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「わしもじゃ」
友蔵が出おくれまいと言いそえた。
"Me too" added Tomozou, not wanting to get a late start.

So I eventually figured out that まい was negative volitional (I hope I'm right) then got stuck thinking that と was quotative and couldn't make any sense of it. The context doesn't really fit with him saying that he won't get at late start

I'm now thinking that と is actually making the previous phrase adverbial, resulting in my above translation. Have I got this correct?

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You can think of the ～まいと as ～まいとして.

～うと・～ようと ⇒　～うとして・～ようとして "trying to~~"
～まいと ⇒　～まいとして "trying not to~~"

Examples:

  • 子供を助けようと川に飛び込んだ。⇒ 子供を助けようとして川に飛び込んだ。
  • 涙を見せまいと背を向ける ⇒ 涙を見せまいとして背を向ける
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  • Yourself and @naruto give quite different answers, both of which seem very convincing. Do you think that both interpretations are equally likely? I'd like to know how a Japanese person thinks when they hear this sentence, because for me the structure was clearly the usual "quoteと言う" until I realised that it wasn't. Do you have to stop and think about the meaning or is it immediately clear? – user3856370 Jan 6 '17 at 8:54
  • ～まいと can be rephrased as ～まいと思って depending on the context, but here in your specific example I think it'd sound more natural if you rephrased it as ～まいとして. As for your 2nd question: In your example, it's immediately clear; your brain (unconsciously) sees the omitted quotative と attached to the previous line, reading it as 「『わしもじゃ』 と 、友蔵が出おくれまいと(して)言いそえた」 – Chocolate♦ Jan 6 '17 at 10:03
  • Thanks for your clarification. I think I didn't make my second question clear enough though. I'm happy with the implied と on わしもじゃ. My question was about whether filling the gap with として was so obvious to you that you didn't need to think about it. Or whether you had to pause for a moment and choose from either your meaning or naruto's meaning, for example. I guess what I'm asking is, if Naruto had said this sentence to you (with his meaning) would you have instantly heard it with your meaning, or would you have thought "hold on, that's a bit ambiguous, but he must mean として"? – user3856370 Jan 6 '17 at 10:21
  • To me it was obvious and I didn't need to pause to think about it. ～まいと思って+V and ～まいとして+V mean almost the same thing. I don't think it would be ambiguous. I just think ～まいとして would be a little bit more natural for your sentence here. – Chocolate♦ Jan 6 '17 at 17:26
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This use of と means not saying 出遅れまい, but thinking 出遅れまい. You can think 思って is omitted after the と. The "quotative" particle is often used this way. Like in this example, Even と directly before 言う can sometimes be "..., thinking ..., ..." You can tell only from the context.

See also:

| improve this answer | |
  • Yourself and @chocolate give quite different answers, both of which seem very convincing. Do you think that both interpretations are equally likely? I'd like to know how a Japanese person thinks when they hear this sentence, because for me the structure was clearly the usual "quoteと言う" until I realised that it wasn't. Do you have to stop and think about the meaning or is it immediately clear? – user3856370 Jan 6 '17 at 8:54

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