Abstract
This paper is concerned with the interpretation of the so-called bi-aspectual verbs in contemporary Czech. In the first part, a theoretical account of bi-aspectual verbs in the aspectual system of Czech is introduced and three main areas of the research of bi-aspectual verbs are identified: (1) Formation of bi-aspectual verbs, (2) Mono-aspectualization process, (3) Functioning of bi-aspectual verbs.
In the second part of the paper, a simple but efficient method for the analysis of the interpretation of (borrowed) bi-aspectual verbs and a pilot experiment on the interpretation of Czech bi-aspectual verbs are presented. It has been found that the tense of the verb is a very strong factor which influences the interpretation of bi-aspectual verbs: there is a significant tendency to interpret present tense form as imperfective and past tense form a perfective.
There are other factors which play an important role in the intepretation of the bi-aspectual verbs. Based on the results, we suggest that these are (at least) semantics of the verb (i.e. the difference durative vs. instantaneous) and subject number.