Formal semantics constitutes the framework of the research presented here, and the aim is to provide a solution to the imperfective paradox; i.e. explain why \Max was running" entails \Max ran", but \Max was running home" does not entail \Max ran home". This paper is divided into two parts. In Part I we evaluate what I will call the Eventual Outcome Strategy for solving the imperfective paradox...

This paper brings new evidence to bear on the topic of the Imperfective Paradox – a semantic puzzle involving tense-aspectual categories that lack completion entailments. The lack of completion entailments is usually associated with the so-called progressive and conative readings, illustrated in the Russian sentences in (1) and (2) respectively. In these examples, the matrix event described by ...

In the Alabama language an imperfective aspect can be formed by geminating the onset consonant or lengthening the vowel of the penultimate syllable of a word. The imperfective morpheme consists of a single mora (with a linked high tone), and I demonstrate that whether gemination or lengthening takes place follows directly from a ranking of relevant constraints. The current optimality analysis d...

Abstract: The current research examines how the representation of imagined events is constrained by Grammatical Aspect (imperfective/perfective), Lexical Aspect (activities/accomplishments), and first versus third person perspective taking. In one experiment, participants imagined events based on written cues that framed events as completed or as ongoing (e.g., I was exercising). In a follow-up...

Such verbs contain two or more prefixes and the imperfective suffix. In a given context they behave as either unambiguous perfective or unambiguous imperfective verbs, so their grammatical status is fully resolved. Now, this behavior fails to be revealed by the standard diagnostic tests used to determine the perfective or imperfective status of Russian verbs (see Section 3): under those tests, ...

Aspect contributes important temporal information for the construction of situation models in the human mind. Previous studies examining the effect of grammatical aspect on accomplishment verbs (e.g. bake a cake) show that perfective sentences/utterances are processed faster than imperfective ones (Madden & Zwaan, 2003; Chan et al., 2004; Yap et al., 2004, in press). The present study, however,...

Temporal information is important in the construction of situation models, and many languages make use of perfective and imperfective aspect markers to distinguish between completed situations (e.g., He made a cake) and ongoing situations (e.g., He is making a cake). Previous studies in which the effect of grammatical aspect has been examined have shown that perfective sentences are often proce...