Imperfective and simple present distinction

[Elisa Roma e Antonio Tarallo]

Perhaps the Irish distinction between habitual present bí 'is (usually)' vs. 
non-habitual tá 'is (now)' comes close to a distinction between an 
imperfective and a general present (the second one is used also with 
adjectives). This morphological distinction applies only to this verb 'to 
be' (as distinct from the copula), a typical stative verb, which expresses 
many stative predicates in combination with prepositional phrases (e.g. 'I 
know the man' would be something like 'there's acquaintance of the man by 
me').
Best,
Elisa Roma
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kazuha Watanabe" <kw69 at CORNELL.EDU>
To: <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:25 AM
Subject: Imperfective and simple present distinction


> Dear all,
>
>  I am looking for a language which distinguish imperfective and simple
> present (in present tense or non-past tense).  I am especially
> interested in distinction in stative situations (such as 'I am tall' or
> I know the man') It seems that this sort of distinction is more common
> in past tense (i.e., past imperfective vs. plain past tense form/general
> past tense), but not so common in present tense (or non-past)
>
>  Thank you for your help!
>
> Kazuha Watanabe
>