Notes for a study on the future optative

  • Antonio Lillo Universidad de Murcia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25145/j.fortunat.2020.32.21
Keywords: Oblique optative, future optative, future indicative, inference, evidentiality

Abstract

The future optative is mainly found in indirect discourse constructions dependent on a past tense main verb, but the indicative form may also appear; so it could be thought that both forms are commutable and that the future optative form would function as the oblique mode of the future indicative. In our opinion, future optative is not a mere doublet of the future indicative or a mere relative timestamp referred to a future situation from the perspective of the past. In Herodotus, the future optative presents the action as an inference referred to a future situation, while in Thucydides, from this inferential value a new value is developed that we could call as of uncertain validity or of non-commitment to truthfulness regarding the fulfillment of the action.

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Portada nº 32 (2020)
Published
2020-12-15
How to Cite
Lillo, Antonio. 2020. “Notes for a Study on the Future Optative”. Fortunatae, no. 32 (December), 313-24. https://doi.org/10.25145/j.fortunat.2020.32.21.
Issue
No 32 (2020)
Section
Artículos

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