The problem of the part of speech classification in the modern linguistics

Abstract

Introduction. All words of a language are divided into classes which are called parts of speech. Parts of speech are the main component of the morphological level in the language system and the starting point for any research. The concept of the speech parts as an objective grammatical classification of words is valuable for economical and adequate language descriptions. Moreover, parts of speech are an important source of human cognitive activity and means of categorization. The reference to a certain lexical-grammatical class determines the peculiarities of a language unit in speech, hence it demonstrates the importance of the parts of speech classification in the teaching of foreign languages. In this respect the controversial issues of the part of speech theory are considered to be one of the main tasks of modern linguistics. The polyfunctional and syncretic character of some words contributes to the complexity of creating a universal part of speech theory.
Purpose. The aim of this study was to analyze the solving of the speech parts’ differentiation and to outline the prospects of this theory.
Methods. The issue of the speech parts classification has been examined in detail by means of the inductive and deductive methods for analyzing and synthesizing scientific theories and concepts.
Results. The modern linguistics focuses on the description of the speech parts in different languages and on the search for grammatical features and oppositions that characterize speech parts for different language types. The aim of the modern grammatical theory is to reveal the universal component and to explain its existence. The universal character of the speech parts can be outlined as follows: a) the text of any language is segmented into parts which can be correlated with the word; b) these parts differ from each other; and c) all these parts are determined by the affinity of human thinking.
In the parts of speech theory there is a row of controversial aspects: the number of speech parts; units that are classified as parts of speech; the main property (grammatical, lexical-grammatical or semantic) of a part of speech; the hierarchy of parts of speech; and the reference of some words to a certain part of speech.
Conclusion. The prospects of the part of speech theory are in the recognition of their universal character, in the consideration and differentiation of syncretic units and words.