A versatilidade argumental do verbo <i>entregar</i> em língua portuguesa

The study of verbs and their relationship with their arguments is a focus of interest for various linguistic perspectives concerned with the description of natural languages. This article presents the results of an investigation into the description of the verb entregar, considering its manifestation in various periods of Portuguese language. In syntactic terms, this verb is traditionally taken as ditransitive, whose configuration recruits direct object and indirect object complements. In pragmatic-semantic terms, its frame refers to the idea of transferring something to an entity. However, recent empirical samples point to the use of this verb in sentences with partial or total elision of complements, suggesting the idea of metaphorical transfer or even non-transfer. With a theoretical and methodological basis in Usage-Based Linguistics (Furtado da Cunha; Bispo; Silva; 2013; Rosário, 2022), this article examines, from a panchronic perspective, samples collected from the 14th century to the present day, with the aim of investigating the verb entregar in real usage data. For this theoretical framework, the grammar of a natural language is taken as the cognitive representation of individuals' experience with that language; therefore, linguistic use motivates its structure (Bybee, 2016). The research approach adopted here is essentially qualitative, with an emphasis on describing and interpreting the empirical material collected. The results show that, functionally and preferentially, the verb occurs in ditransitive clauses, with a significant increase in the 21st century in the use of the verb in clauses where the direct object complement is elided without the possibility of recovering or interpreting a referent. Furthermore, in some instances, the notion of transfer from one entity to another is partially or totally opaque. It was observed that the verb entregar can be recruited in intransitive contexts, contrary to the traditional formal description. The results dialogue with the theoretical assumption that the licensing of verbs in certain constructions encompasses the general interpretation of basic scenes in our experience, which can be extended and adapted to cover different types of situations.