THE NEGATED IMPERATIVE IN OLD RUSSIAN

 This article is devoted to the study of the functions of the forms of the negated imperative in Old Russian. In modern Russian, the negated imperative is mainly imperfective. Moreover, negated imperatives of different aspects have different meanings: the imperfective imperative has a prohibitive meaning, whereas the perfective imperative has a preventive meaning. In Old Russian, the negated imperfective imperative also dominates, although the negated perfective imperative is used more widely than in modern Russian. Research reveals that the functional opposition of preventive (Pfv.) vs prohibitive (Impfv.), which is a clear general trend in modern Russian, was not yet fully formed in Old Russian. Old Russian texts, in comparison with modern Russian ones, demonstrate more free aspectual competition in negative contexts: the functional differences between forms of negated Pfv. and Impfv. imperatives were largely based on the differences in their aspectual semantics. Pragmatic functions were an additional component. Subse- quently, in the process of its historical development, the perfective aspect has narrowed its functionality and become less commonly used with negated imperatives.