The Perception of the Pronoun by M. Abeghyan

Abstract

The article examines M. Abeghyan’s classification of parts of speech, his use of the term խոսք (“word/speech”), and issues related to the part-of-speech status of pronouns, as well as their semantic characteristics. In traditional grammar, it is generally accepted that Manouk Abeghyan’s classification of parts of speech is based primarily on syntactic principles. However, an analysis of pronouns reveals that, alongside syntactic criteria, Abeghyan also takes into account a distinctive semantic-functional feature of these words—namely, that they do not name objects or qualities directly but substitute for entities or features that have already been named.

Rather than adhering to the established part-of-speech classifications of his time, Manuk Abeghyan follows European and Russian linguistic traditions, placing at the core of his system principles that reflect the specific characteristics of the Armenian language and aiming to construct an independent classification.

As a result, the pronoun is not recognized by Manouk Abeghyan as an independent part of speech (or type of word). Nevertheless, he acknowledges and describes the existence of personal, demonstrative, interrogative, reciprocal, relative, indefinite, and possessive pronouns in Armenian, treating them as distinct subtypes of nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.