Iterative aspect

The iterative aspect (abbreviated ITER), also called 'semelfactive', 'event-internal pluractionality', or 'multiplicative', is a grammatical aspect that expresses the repetition of an event observable on one single occasion, as in 'he knocked on the door', 'he coughed', 'she is drumming', etc. It is not to be confused with frequentative aspect and habitual aspect, which both signal repetition over more than one occasion. The iterative aspect (abbreviated ITER), also called 'semelfactive', 'event-internal pluractionality', or 'multiplicative', is a grammatical aspect that expresses the repetition of an event observable on one single occasion, as in 'he knocked on the door', 'he coughed', 'she is drumming', etc. It is not to be confused with frequentative aspect and habitual aspect, which both signal repetition over more than one occasion. Other authors have reserved the term 'semelfactive' for this mono-occasional repetition, and defined iterative aspect as denoting 'several' repetitions over more than one occasion, as opposed to the 'frequent' repetitions conveyed by frequentative aspect.