Abstract Perfective stem allomorphy and stress are morphological traits which interact in complex ways Romance verbal inflection. This article surveys the whole range of variation these across varieties, typologizes observed interactions between two, examines attested unattested possibilities. A comparison modern-day original Latin systems suggests that there is a strong pan-Romance bias agains...

In this paper we address the common claim that perfective verbs presuppose the initial phase (or a process part) of events denoted by them, and assert their final phase (or a culmination part), while the meaning of imperfective verbs lacks both these components. Different formulations of this claim have been proposed by Padučeva (1996, 2011) and Romanova (2006) for Russian, and by Dočekal and K...

This squib investigates parallels between nominal and verbal comparatives. Building on key insights of Hackl (2001) and Bale and Barner (2009), we show that more behaves uniformly when it combines with nominal and verbal predicates: (i) it cannot combine with singular count NPs or perfective telic VPs; (ii) grammatical properties of the predicates determine the scale of comparison–plural marked...

This work investigates first-language (L1) influence on second-language (L2) acquisition of embedded aspect, comparing participants with homogeneous L1 background (Russian) in Greece (L2 Standard Modern Greek) and Cyprus (L2 Cypriot Greek), where verb complementation takes a finite form instead of an infinitival as in Russian. The focus of the experimental study is on those embedded sentential ...

This paper makes two claims about non-finite constituents headed by the affixes -tu/-i/-n/-Ø in Basque. First the semantics of these elements in modal contexts indicates that the standard analysis of these constituents as aspectual phrases is incorrect. We argue that -tu/i/-n/-Ø are merged as infinitival markers, which we take to be of category n. In perfective contexts the verb+-tu/-i/-n/-Ø ra...

We used an off-line story continuation task and an online ERP reading task to investigate coreferential processing following sentences that portrayed transfer-of-possession events as either ongoing or completed, using imperfective and perfective verb aspect (e.g., Amanda was shifting/shifted some poker chips to Scott). The story continuation task demonstrated that people were more likely to beg...