Semantic, Aspectual Category and Evidential Category of-guo

Abstract

The semantics of -guo indicates a non-empty set of a type of eventuality in a certain time frame, while the properties of term inability, discontinuity and repeatability are only pragmatic implicatures. From the viewpoint of event structure, -guo is better considered as an imperfective marker than an experiential marker which asserting the activity description and leaving the state description as a standard implicative. Forwardly, from event structure to information structure, “-guo” is developed into an indirect evidential marker. Based on social needs of reliability and extended intersubjectivity, “-guo” emphasizes the truth of events and gains the specific meaning as an interpersonal evidential.