An analysis on the aspect of the english future auxiliaries will and be going in occurring speech

Abstract

This corpus-based research aims at describing a perspective on the conceptualisation of aspect of the English future time auxiliaries will and be going (henceforth, future markers). The main focus of this description is on the aforementioned future markers and their relationship with the operators probably, definitely and certainly. From a semantic point of view, such operators are understood as the lexicalised features denoting a gradual expression of certainty in relation to speakers’ occurring awareness on the reliability of the proposition. Additionally, the study attempts to relate the notion of epistemicity to the practical nature of certainty within speakers’ utterances regardless of the implausibility of future time situations. This leads to suggest that, due to the lack of clear-cut differences between will and be going, both are likely to be used interchangeably in spite of the canonical generalisations of future tense and aspect.