Semantic verification of path specification for directed motion verbs: adjunction and paraphrases tests

Abstract

This paper discusses the verification of lexicalized content based on the evaluation of motion verbs in Portuguese (PT-BR). As part of the framework of analysis the verbal class investigated,  was defined based on the identification of its motion verb root and its specified and unspecified path. The theoretical framework that supports this investigation is grounded on the study of verbal classes produced by lexical theory, particularly by lexical semantics; it is also grounded on the theoretical assumptions of cognitive semantics, the structure of predicates and semantic primitives (motion, causation, state, direction, path and others). We aim at presenting paraphrases and adjunctions as linguistic resources that might be used as a verification test particularly to verify whether motion verbs in PT-BR present a lexically defined and non-defined direction as part of their structure. Our results indicate that adjunction and paraphrases tests are reliable for determining how distinctive the two verb classes are: verb-type like subir (defined direction of motion) and verb-type like atravessar (non-defined direction of motion).