When Russian is more perfective than Spanish

Authors

  • Antonio Fábregas UiT, The Arctic University of Norway
  • Laura Alexis Janda UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

Keywords:

perfective, imperfective, onset boundaries, states, modals

Abstract

In this article we analyze cases in which Spanish imperfective aspect is equivalent to Russian perfective forms, a topic that has received very little attention in the literature. We argue that a crucial difference between perfectives in both languages is the relevance of the starting point of the event. Russian adopts an aspectual perspective from within an extended event, which gives access to the initial boundary to determine that an event is not unbounded; Spanish adopts a perspective from outside the event, and evaluates therefore only whether there is a closing boundary or not. The mismatches studied here derive from this difference, and also from the independent fact that Russian expresses aspectual distinctions independently from mood, while Spanish uses imperfective aspect to express some modal notions.

En este trabajo analizamos casos en que el imperfectivo español equivale a un perfectivo ruso, un tema que ha recibido poca atención en la bibliografía. Argumentamos que la diferencia crucial entre los perfectivos de ambas lenguas es la relevancia del límite inicial de la eventualidad. El ruso adopta una perspectiva interna al evento, por lo que puede acceder al límite inicial para determinar que el evento está delimitado, mientras que el español adopta una perspectiva externa al evento, lo que le lleva a evaluar un evento como no delimitado si falta el límite final. Las faltas de equivalencia estudiadas aquí derivan de esta diferencia, así como del hecho independiente de que el ruso expresa las distinciones aspectuales con independencia del modo, mientras que el español usa el imperfectivo para expresar ciertas nociones modales.

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Author Biographies

Antonio Fábregas, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

Department of Language and Cultureprofessor

Laura Alexis Janda, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway

Department of Language and Cultureprofessor

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Published

2019-12-30

How to Cite

Fábregas, A., & Janda, L. A. (2019). When Russian is more perfective than Spanish. Mundo Eslavo, (18), 20–39. Retrieved from https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/meslav/article/view/17675

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Section

Articles