Particle “tolko” in Space of Literary Text (on Works by Boris Vasilyev)

Abstract

The article is devoted to stylistic aspect of the functioning of Russian particles. The functionality of the particles as a means of creating stylistic techniques and idiostyle of the writer are discussed. By example of one of the most frequent inter-style particles with a restrictive semantics - the word tolko ‘only’ - the implementation of the semantic-pragmatic properties of the particles in the space of the fiction text is shown. It is determined that the principal manifestations of the semantics of restrictiveness (evaluation of a feature as the only one and evaluation of a feature as insignificant, unimportant one) typical to tolko create a database to use particles for creating an image of character, and to express the main ideas in works by Boris Vasilyev. In particular, on the material of the story “Do not shoot the white swans” the role of the particle tolko is described as a marker of the meaning ‘insignificant’ in creating the image of the protagonist. It is shown that the author of the novel uses the techniques of repetition and gradation: in constructions of the type not X, but only Y , where the positions of X and Y are replaced by predicates, the action of Y is evaluated as insufficiently active against the background of the negative (explicitly or implicitly) expected active action. It is proved that the use of structures with a particle ‘only’ allows the writer to emphasize the main features of the the central character - meekness, irresponsibility and so on. The conducted research allows to supplement the general picture of functioning of tolko ‘only’ in the modern Russian language

Keywords

• particles
• semantics
• pragmatics
• stylistic aspect
• stylistic technique
• stylistic effect