The paper is focused on infinitive utterances (IU) expressing the meaning of undesirability, or
counter-optative IU (Ne spuskat’sya by k dvorniku), with verbs of the lexical-semantic group (LSG) of emotional state (according to the classification by L. G. Babenko). Special attention
is paid to the verb aspect, the temporal vector of the IU, and the presence of the potential
seme of a negative evaluation of the denoted situation in the meaning of the verb. The selectivity of the syntactic model under consideration towards verbs of the LSG of emotional state
is investigated. The following prerequisites for a verb of emotional state to be used in a counter-optative IU were determined: the presence of the potential seme of a negative evaluation
of the denoted situation in the meaning of the verb, the imperfect aspect of the latter, and the
future temporal perspective of the whole utterance. Also, counter-optative infinitive utterances were found to demonstrate quite a high degree of selectivity in using the words of LSG of
emotional state. The results show that when selecting verbs to be the main component
of counter-optative infinitive utterances, preference is given to imperfective verbs of emotional state. The future temporal perspective (the prospective and prospective-consequent temporal vector) is a condition that enables selecting the verbs of emotional state in counter-
optative infinitive utterances. The factors contributing to the use of verbs of the LSG of emotional state in counter-optative infinitive utterances, or conversely, preventing their use, are to
be studied further.
Dymarskiy M. Ya. Infinitivnye vyskazyvaniia so znacheniem nezhelatel’nosti: vid,
vre mia, litso, tipovye znacheniia [“Counter-optative” infinitive constructions in Russian: aspect, tense, person, and variation of the categorical meaning]. Voprosy Jazykoznanija (Topics in the study of language). 2015, no. 5, pp. 26–48.
Dymarskiy M. Ya., Van Aytsyu. Glagoly rechevoy deyatel’nosti v infinitivnykh vyskazyvaniyakh so znacheniyem nezhelatel’nosti [Verbs of speech activity in the infinitive statements with the undesirability meaning]. Izvestia: Herzen University Journal of
Humanities & Sciences. 2017, no. 184, pp. 50–57.
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