Verbs to linger and to tarry: semantics and functioning

The verbs to linger and to tarry are described in dictionaries in a circle framework; the seme ‘very’ is ascribed to both verbs. The purpose of the article is to study the meaning and characteristic features of the above mentioned verbs (on the basis of the National Corpus of the Russian Language). The verb to linger is associated with the indicators of both objective and subjective time; the verb to tarry - with the indicators of subjective time only. We define the temporal meaning of the verbs as ‘an event (action) B, which does not follow right after the event (action) A’. If a speaker estimates the time domain between events (actions) as lasting for a long time’ then to linger may express this time domain in objective and subjective systems of time coordinates, and to tarry - only in subjective one. In some constructions, the verbs are indifferent to the choice of time coordinates. In negative constructions with the modal framework, the analyzed verbs are indicative of undesirable (prohibitive) time domain. The verb to tarry is used in negative participial constructions as an expressive means denoting the absence of time domain. The verb to linger is used in negative constructions with the modal framework as an instrument of emotional and evaluative text formation. The verbs to linger and to tarry may represent the meaning ‘event (action) B, which does not follow right after the event (action) A’ and involves no estimation of time domain. In the genre of sports’ broadcasts the verbs may be used interchangeably. In other cases (according to the newspaper corpus), the verb to linger is used. Thus lexicographic description of the seme ‘very’ should be inherent to the verb to tarry but not to verb to linger.