Secrets of Russian Verbal Aspect



This course will focus on one of the most challenging areas of Russian grammar, namely verbal aspect. We will discuss not only the use of perfective and imperfective aspect, but also the aspectual system as a whole including such facets as meaning of aspects, aspectual derivation, aspectual pairness, aspectual triplets, verbs of motion as a subsystem of Russian verbs, manners of verbal action (Actionsarten), aspect in dictionaries, etc. Students will work through exercises and read short works of prose (fiction and non-fiction) for analysis; we will use several workbooks and language manuals published in Russia, as well as a course pack of selected readings. Students' grades will be based on three written exams, daily reading and writing homework, and class participation.