Perhaps more than any other tense, expressions of futurity are intricately linked with modality: the future is inherently uncertain. This article explores the outcomes of future markers grammaticalised from ‘come’ and ‘go’ in isiNdebele and several other South African Nguni Bantu languages, and shows that their semantic and pragmatic functions can mark contrasts in time, space, and modality, and can be used both subjectively (communicating speaker stance) and intersubjectively (communicating information about the relationship between speakers). Multiple factors influence the choice and interpretation of isiNdebele future markers in different contexts. These factors can all reasonably be traced to developments from ‘come’ and ‘go’, but the semantic and pragmatic force of these markers differs significantly, depending on context. Because different contrasts are emphasised in different contexts, there is significant functional overlap of ‘come’ and ‘go’ futures, despite their different origins and cognitive frames. Cross-linguistic distinctions are observed in the systems of future marking across South African Nguni languages, suggesting that even in a group of closely related languages that are often in heavy contact with one another, significant semantic and pragmatic differences can be maintained.

中文翻译：

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时间，空间，形态和（中间）主观性：isiNdebele和其他Nguni语言的期货

也许比任何其他时态都更重要的是，关于未来的表达与情态有着错综复杂的联系：未来本质上是不确定的。本文探讨了从isiNdebele和其他几种南非Nguni Bantu语言的'come'和'go'语法化的未来标记的结果，并表明它们的语义和语用功能可以标记时间，空间和情态上的对比，并且可以主观使用（传达说话者的立场）和主体间使用（传达有关说话者之间关系的信息）。多种因素会影响不同背景下isiNedbele未来标记的选择和解释。这些因素都可以合理地追溯到“来”和“去”的发展，但是这些标记的语义和语用作用力视上下文而有很大不同。由于在不同的上下文中强调了不同的对比，因此“来”和“去”的期货在功能上有很大的重叠，尽管它们的起源和认知框架不同。跨语言区分在南非Nguni语言的未来标记系统中观察到，这表明，即使在一组经常彼此密切联系的密切相关的语言中，也可以保持显着的语义和语用差异。