A Study On Aspect Marker In Xiaogan Dialect

Xiaogan dialect belongs to Huangxiao dialect, which is a branch of Jianghuai Mandarin, being part of northern dialects, while retaining some features of the ancient Chu language. Currently, only a few researches have been done into Xiaogan dialect grammars, among which little is related to aspect marker. This paper puts emphasis on auxiliary words "zhe" "zai" "zhengzai" "dao" "lede" in Xiaogan dialect, and a detailed analysis is made on their grammatical meanings, syntactic features and the choices of verbs.This paper consists of six chapters:Chapter One introduces the research status of aspect category at home and abroad, the aspect marker of modern Chinese Mandarin, different dialects and Xiaogan dialect, then describes the significance of the topic, researching methods and contents. Related symbols that appear in this paper and corpus sources are explained.Chapter Two describes the aspect of antecedence and aspect marker. First, aspect of antecedence "zhe" is defined; with examples the syntactic distribution of "zhe" is described in detail. Then we compare the usages of "zhe" and "zaishuo". Finally, the grammatical and modal meanings of "zhe" are discussed.Chapter Three describes the aspect of progressive and progressive marker "zai" in Xiaogan dialect. Then we compares the differences of progressive marker "zai" and sentence-final auxiliary "zai", lastly the origin of "zai" is dicussed in detail.Chapter Four interprets the usages of continuous aspect and aspect marker "dao". First, we describe the syntactic distribution of "dao" in detail. Then we analyze which kind of verbs can match "dao" in semantic and pronunciation level. The differences between "dao" and "dao+zai" are compared at last.Chapter Five describes the aspect of experience and aspect marker "le---de", with examples the syntactic distribution of "le*"de" is described in detail. Then we find out relations between "le...de" and "le/de" in mandarin. Finally, the differences between "le...de" and "le" in Xiaogan dialect are compared.Chapter Six gives a conclusion of this paper. First we summarize the aspect marker features of Xiaogan dialect. Then we compare the aspect system between Xiaogan dialect and Chinese Madarin. Finally, we point out the deficiencies of this papar and propose the research direction for future studies.