The Grammatical category of aspect in southern Min: preverbal coding of aspect in Min-Xiamen

This paper examines the grammatical category of aspect in Southern Min, focusing on preverbal aspectual markers in the Xiamen dialect. It explores how aspect—expressing temporal structure of events—is encoded through specific preverbal elements, distinguishing between perfective, imperfective, and experiential meanings. The study analyzes syntactic positioning, semantic functions, and interaction with verb types, revealing a systematic aspectual framework unique to Southern Min. Through detailed linguistic data, the paper highlights how aspectual distinctions contribute to sentence interpretation and discourse coherence. The findings offer insights into the typological features of Southern Min and contribute to broader discussions on aspectual systems in Sinitic languages, emphasizing the importance of preverbal coding in understanding temporal reference and grammatical structure (AI generated abstract, Copilot)