Reduplicated presents and pluractionality in Greek and Sanskrit

In Indo-European languages the recessive category of reduplicated presents encompasses a variety of forms whose semantics is still a matter of intense debate. In this respect, scholars’ opinions are divided as to whether the original meaning of these formations was related to the iterative-intensive Aktionsart, or to the perfective aspect, but neither of the hypotheses seems to be fully supported by the preserved materials. Considering that the intertwining between lexical and verbal aspect is also one of the key points in the investigation of pluractionality, we will refer to the features of this broad cross-linguistic category to clarify the functions of reduplicated presents in Homeric Greek and Vedic Sanskrit. In particular, we will show how different pluractional meanings, all related to the basic notion of iterativity, emerge through the various contexts of use, and how the category of reduplicated formations can receive a unitary reading as an expression of pluractionality.