The concept of parts of speech in the scholarly legacy of I.R. Vykhovanets

Iryna Melnyk, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Professor, Professor in the Department of Ukrainian Language and Linguodidactics
Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University
30-A Vynnychenko St., Lutsk 43005, Ukraine

Е-mail: ira_melnyk_@ukr.net
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5946-0261

Tetiana Masytska, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Professor, Professor in the Department of Ukrainian Language and Linguodidactics
Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University
30-A Vynnychenko St., Lutsk 43005, Ukraine

Е-mail: masytska@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2375-1179

Heading: Articles
Language: Ukrainian

Abstract: The study analyzes I.R. Vykhovanets’s morpho-syntactic concept of parts of speech through the lens of its evolution and theoretical integrity, based on the principles of heterogeneity and the interlevel nature of linguistic features. The main focus is on the theoretical foundations of interpreting the system of parts of speech, which is formed according to the principles of functional-categorial grammar.

Attention is drawn to the hierarchy of semantic, syntactic, and morphological criteria that determine the heterogeneous approach to classifying lexico-grammatical word classes. Language units are initially divided into four classes of parts of speech according to their inherent set of heterogeneous criteria: semantic in three dimensions, syntactic in a two-tier interpretation, morphological with consideration of the entire set of grammatical categories and paradigms, as well as logical and word-formation criteria as auxiliary ones.

The noun and the verb are characterized by a full set of features and are therefore assigned to the core of the parts-of-speech system; the adjective and the adverb, which lack certain features, are classified as belonging to the peripheral zone of parts of speech. Subsequently, the periphery of full-meaning words was also expanded to include a third morphological class – numerals, in view of their semantic specificity (initially, the scholar regarded numerals as lexical morphemes). Pronouns were not granted an independent part-of-speech status, since they duplicate the semantic, syntactic, and morphological features of other parts-of-speech classes; instead, they were interpreted as nominal, adjectival, adverbial, and numeral subclasses.

Prepositions, conjunctions, particles, and copulas were placed outside the category of words proper and were assigned the status of functional words-morphemes. Sentence-interjections, onomatopoeic sentence-words, and particle-sentences were classified as non-part-of-speech sentence-words.

Within the framework of the five-component system of parts of speech, five types of transposition were distinguished: substantivation, verbalization, adjectivization, adverbialization, and numeralization.

Keywords: functional-categorial grammar, heterogeneous classification, parts of speech, noun, verb, adjective, numeral, adverb, analytic syntactic morphemes.

REFERENCES

Vykhovanets, I.R. (1988). Parts of speech in the semantic-grammatical aspect. Kyiv: Naukova dumka (in Ukrainian).
Vykhovanets, I.R. (1997). Types of Transposition. Current Issues in Grammar (pp. 57–60). Kirovohrad: KDPU im. V. Vynnychenka (in Ukrainian).
Vykhovanets, I., & Horodenska, K. (2004). Theoretical Morphology of the Ukrainian Language. Kyiv: Univers. vyd-vo “Pulsary” (in Ukrainian).
Vykhovanets, I. (2012). The verb–noun grammatical type of the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian language, 2, 3–10 (in Ukrainian).
Vykhovanets, I.R., Horodenska, K.H., Zahnitko, A.P., & Sokolova, S.O. (2017). Grammar of modern Ukraіnіan lіterary language. Morphology. Kyiv: Vydavnychyi dim Dmytra Buraho (in Ukrainian).

Received 11.01.2026   Аpproved 19.03.2026   Рublished 00.04.2026