Johnson 2004 - CDLI - UCLA

As an example of the restriction on progressive/imperfective aspect, I turn initially to
the following two examples (after Rothstein 2004, 36, ex. 1a and 1b).
(46) a. Jane reached the summit of the mountain.
b. Jane is reaching the summit of the mountain.
(47) a. Mary spotted her friend at the party.
b. Mary is spotting her friend at the party.
In each pair of examples, the first sentence, (46a) and (47a) respectively, is a perfective
achievement predicate in the past tense, whereas the second sentence in each pair, (46b)
and (47b) respectively, is a progressive/imperfective achievement in the present tense.
The sentences in (46b) and (47b) are much less “natural” and force the rather curious
impression that one is watching a film of Jane or Mary with a running narration
(Rothstein 2004, 56-57). Rothstein notes that “[t]hese are what have been called ‘slow-
motion’ or ‘film-strip’ readings, first noticed by Sandro Zucchi, where a normally
instantaneous event is perceived as being ‘stretched’ over time” (Rothstein 2004, 37,
presumably referring to Zucchi 1999). Much of the peculiar semantics of these kinds of
examples follows from the rather unusual relation that exists between spectator and
narrated events (Lee 1997, 344). While so-called explicit primary performatives also (a)
resist occurring in the progressive/imperfective aspect, (b) yield a spectator effect, and (c)
regularly occur with the *bi-√ prefix due to its use with direct speech, although verba
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