VERB STRESS IN "THE FIRST READER FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS" BY A. KRUSHELNYTSKYI, O. POPOVYCH, B. LEPKYI (1918)
Authors: Hnatyuk M. 
Published: June 2024

The article traces the peculiarities of verb stress in "The First Reader for Public Schools" authored by A. Krushelnytskyi, O. Popovych, and B. Lepkyi (1918), which was one of the official textbooks for Ukrainian-speaking schools during the time of Austria-Hungary. The proposed publication introduces the textbook by the mentioned authors into the scientific linguistic circulation in the accentological aspect. The article identifies historically formed accentuation models, analyses the degree of their compliance with the norms of the time recorded in Western Ukrainian dictionaries and grammars of the late 19th - early 20th century, determines the possibility of their application in the modern literary language.
Research Objective: To define the conformity degree of accentuation in "The First Reader for Public Schools" (1918) by A. Krushelnytskyi, O. Popovych, and B. Lepkyi to the linguistic norms that were in effect in the Ukrainian-language education system of Austria-Hungary on the one hand, and to the requirements of the main Ukrainian Orthographies and grammars of the 20th – 21st centuries on the other. Source Base: "The First Reader for Public Schools" by A. Krushelnytskyi, O. Popovych, B. Lepkyi (1918); "Malorus’ka-German Dictionary" by Ye. Zhelekhivsky and S. Nedilsky (1886); "Grammar of the Rus’ka Language" by S. Smal’-Stotskyi and F. Gartner (1893). The research utilized the following methods: descriptive, comparative, statistical, comprehensive material selection, partially historical reconstruction.
Article Structure: Introduction, Literature Review, Presentation of the Main Material, Conclusions. The section "Presentation of the Main Material" includes the following subsections: "Features of Verbs Stress of the First Conjugation", "Features of Verbs Stress of the Second Conjugation", "Features of Irregular Verbs Stress". In the "The First Reader", a total of 900 verb word forms were identified. Of these, 866 usages (96 percent) conform to modern accentuation norms. In the section "Presentation of the Main Material", 34 verb stresses were analyzed, which do not correspond to the norms of modern Ukrainian literary language. It was found that 32 word forms conform to the norms that were in force in Halychyna and Bukovyna at the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. The indicated linguistic and cultural environment could have influenced the stress of certain verbal forms. In the "Conclusions" section, it is noted that the research results attest to the stability of basic verb stress in the Ukrainian literary language across time and space. Practically all accentuations in the "The First Reader for Public Schools" (1918), which differ from contemporary norms, corresponded to the standards of the Ukrainian literary language at that time. Therefore, the "The First Reader" exhibited a high degree of accentuation normativity. The accentuation norms in the "The First Reader" corresponded to the living literary language of Halychyna and Bukovyna at the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century.