Perfectivity in Russian in terms of telicity

This chapter examines the hypothesis of whether a one-to-one correspondence between telicity and perfectivity can be created. It argues on the basis of empirical data that telicity is neither a sufficient nor an essential condition for perfectivity. This denotes not only that perfectivity cannot be described in terms of telicity, but also that (im)perfectivity and (a)telicity are two fully independent aspectual phenomena. Thus, an alternative, ‘non-telic’ approach to perfectivity should be pursued.

Linguistics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation