Traditionally, aspectual triplets (e.g. množit’sja/umnožit’sja/umnožat’sja ‘multiply) have been assumed to be very rare in the Russian verb system. Recent studies show that they are frequent and systematic: Janda et al. (2013: 170) report that 37% of Russian simplex imperfectives occur in triplets, and Kuznetsova and Sokolova (2016: 229) propose that the so-called secondary imperfective, e.g. umnožat’sja, is used to express telic meaning. I carry out a case study of the four triplets involving putat’ and illustrate two ways to test the “Telicity Hypothesis”. Based on my data, I suggest that the use of the secondary imperfective is furthermore influenced by the relationship ("pair strength") of the simplex imperfective and perfective.

Traditionally, aspectual pairs have been considered the cornerstone of the Russian aspectual system, but in recent years, aspectual triplets have received considerable attention. Triplets are constellations of one perfective and two imperfectives, such as množit’sja/umnožit’sja/umnožat’sja ‘multiply’. The present article is a case study of four triplets associated with the verb putat’ ‘confuse’, which focuses on the “Telicity Hypothesis”, the idea that the Primary Imperfective is used to describe atelic meaning, while the Secondary Imperfective is used to describe telic meaning. Two ways of testing this hypothesis involving syntactic contexts and what is referred to as “pair strength” are proposed, and it is shown that both tests lend support to the hypothesis.