Aspectual competition and variance in translation

Abstract

Research has shown that the understanding of the aspects and how they function presents itself as a major obstacle for learners of Russiana even after several years of study. This thesis provides an extensive set of contexts displaying the multifaceted functions of the aspects in order to further students’ understanding of how aspect choice can affect meaning. Data is extracted from the RuN Interactive Translation corpus, consisting of translations from Norwegian to Russian, conducted by Russian native speakers. In addition to showing the various ways in which contextual clues can govern aspect choice, this thesis also provides valuable insight into the phenomenon of aspectual competition and the complex topics of ‘perfektnoe značenie’ (‘perfect meaning’) and implicative verbs.