Semantic and syntactic features of the verbs bati se ʽto fearʼ and upati (si/se) ʽto hope; to dareʼ in the Slovenian sentence

Abstract

Compared to the modal verbs of desire and possibility, the verbs bati se 'to fear', upati 'to hope', upati si/se 'to dare' are semantically more complex, since they combine the meanings of 'negative desire' (bati se - to fear), 'desire, expectation' (upati - to hope) and 'ability, evaluation' (upati si – to dare).

The verbs bati se (to fear) and upati (to hope) allow for a large selection of aspectual-temporal forms and modal shades in sentential complements (subordinate clauses). For instance, they can take a perfective verb in the past tense, which is impossible with verbs of desire, cf.: Boji se / Upa, da so prodali stanovanje (He is afraid / hopes that the apartment was sold) as opposed to *Želi / Hoče / Zahteva, da so prodali stanovanje (*He wants / demands that the apartment was sold), etc.

Unlike bati se and upati, the reflexive verb upati si/se 'dare' cannot take a direct object since that valency is blocked by the reflexive morpheme se/si, hence, only infinitve complements are allowed, e.g.: Upa si vprašati (He dares to ask) in contrast to *Upa si, da bi vprašal (*He dares in order to ask) / *Upa si vprašanje (*He dares the question).

We have shown that, from the point of view of information value (information about the action), infinitive complements are half-way between sentential and nominal complements. Compared to sentence-like complements, infinitive complements allow for a clearer distinction between the grammatical properties of the matrix predicate (bati se, upati (si / se)) and those of the complement, expressed by the infinitive. In combinations with the infinitive, the matrix predicate displays the features of time and mood, while the infinitive expresses aspect and valency.

The stylistically marked use of both bati se and upati transfers the emphasis to epistemic modality: Bojim se, da pa pri tem nimate prav (I’m afraid you are wrong about this) in the sense of 'Morda pa pri tem nimate prav' (Perhaps you are not right about this).

The verbs in question along with some of their semantic and syntactic features outlined above represent a semantic, syntactic and stylistic link between the content verbs of speaking, thinking, feeling, on the one hand, and modal verbs expressing desire and ability, on the other. This is confirmed by their ability to be used as content verbs or semi-content modal-like verbs in combination with infinitive or sentential complements.

We hope that this article will stimulate further study of the syntactic properties and features of the verbs bati se, upati and upati si/se, which may, in turn, facilitate a better, more comprehensive lexical description of these, as well as of other, semantically similar, verbs in Slovenian. It will also be of interest to compare the peculiarities of Slovenian modal verbs with their equivalents in other Slavic languages.