Clausal Complements of Non-Agentive Visual Perception Verbs in Bulgarian and Russian*

The paper examines clausal complementation with the Bulgarian and Russian non-agentive visual perception verbs eumdaM - eudR / eudemb - yeudemb and 3a6enR3eaM - 3a6enema / 3aMeLiamb - 3aMemumb. Based on the data of a parallel corpus, the temporal and aspectual features of these verbs and their association with the choice of the complementizers & kappa;a & kappa; vs. Lie / Limo are analyzed. Our analysis reveals manifold aspects of interaction between verbal tense and aspectuality and the complementizer distribution. First, the constructions with & kappa;a & kappa; were found to be associated with a retrospective view of the situation of perception, while the constructions with Lie / Limo are more frequently used in contexts describing perception from the synchronic point of view. Second, the constructions with & kappa;a & kappa; appear to represent perception as more independent from the experiencer than constructions with Lie / Limo. We interpret these differences in light of the opposition between immediate perception and mental perception believed to affect the choice between & kappa;a & kappa; and Lie / Limo.