A New Classification of the Parts of Speech in Modern Bulgarian. Taxonomic Terms and Principles Cover Image

Нова класификация на частите на речта в съвременния български език. Таксономични термини и принципи
A New Classification of the Parts of Speech in Modern Bulgarian. Taxonomic Terms and Principles

Author(s): Konstantin Kutsarov
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Morphology, Philology
Published by: Институт за български език „Проф. Любомир Андрейчин“, Българска академия на науките
Keywords: parts of speech; word classes; taxonomy; classification criteria; discursive; Bulgarian language

Summary/Abstract: In building my classification model, I have made several important theoretical updates and justifications. I take the term “word class” to be more accurate than “part of speech”, since the subject of discussion is the typological segmentation of lexemes. In this sense, the characteristics expressed by a word independently, without the need for context, acquire special significance in a taxonomy. Most prominently, these features are a word’s morphologically (inflectionally) conditioned grammatical meanings that make up the relevant morphological categories. This is the reason why in classifying variable lexemes in Bulgarian, I attribute a primary role to the morphological factor. I put forward the idea that a word class should include words with the same formative potential, expressing respectively the same grammemes and morphological categories. As a further condition for distinguishing an autonomous class, I propose a requirement that at least one semantically specific morphological category should be expressed.When establishing the taxonomic work base, I do not ignore the logical-semantic and the syntactic operational criteria. According to the former, words are defined as denotative or non-denotative, designators, attributes, attributes of attributes, substituting words, etc. According to the latter, lexemes belonging to one and the same part of speech must have identical syntactic functions. This factor takes on a leading role in the classification of invariable words.

  • Issue Year: 70/2023
  • Issue No: Special
  • Page Range: 60-72
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Bulgarian