The difference between terminativity and telicity and its reflection in the morphosyntax of Russian

The examples in (1) illustrate the well-known correlation of telicity, perfectivity and prefixation in Russian and other Slavic languages. There is an ongoing debate as to which extent this correlation is governed by strict rules. Borer (2005), among others, assumes that Slavic prefixes encode telicity on the verb; Filip (2003), on the other hand, points out that while all perfective verbs may be regarded as semantically telic, prefixes should not be viewed as perfectivity or telicity markers. If one assumes that perfective verbs are telic then the test of telicity by means of time adverbials does not work for Russian. It is neither obligatory for a telic verbal description to be compatible with a za-headed temporal PP nor does the compatibility indicate that the predicate denotes single completed events. The prefix powith its ‘somewhat/for some time’ interpretation is a case in point of the former fact. For instance, the verb počitat’ (‘to read for some time’) is perfective and denotes bounded reading events, but it is only compatible with accusative temporal adverbials: