Momentary-Durative

[petegray]

Vidhyanath's two postings on aspect show clearly what the issue of aspect in
PIE may be - we simply don't have a clear definition of what we are talking
about.

Greek usage does not agree with Vedic, and where traces of aorists exist in
other languages (e.g. Armenian, OCS, Albanian, Latin, Baltic), we cannot
convincingly recover an original aspectual meaning.

The formations are clearly PIE, but I believe I can continue to claim that
the distinctions between them, if recoverable, are certainly not those we
find in Greek.   The Armenian-Greek- I-I sprachbund has certain known
innovations, such as vocabulary and the augment, and we should not be miseld
into accepting as original what may be another innovation, namely the
development of new distinctions based on an existing variety of forms.

Peter