Re: Ablaut, hi-conjugation, stress alternation, etc

> It certainly does not surprise me that there can be honest
>disagreements about aspect and Aktionsart since our ideas about them
>are so subjectively tied to our personal understandings of the
>languages we speak.
>
> Nonetheless, I really believe that realistic definitions can be
>formulated.
>
> The major problem in this is that imperfective/perfective is
>indicated in many different ways.
>
> As an example:
>
> "He reads the Bible every night."
>
> Does this mean that he reads some passages from the Bible or reads
>the entire Bible?
>
> If we wish to indicate the perfective latter (however unlikely it
>may be), we might say:
>
> "He reads through the Bible every night."
>
> If we wish to make clear the imperfective former, we might say:
>
> "He reads in the Bible every night".
>
> In my opinion, this tells us two things:
>
> 1) that Germanic languages also have methods of indicating
>imperfective/perfective, fully comparable with Slavic, for qualifying
>verbal ideas; and

Germanic may express perfectivity by adding adverbs, Slavic by adding
preverbs.

> 2) that PIE probably did _not_ have the expression of this

distinction since there are so many variant ways of expressing it in
the derived languages.

Obviously the same method may be used in Slavic and Germanic, which
are the two PIE groups you mentioned. Non sequitur.

> On the other hand, as I have written, I believe the
>durative/punctual (*bhere-/*bher-) opposition was the bedrock of PIE
>verbal inflection.

Because?

> In my opinion, there is no necessary connection between perfective
>and punctual whatever we may find in any given language or language
>group.

> Perfective expresses a logical goal of an activity.

Some call it telic.

> Punctual expresses some point in time within the duration of the
> activity (inceptive/completive).

I think that was the point I was trying to make.

>
> As an example:
>
> "He is reading through the Bible for the fifth time."
>
> This is clearly perfective since it contemplates a logical and
>definite cessation of the activity; it is also unquestionably >durative.

If defined from outside world, yes.

> "He begins to read in the Bible."
>
> This is clearly imperfective since no logical or definite
>cessation of the activity is suggested; it is also unquestionably
>punctual.

As I said.


Torsten