Deformations of circle-valued Morse functions on surfaces

Let $M$ be a smooth connected orientable compact surface. Denote by $F(M,S^1)$ the space of all Morse functions $f:M\to S^1$ having no critical points on the boundary of $M$ and such that for every boundary component $V$ of $M$ the restriction $f|_{V}:V\to S^1$ is either a constant map or a covering map. Endow $F(M,S^1)$ with the $C^{\infty}$-topology. In this note the connected components of $F(M,S^1)$ are classified. This result extends the results of S. V. Matveev, V. V. Sharko, and the author for the case of Morse functions being locally constant on the boundary of $M$.