On the Problem of Parts of Speech Identification in the English Language: A Historical Overview

Yurii Kovbasko

doi:10.5755/j01.sal.0.36.24312

Abstract

The paper focuses on the problem of identifying parts of speech in the historical perspective covering the period of 1700–2019. It provides an insight into classical Greek and Latin approaches to exploring parts of speech, which lay foundation for further formation of the English tradition of parts of speech identification. More than 400 genuine grammar books, comprising variegated approaches towards parts of speech classifications that were used to functioning and are currently adopted in the English language, were analysed. The research suggests that classical approaches, Greek and Latin, in particular, had a profound impact on establishing the original English tradition in parts of speech identification. Since the period of standardisation (the 18th century) in the English grammar tradition, over 30 different classifications have been in use, either becoming popular and applicable in the English language or going into disuse. In the present paper, all classifications are analysed in detail and arranged into 5 groups and 13 subgroups, respectively.

Highlights

The research suggests that classical approaches, Greek and Latin, in particular, had a profound impact on establishing the original English tradition in parts of speech identification
Due to its well-known nature, it seems that PoS identification is just taken for granted, whereas very few grammarians try to introduce a new vision of the problem being limited by either apparent simplicity of the issue, which requires no additional explanation, refinement or reanalysis; or unwillingness to reshape what has been formed for centuries
We argue that dealing with English, it is necessary not to follow classical Greek and Latin traditions, but to describe Old English lexical units and evolve the system which would mirror the English grammar

Summary

Introduction

The Stoic grammarians started a new period in the history of PoS identification, which to a great extent resembles the modern one, comprising nouns, verbs, articles, pronouns (all 4 PoS were inflected) and adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions (which were uninflected). The scholar divided PoS into 8 classes with comprehensive definitions: noun, verb, participle, article, pronoun, preposition, adverb, conjunction (Thrax in Davidson’s translation, 1874). This, provided a possibility to introduce 8 PoS, cf Varro, who, applying only a morphological principle, distinguished only 4 PoS, or Plato, thinking of proposition as a semantic kernel of a sentence, named just 2 PoS, etc Another issue under discussion must become the literal translation of the PoS names, predominantly, copied from the Greek grammar into Latin, without paying enough attention to the differences in the languages’ structures.

Preposition

Conclusion