Title: Against the notion of fake imperfectivity

Abstract: Russian imperfective (IPF) verb forms, in addition to the typologically
well-attested imperfective meanings of ongoing process and of habituality, can 
also be used in contexts where they describe completed events, in their so-called
factual use, as in (1).

    (1) Zimnij Dvorec stroil Rastrelli.
	winter-.ACC palace.ACC built.IPF Rastrelli.NOM
	`It was Rastrelli who built the Winter Palace.'

Since completed events, however, are commonly associated with perfective (PF) aspect
semantics (e.g. the event time is part of the reference time), Grønn (2015) treats
factual IPFs as ‘fake’ IPFs that rather come with a PF semantics. This paper argues
that the focus on event completion is misguided and leads to inaccurate conclusions.
By taking into account the broader discourse semantics and the information structure
involved, factual uses of the IPF can be captured by a standard IPF semantics, in
terms of the reference (or assertion) time being part of the event time, and there
is no need to either introduce the notion of ‘fake’ IPF or to attribute a PF semantics
to IPF forms.