This work aims to describe, analyze and discuss comparatively semantic typologies of adverbs proposed in two srands of linguistic studies: Traditional Grammar on the one hand and Functional Linguistics on the other. For that, we analyzed and mapped typologies found in a representative set of Portuguese traditional grammars as well as in an equally significant sample of funtictionally-oriented Brazilian linguistic studies. Two typological schemes were proposed to represent the two approaches, identifying the main semantic categories established in each one of them. These two classification instruments were then applied to the analysis of a corpus of Portuguese authentic sentences (an excerpt from the corpus made availble by Linguateca/Frases PB). The classifications were analyzed and compared according to the following criteria: a) range; b) explicitude; c) suitability to purposes (didactic-normative and/or descriptive-theoretical). Using these criteria, it was possible to point out relative advantages and disadvantages in both types of approach and to expose some problems faced equally by traditional grammar and functional linguistics concerning the semantic behaviour of adverbs.