28653
> 「それじゃあ放課後、茶道室に来て下さい。  
>  そこでこれからのことを話し合いましょう」
>
> 先輩は校舎のほうへ走っていく。  
>  それに遅れ **まいと** 、こっちも校舎へと走り出した。

Why is the negative volitional used in the last sentence?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-13T16:40:48.403
28648
2015-10-14T04:22:11.930
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
11352
question
grammar particle-と volitional-form
Negative volitional+と
## Construction and meaning

You might have already encountered the positive volitional + と: this indicates
something that the subject is _trying to do_ , such as 店{みせ}に行{い} **こうと** する:
_to try to go_ to the store. The final verb is what is happening, and the
volitional verb before it is a kind of dependent hoped-for result: " _suru_
**so as to** _iku_ to the store".

The positive form of your example above would be: 遅{おく}れ **ようと** …走り出した: "[I]
ran off _to try to be later_ [than my sempai]" → "[I] ran off _so I would be
later_ [than my sempai]".

From this construction, we simply change it to the negative form: 遅れ **まいと**
…走り出した: "[I] ran off _to try to not be later_ [than my sempai]" → "[I] ran off
_so I wouldn't [get there] later_ [than my sempai]".

This construction using the negative volitional + と appears to be less common
and it might be somewhat old-fashioned. In everyday usage, I'm more accustomed
to seeing negative + ように, such as 遅れ **ないように** …走り出した. A few Google searches
broadly corroborate this general impression, but a native speaker could give
more definitive feedback.

## Derivation

The -まい negative volitional ending most likely comes from the classical
volitional / presumptive ending -む. Modern -まい grew out of classical -まじ that
conjugated almost like a classical _-shi/-ki_ adjective (modern _-i_
adjective). This -まじ appears to be a compound of ま (the 未然形{みぜんけい} "irrealis
or incomplete form" of む) + じ, an alternative negative volitional /
presumptive ending (appearing in the
[_Man'yōshū_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB) and [_The
Tale of Genji_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji), among other
older works). However, the conjugation similar to a _-shi/-ki_ adjective
suggests some influence from adjectivizing suffix じ, which Shogakukan
describes as attaching to nouns and indicating "that kind of quality".

### More history - the modern volitional

Note that the classical volitional / presumptive ending -む evolved into the
modern volitional. For regular 五段{ごだん}活用{かつよう} ("five-step conjugation", i.e.
type 1) verbs where the ending changes, the -む suffix attaches to the
未然形{みぜんけい} ("irrealis or incomplete form"), the stem form ending in _-a_ ,
resulting in _-amu_. Over time, the _-mu_ suffix lost the "m" sound to become
just _-u_ , with the combination becoming _-au_. This diphthong then shifted
into a long "o" sound, resulting in the modern volitional ending.

For the simpler 一段{いちだん}活用{かつよう} ("one-step conjugation", i.e. type 2) verbs,
the derivation is a little more complicated. Here too, the -む suffix attaches
to the 未然形{みぜんけい} ("irrealis or incomplete form"), but the _mizenkei_ for
these verbs ends in either _-i_ or _-e_ -- the same stem ending for all forms.
As the _-mu_ suffix lost its "m", the resulting _-imu_ or _-emu_ endings
become _-iu_ or _-eu_. These diphthongs similarly shifted, producing a
contracted _-yō_ , such as in classical 上{あ}ぎょう or 見{み}ょう. That contracted
_-yō_ was then reanalyzed as a non-contracted suffix on its own, and was then
added back onto the _mizenkei_ stem of _-i_ or _-e_ , producing the modern
_-iyō_ and _-eyō_ endings.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-13T23:38:25.027
28653
2015-10-14T04:22:11.930
2015-10-14T04:22:11.930
5229
5229
28648
answer