Towards a typology of the resultative perfect (based on Old Church Slavonic materials)

Abstract

The paper approaches intricate grammatical semantics of the periphrastic perfect form in Old Church Slavonic (consititng of l-participle and present forms of auxiliary byti 'be'). Typical uses of this form are discussed in detail; the main objective of the paper is assessing the resulting «semantic portrait» of the OCS perfect from a cross-linguistic perspectives. It is argued that contrary to typological expectation, the role of resultative component in the semantics of the OCS perfect is minor (if at all).