【とくべつ】に acts as a modifier
on the adjective 神【かみ】, and **not** on the noun 戦【いくさ】.

Unpacking the meaning then, we have a 特別【とくべつ】に _"especially"_ 神【かみ】
_"incredible, fantastic"_ 戦【いくさ】 _"battle"_.

### Deeper analysis

There's a nuance to this word order. The Japanese word order works out where
the core phrase is the statement, 戦【いくさ】が神【かみ】 _"the battle is incredible"_ ,
and this whole statement is then modified by the 特別【とくべつ】に _"especially /
extraordinarily / particularly"_. This is a slightly different shade of
meaning than if we'd said 戦【いくさ】が特別【とくべつ】に神【かみ】, which is straightforwardly
_"the battle is especially incredible"_. To preserve the nuance in English, we
might use a similar word order, and translate this as _"especially /
extraordinarily / particularly, the battle is incredible"_.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-08T17:32:42.313
65381
2019-02-08T17:32:42.313
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answer