摘要：In the languages of the world, the verb 'to go (to)' is typically selected forgrammaticalization as a future tense auxiliary (Bybee et al., 1994: 267;Heine / Kuteva, 2002: 3, 331).1One obvious reason for this is that "[t]hesemantics of 'movement toward' constructions implies movement in timeas well as space, making the transition to future easier" (Bybee et al., 1994:268). Accordingly, most Romance languages use an auxiliary derived fromthe verb 'to go' to encode future tense, as in French je vais chanter I-go.1s-sing 'I am going to sing'. This is where Catalan contrasts remarkably withits sister Romance languages. In Catalan, counter to what one mightexpect, the verb 'to go' has developed into a preterit auxiliary and theperiphrasis go + infinitive renders a past reading, as in (jo) vaig cantarI-go.1s-sing 'I sang'
