Perfective and imperfective verbs in contexts of multiplicity: Towards explicating the semantics of Russian aspectual values

The paper describes the use of Russian perfective and imperfective verbs in contexts of multiplicity. It is known that perfective verbs cannot be used in contexts of indefinite multiplicity, cf. Na ékzamene ona mnogo raz ošibalas’ <*ošiblas’> ‘During the exam she made a mistake many times’, whereas definite multiplicity does not put restrictions on the choice of aspect, cf. Na ékzamene ona dva raza ošiblas’ <ošibalas’> ‘During the exam she made a mistake twice’. I attempt to give this fact a semantic interpretation. I demonstrate that the contexts of definite multiplicity in fact disallow a lot of perfective verbs, cf. *Podrostkom on dva raza ubežal iz doma [correct: ubegal (impf) iz doma] ‘As a teenager he ran from home twice’. I determine what exactly in the semantics of the perfective verb or the broader context makes it possible to combine the perfective verb with markers of definite multiplicity and, as a consequence, makes it incompatible with contexts of indefinite multiplicity. In particular, I describe some features of the semantics of multiplicative verbs. The presented data allow for a conclusion that the perfective aspect indicates a temporal sequence of events (in contrast with imperfective verbs, which in the same context denote a set of unordered in time situations). In addition, I discuss the interaction between contexts of indefinite and definite multiplicity and the semantics of the perfective.