“Que ninguém carregue no botão!”: trajetórias, direcionalidade e a semântica dos verbos

The aim of this paper is to present an analysis of the semantics of the force verb 'carregar' in European Portuguese, involving paths with force-dynamic properties. This approach allows for a tighter integration between the spatial level of cognition and the lexical semantics. As far as lexical meaning is concerned, it will be shown there’s a lot of diversity, with respect to aspectual properties. For instance, the force is only applied punctually with "carregar no botão" (hit / press / push the button) or continuously with "carregar o camião" (load the truck). Concerning directionality (and the interaction between the verb carregar and prepositions), different meaning shifts can also be observed. Data of a preliminary investigation will be presented with sentences describing an object A (the agent) exerting physical force on another object B (the patient). Considering the spatial distinctions expressed by the vector forces, it is possible to account both for the lexical and aspectual distinctions of the verb 'carregar'.