Usos do verbo dar no Português Arcaico: uma abordagem baseada na Gramática de Construções

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the recurrence and diversity of constructions with the verb dar in Portuguese, focusing on its archaic phase, spanning from the 13th century to the mid-16th century. The investigation is based on 539 occurrences of the verb dar, extracted from the Corpus Informatizado do Português Medieval. The analysis follows the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics, supported by the Construction Grammar model as developed by Goldberg (1995, 2006), and the principles of Usage-Based Functional Linguistics and the constructional approach of Traugott and Trousdale (2013), in particular. Additionally, it builds on cognitive-functional studies of constructions with this verb, such as those by Salomão (1990) and Gonçalves (2005). The study describes the constructions in which the verb dar appears in the archaic period, considering formal and semantic-functional aspects. This proposal combines the constructional grammar approach with the field of Historical Linguistics, broadening the perspectives of both historical studies of Portuguese and the constructionist approach applied to the language. The initial hypothesis is that the polysemy of the verb dar is not an inherent property of the lexical item itself but rather a characteristic emerging from the constructions in which the verb is embedded. This emphasizes that sentence meaning is determined not only by the individual meanings of lexical items but also by the constructions instantiating the attested realizations. The analysis identified four constructions distributed as follows: 292 occurrences of the Property Transfer Construction, which is central to the network (E se lhy lha non der, peyte o dano dobrado q(ue) end(e) ueer aquel a que non deu a carta);; 161 occurrences of the Metaphoric Resource Transfer Construction (P(r)imero dou ma alma a Deus & a S(an)ta M(ari)a); 71 occurrences of the Light Verb Construction (o d(i)to Juiz deu sentẽças ant(re) as d(i)tas p(ar)tes sob(re) lo d(i)to h(er)damẽto); and 15 occurrences of the Evaluation Construction, (Assy que o s(a~)c(t)o home~ Zozimas nom po^de e~tender o que ella dizia e~ ssua horaço~ mais dava elle por t(estemunha), classified as the most peripheral construction in the network of constructions with the verb dar.. The findings demonstrate the multifunctionality of the verb dar, as it manifests in various constructions, enabling a wide range of meanings from concrete transfer of possession to metaphorical, evaluative, causative, and modal uses. Its presence in different constructions reflects its relevance as both a full verb and a light verb, particularly in contexts of legitimation and attribution of authority, such as legal and administrative formulas. The results confirm the core thesis of Construction Grammar: that language is composed of form-meaning pairings, with cognitive and pragmatic aspects being essential for understanding its functioning.