A Multi-Dimensional Exploration of Future Aspect Marker "Dai" in Chinese Dialect from the Perspective of Typology — Take Gansu Tianzhu Dialect as an Example

Abstract

In Tianzhu dialect, the use of the future aspect marker "Dai[tɛi⁴⁴]" is frequent. The grammatical meaning of the future aspect marker, "verb phrase (VP) +'Dai[tɛi⁴⁴]+[liɔo²¹]'", in Tianzhu dialect can be divided into two categories according to the differences of VP: one indicates that the end of the action is about to be reached, that is, "VP +'Dai₁[tɛi⁴⁴]+[liɔo²¹]'"; the other indicates that the action is about to begin, that is, "VP +‘Dai₂[tɛi⁴⁴]+[liɔo²¹]’ ". This article takes the Tianzhu dialect aspect marker "Dai[tɛi⁴⁴]" as the main research object, and focuses on the grammatical functions and semantic features of "Dai₁[tɛi⁴⁴]" and "Dai₂[tɛi⁴⁴]" by studying the actionality types of verbs in Tianzhu dialect, and compares the future aspect marker "Dai[tɛi⁴⁴]" in Tianzhu dialect with the future aspect markers of other Chinese dialect in Northwest China, and generalizes the geographical distribution and regional characteristics of the future aspect marker "Dai[tɛi⁴⁴]".