Durativity

Durativity is a semantic and grammatical property of predicates that describes events or states as extending over time, without a defined endpoint intrinsic to the event. In linguistic analysis, durative readings are often contrasted with telic or punctual readings, where an event has a built-in culmination or boundary. The notion is closely tied to verb aspect and cross-linguistic marking of ongoing duration.

Classic theories, such as Vendler’s aktionsarten, divide predicates into categories including activities (durative and atelic), states (durative but non-dynamic), accomplishments (durative and telic), and achievements (punctual). Durativity is most closely associated with the imperfective or progressive readings, which describe ongoing processes (for example, The river flows, She is reading). By contrast, telic predicates like eat an apple or build a house imply a boundary and a completed result. Many languages can express durativity of telic verbs by using imperfective morphology or adverbial duration phrases (for two hours), yielding a reading in which the event is not treated as a single bounded whole.

Cross-linguistically, durativity is realized through various devices, including imperfective/aspect markers, progressive constructions, habitual aspect, or lexical properties of the verb. Some languages have explicit durative or imperfective morphemes; others rely on syntactic or lexical means to convey ongoingness. Durativity interacts with factors such as agency, control, and time span, and it is a central concern in the study of event structure, aspect, and temporal interpretation.