Functions of one-time occurrence verbs in I. Bunin’s short stories “Dark Alleys”

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of modern Russian verbs with the person subject based on the cycle of stories “Dark Alleys” by I. Bunin. The purpose of the article is a one-time occurrence verbs’ multi–level analysis taking into account several aspects, lexico-semantic and grammatical ones, through the prism of functional grammar. This analysis will reveal the features of the use of verbs with the meaning of one-time occurrence in I. Bunin’s idiostyle, and their role in revealing the main conceptual space of the author’s stories. The novelty of our research is the fact that we have taken into account the morphological and syntactic characteristics of the verbs, their features of compatibility with the circumstances of time, mode of action, measure and degree. We have established that the category of one-time occurrence functions in two groups (marked and unmarked one-time use), which have their own specific morphological characteristics, however, they are characterized by the fact that, as a rule, they are combined with time constants. The most frequent group of one-act verbs has been identified, namely: verbs with the suffix – nu (ну) -. This interpretation has made it possible to analyze in more detail the linguistic phenomenon of I. Bunin, to reveal the author’s individual picture of the world. The analysis of the linguistic material allowed us to conclude that the functioning of the verbs with the meaning of one-time occurrence in fictional discourse helps to identify the author’s perception of reality based on the unity of rational and emotional elements.