Aspects of Numeral Research in Ukrainian Linguistics at the Beginning of the 21st Century

The article is dedicated to interpreting the modern understanding of numerals as a part of speech through the prism of both traditional and contemporary grammatical frameworks and new scientific paradigms. It is demonstrated that despite the peripheral nature of this linguistic component, research aspects related to the study of numerals are far from being exhausted today. In the 20th century, numerals were predominantly examined within a focus on traditional grammar and functional grammar, establishing both broad and narrow understandings. In the 21st century, numerals have started to be studied within the realms of the pragmatic, linguocognitive, and linguoconceptual knowledge paradigms, particularly within the perspectives of the emerging linguistic directions such as the poetic grammar, the theory of precedentness, the discourse linguistics, the morphology of evaluation, the grammatical stylistics, as well as the comparative-historical and comparative-contrastive linguistics. It has been established that Ukrainian researchers pay attention to the peculiarities of English numerals, which is associated with its globalization function, and conduct a comparative analysis of the Ukrainian numeral with the English numeral. They also update works on the uniqueness of expressing the concept of quantity through different linguistic units. Separate studies focused on the study of the English numeral are proposed, which is important since English is practically a mandatory subject in secondary schools and universities in Ukraine. Therefore, such research has great significance not only for linguistics but also for didactics. It is noted that the Ukrainian numeral possesses significant potential for modelling evaluative meanings, expression, and artistic linguistic devices. The pragmatic power of certain numerals has been noted, as they have the ability to serve as markers of imagery, emotionality, axiology, expressiveness, and the idiolect of the writer in general. The perspective of research outlined includes the necessity of conducting comparative studies of Ukrainian and English languages, particularly focusing on the morphology of evaluation. Key words: grammar, evaluative meanings, modern scientific trends, numeral, functional load.