----- Original Message -----From: tgpedersenSent: Friday, December 22, 2006 12:03 PMSubject: [tied] Re: Ablaut, hi-conjugation, stress alternation, etc> Last things first.
>
> I am sure the excellent Slavicists on this list will be able to
expand and amplify what I am about write.
>
> It is absolutely wrong to say that "preverbs made simple verbs
> punctual". Preverbs provide a wide variety of derivational nuances,
> only one of which is perfectivity. Perfectivity has nothing
> intrinsically to do with punctuality.
All preverbs make simple verbs punctual in Russian, from all I've heard.
That's good enough for me. And if the Russians can do it, so could the
PIEers.
Torsten
***Well, I am not a Slavicist by any means, so I will not characterize your statement as wrong but in my opinion it is.
The contrast in Russian, at least, is between perfective and imperfective.
The perfective preverb pro- produces prochitayu, 'I shall read _through_'. This, to me, is clearly durative rather than punctual.
Patrick
***