Aspectual Defectiveness and Aktionsarten in Russian Verbs

This study systematically examines the phenomenon of imperfect aspect pairing in Russian action verbs (способ действия) and analyzes its causes from semantic, morphological, and pragmatic perspectives. Unlike previous studies that attributed imperfect aspect gaps to morphological constraints within derivational structures or to the functional differentiation of aspectual categories, this research demonstrates that the phenomenon results from the complex interaction among event structure, verb meaning, derivational patterns, and pragmatic focus. The findings indicate that imperfect aspect gaps are not absolute dichotomies but manifest as distributional and gradient phenomena, with aspectual realization varying by verb type. Repetitive and habitual verbs tend to be imperfective-only, while limitative, inceptive, and durative verbs are perfective-only. Perfective, augmentative, and attenuative verbs generally form stable aspectual pairs. Verbs exhibiting imperfect aspect gaps show restrictions or marginalization of the imperfective form due to the interplay of semantic structure, derivational patterns, and pragmatic focus. The interaction of semantic, morphological, and pragmatic factors provides an integrated explanation of these gaps, suggesting that the Russian aspect system is organized more by functional differentiation and pragmatic selection than by formal symmetry. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of both paired and non-paired verbs, highlighting the dynamic and context-sensitive nature of the Russian aspectual system.