Abstract
Imperfect was first referred to in the linguistic field quite a long time ago as a special combination of tense and aspect. However, it has long been regarded as subordinate to Imperfective and to exist merely in some Romance, Latin, Greek, Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavonic languages, thus receiving little specialized research. To conduct a thorough and detailed analysis of Imperfect, the present study established 105 language samples across the world. The imperfect meaning, with different encoding devices, is found in most language samples around the world. Based on the typological classification of their encoding types, the semantic features of Imperfect are then discussed to provide a better comprehension of the universals and characteristics of the types. This multi-dimensional research attempts to call attention to this underestimated concept in linguistic research into tense and aspect, and to provide the research of Imperfect with a rationale in expectation of more systematic studies of Imperfect in the future.
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