Aspect interpretation in Russian – a pragmatic account

The Russian imperfective aspect poses considerable problems for a systematic account of its semantics and interpretation. These difficulties result mainly from neglecting the role of pragmatics in both domains. Acknowledging the equal role of pragmatics allows for a straightforward analysis of aspect semantics and interpretation not only in Russian, but also cross-linguistically. To account for grammatical aspect in a systematic way, it is necessary to separate the semantic contributions of aspect and verbal basis (Aktionsart) and to clarify their interaction. Furthermore, the semantic contribution (encoded information) to the interpretation process has to be distinguished from the pragmatic contribution (inferred information). By restricting semantics to the stable and context-invariant information encoded in the lexical entries of aspect and Aktionsart, the semantics of grammatical aspect can be captured by a set of basic features and relations that are also cross-linguistically valid. Embedding this semantic basis into Levinson's GCI-theory allows semantics and pragmatics to interact and thus makes the derivation of aspect readings straightforward and predictable.