Infinitive utterances with counteroptative meaning: preliminary observations

The counteroptative subtype of infinitive optative clauses / utterances is considered which corresponds to the model Не + Inf + бы and expresses the undesirability of some situation from the speaker’s point of view. The description is conducted from the standpoint of an approach based on the idea of the three-level system of syntactic models, i.e. language models, speech patterns, and models of utterances. The Не + Inf + бы model is treated as a speech pattern derived directly from the language model Inf. Varying the verb aspect gives rise to two models of utterances based on this speech pattern: 1) with the perfective infinitive; 2) with the imperfective one. A general semantic difference between these two models is shown: statements with a perfective infinitive name the undesirable event directly ( Не надорваться бы тебе ), while utterances with an imperfective infinitive denote only an action which has entailed or may entail the undesirable event ( Не ходить бы вам туда ). For a more precise description of the semantic shades of counteroptative statements, two features are taken into account, in addition to the aspect of the infinitive: the personal attribution and the temporal characteristics of the utterance. The notion of temporal vector of an infinitive utterance is proposed, relying, in particular, on the borrowed from thermodynamics concept of point of bifurcation (the moment of dualizing the way). The temporal vector of the utterance is treated as the location of the bifurcation point and the event / action named by the infinitive on the time axis with respect to the point of narration. Temporal vector can be prospective, prospective-consequential, zero, retrospective and retrospective-antecedent. The latter, however, occurs only in counterfactual, not counteroptative statements ( Без революции не жениться бы ему на дочке композитора ). When attributing to the 1st person the counteroptative meaning of the utterance turns into quasi-optativity ( Не расставаться бы нам ), but in the case of the perfective aspect, accompanied with the prospective temporal vector, the basic meaning transforms into an apprehension / threat ( Не опоздать бы нам к поезду / Не убить бы мне тебя ). When attributing to the 2nd person the counteroptative meaning of the utterance turns into a threat / warning, if the prospective or prospective-consequential temporal vector is accompanied by a perfective infinitive ( Гляди, не заплакать бы тебе, Ефим! /... не доспеть бы тебе стыда-срама великого и через тебя племени укору и поносу бездельного ). In case of combination of zero temporal vector, 2nd person attribution and imperfective infinitive the meaning of advice arises ( Не опускать бы тебе рук ), when turning the temporal vector into retrospective - the meaning of regret ( Ах, матушка, не отдавать бы тебе меня лиходеям! ).