The Derivation Of The Marker Of The Durative Aspect In The South Min Dialects

This article discusses the derivation of the marker of the durative aspect in the South Min dialects.The writer gives a detailed analysis of the particularities of the durative aspect of the South Min dialect spoken in Jiaomei, Zhangzhou. Through cross-dialects study as well as compare with the historical language materials, the writer challenges the argument commonly accepted by the scholars in this field and concludes that the marker of the durative aspect in South Min dialects comes from grammaticalization of the locative preposional phrase. To go further, this article concludes that this marker is the remainder of substratum from ancient Bai-Yue languages.