УКРАЇНСЬКО-ПОЛЬСЬКИЙ ДІЄСЛІВНИЙ КОНТИНУУМ У ЩОДЕННИКОВОМУ ДИСКУРСІ ХVІІІ СТ.

This article examines the functioning of personal verb forms in the past tense in the Ukrainian language of the 18th century. Special attention is paid to the "Diary" of General Khorunzhyi Mykola Khanenko – a unique masterpiece of private writing that reflects the living language and everyday realities of that time. The authors substantiate the importance of diary entries as a valuable linguistic source that allows for the identification of archaic forms, the influence of other languages, and the presence of parallel grammatical constructions, all of which indicate the transitional nature of the 18th century language. A significant part of the research involves a critical review of previous assertions about the Russian-language nature of M. Khanenko’s "Diary". The authors argue that a significant portion of Ukrainian linguistic features might have been leveled and "fitted" to the Russian language of the mid-to-late 19th century during the preparation of the text for printing. This can be confirmed by a comparative analysis of publications of diary entries from different years and editions. The article emphasizes the dual influence on the Ukrainian language of the 18th century: on one hand, the still powerful Ukrainian-Polish tradition of using past tense forms, which shared features with other Slavic languages; on the other hand, the shift of Ukrainian Left-Bank chancelleries to the Russian Imperial business standard. This influence, accompanied by political pressure and attempts to remove the Ukrainian language from the unified "East Slavic" area, led to the gradual destruction of common features and the branding of some forms as "relics". Based on a detailed analysis of M. Khanenko’s "Diary", quantitative data are determined, and contextual examples of the use of personal past tense forms are provided (1st person singular: -eмъ, -oмъ; 2nd person singular: -есь; 3rd person singular: -лъ; 1st person plural: -смo, -сьмo, -сьмся). It was found that, despite the genre specificity of a diary, which implies the dominance of the singular, plural forms prevail in M. Khanenko’s entries. The author used these forms exclusively to denote actions performed by several people. A significant observation is that the last recorded use of such forms in the diary entries is dated 1743, which may indicate their gradual disappearance from written practice under the influence of socio-political factors – the imperial language policy aimed at bringing the Ukrainian language closer to Russian. The last recorded instance of the 3rd person singular feminine form was in 1749.