234 Language and Cognition 10 (2018), 234–265. doi:10.1017/langcog.2017.26 © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association, 2017 The epistemic import of aspectual constructions: the case of performatives* ASTRID DE WIT Université Libre de Bruxelles FRANK BRISARD University of Antwerp and MICHAEL MEEUWIS Ghent University (Received 21 February 2017 – Revised 27 October 2017 – Accepted 27 October 2017 – First published online 02 January 2018) abstract In this study we chart the aspectual characteristics of performative utterances in a cross-linguistic sample of sixteen languages on the basis of native-speaker elicitations. We conclude that there is not one single aspectual type (e.g., perfectives) that is systematically reserved for performative contexts. Instead, the aspectual form of performative utterances in a given language is epistemically motivated, in the sense that the language will turn to that aspectual construction which it generally selects to refer to situations that are fully and instantly identifable as an instance of a given situation type at the time of speaking. We use the method of Multidimensional Scaling to demonstrate this: whatever the exact value of a given aspectual marker, if it is used to mark performatives, then it also commonly features in the expression of states and habits, which have the subinterval property (they can be fully verifed based on a random segment), demonstrations, and other special contexts featuring more or less predictable and therefore instantly identifable events. On the other hand, our study shows that performative [*] We wish to thank three anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments on a previous version of this paper. This work was supported by the National Fund for Scientifc Research – FNRS (grant number 1.B099.15F; frst author) and the National Fund for Scientifc Research – FWO (grant number K8.005.16N; third author). Both institutions are hereby gratefully acknowledged. Address for correspondence: astrid.dwt@gmail.com; frank.brisard@uantwerpen.be; michael.meeuwis@ugent.be. use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2017.26 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Antwerp, on 21 Jun 2018 at 14:12:33, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of