Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2008, Page 75

Becoming Perfect: Observations on Icelandic vera búinn að 73
b. það veit ég ekki ég er ekki búin að ákveða (ístal)
that know I not I am not finished to decide
‘I do not know that. I have not decided’
Examples like (36) below, with atelic events, are rare. Judgements
vary between speakers, though it might mainly be the restrictions on
the wider context that differ (i.e., the semantics of the examples rather
than their grammaticality). To some speakers, examples like (36a)
require a reading where the event is planned and expected; she is sup-
Posed to have been there, but has not been as of yet. We could still
assume that the example involves a negated result in the wider sense;
her being there would lead to a resultant state, which is expected, but
not yet attained:
(36) a. Hún er ekki ennþá búin að vera þama.
she is not yet finished to be there
‘She has not been there yet.’
b. A: ...]ég er ekki neitt búinn að suða um þetta[...]
I am not anything finished to buzz about this
B: jú þú ert að suða núna (ístal)
yes you are to buzz now
‘A: I have not nagged about this at all.
B: Yes, you are nagging now.’
^hile the negation ekki ‘not’ is compatible with a resultative reading,
uldrei ‘never’ is not, since it negates the existence of the event at all past
hmes. According to Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson (1992), negation by aldrei
never’ is generally only grammatical with vera búinn að if it takes
scope over the perfect and not if it negates that the event has ever taken
Place, cf. (37a) and (37b). There is no such restriction on hafa, cf. (38):
(37) a. Jón er aldrei búinn að hita kaffi þegar María vaknar.
John is never fmished to heat coffee when Mary wakes up
‘John has never made coffee when Mary wakes.up.’
b. *Jón er aldrei búinn að hita kaffi.
John is never finished to make coffee
(Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson 1992:140)