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> Right, but usually (except in a few corner cases) this is done with separate helping words (e.g. in English: "to cook up" v. "to cook") No, there are a large
by Mediterraneo10 9y ago
> Right, but usually (except in a few corner cases) this is done with separate helping words (e.g. in English: "to cook up" v. "to cook")
No, there are a large number of languages around the world that mark aspect with affixes, apophony or root suppletism just like Russian. I can only assume your knowledge is limited to a small handful of probably mainly IE languages. I strongly recommend looking at an introduction to aspect whose examples are drawn from a wide range of linguistic typologies such as the Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect.
- kafkaesq 9y agoYour background knowledge is impressive, but this is way off topic. Recall I was simply attempting to explain why Russian verbs are sometimes confusing to foreign speakers. My quantification of the distinctiveness of the Russian system may not have been quite correct -- but it was completely ancillary to the broader point I was making.
- kafkaesq 9y agoYour background knowledge is impressive, This sounds a bit obnoxious, actually. I should have said something like "Your clarification is very helpful, and your points are perfectly valid."