In pursuit of telos: ‘in α time’ and aspectual operators in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

This squib investigates the interaction between the temporal adjunct in α time and accomplishment predicates in Brazilian Portuguese, drawing on Altshuler’s (2014) model of aspectual operators and the analysis by Basso and Pires de Oliveira (2010). According to the model, Altshuler’s perfective operator maps events to their maximal stages without necessarily requiring that they reach culmination. In contrast, the temporal adjunct in α time delineates the temporal interval in which the event occurs and reinforces the telic reading — that is, the expectation that the event will be completed. Thus, even in contexts where the culmination is not intrinsically guaranteed by the verbal predicate, in α time functions as a modifier that makes the duration explicit and requires the event’s culmination. The integration of these approaches contributes to a more refined description of the relationship between aspectual operators and temporal modifiers in Brazilian Portuguese, leading to a deeper understanding of the semantic properties of accomplishment verbs in this language.