Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs: a cross-linguistic study

touch that business (
AM
) 
(94) 
Nik
ez
nuke gai
hori ikutuko 
I.
ERG
NEG
AUX
topic
that
touch.
FUT
‘I wouldn’t touch that topic’ 
(95) 
Yo
no
tocaría
ese
tema 
I 
NEG
touched.
IRR
that
topic 
‘I wouldn’t touch that topic’ 
The examples above can be paraphrased as ‘I wouldn’t get involved in that 
business / topic’. This meaning can be modified by the inclusion of an adverbial 
expression as many times, for a long time, in which case the meaning would be ‘to know 
by experience’ as in (96) and (97) below. It could also mean ‘to deal with superficially’, 
if a word like barely or the preposition on in English is inserted as in (98)
67
. 
74
67
In Chapter 7 I will discuss how the inclusion or exclusion of a lexical item affects the meaning 
of the sentence in which it occurs in much greater detail. 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
75
(96) 
(Nik) Unibertsitate-gaia
luzaz ukitu dut 
I.
ERG
university-topic.
ABS
long
touch
AUX
‘I have dealt with university matters for a long time’ (
IS
) 
(97) Ya 
he 
tocado ese
tema varias veces 
already have
touched that
topic
several times 
‘I have already touched that topic several times’ 
(98) He 
barely 
touched on the incident in his speech (
AMGD
) 
The meanings analysed above are those that occur cross-linguistically in Basque, 
English and Spanish. However, there are other meanings that are only specific to each of 
these languages. For example, in English we have (99), which means ‘to ask for a loan’. 
(99) 
Touch a friend for five dollars (
AM
) 
In Basque using the verb haztatu
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‘to touch’, it is possible to infer the meaning 
‘to consider, to weigh up’ as in (100). 
(100) (Guk) Hazta ditzagun
arrazoiak 
gu.
ERG
touch
AUX
reason.
ABS
.
PL
‘Let’s consider the reasons’ (
ELH
) 
Finally, in Spanish we have the meanings ‘to correspond’
69
as in (101), ‘to be a 
relative’ as in (102), and using the verb tentar the meaning ‘to persuade, to stimulate, to 
inspire’
70
as in (103). 
68
Haztatu is more common in the northern dialects (see etymology Chapter 3). 
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In Basque I found one example (2) with this meaning as well. However, this meaning is usually 
expressed with the verb egon ‘to be (stative)’ in the dative as in (3): 
(2) Jangoikoari 
ukitzen 
zaizkion 
gauzak 
god.
DAT
touch.
HAB
AUX
thing.
ABS
.
PL
‘The things that correspond to God’ (
IS
) 
(3) Zuri 
dagokizu
egitea 
you.
DAT
is.
DAT
make.
ABS
‘It is your turn to do it’ 
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This meaning is also possible with tocar as in (4): 
(4) Le 
tocó
Dios
en
el
corazón 
him.
DAT
touched god
in
the
heart 
‘God inspired his heart’ (
RAE
) 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
76
(101) Te 
toca un
pedazo
de
tarta 
you.
DAT
touch a
piece
of
cake 
‘There is a piece of cake for you’ 
(102) No 
sé 
si 
le 
toca algo
tu
cuñado 
NEG
know.1.
SG
if he.
DAT
touches something 
your
brother-in-law 
‘I don’t know if he is a relative of your brother-in-law’ (
MM
) 
(103) El 
diablo 
tentó a
Jesús en
el 
desierto 
the
devil
tempted to
jesus
in
the
desert 
‘The devil tempted Jesus in the desert’ 
The verb tentar is more widely used in this sense of ‘to tempt’ rather than in the 
physical touch sense, however, this physical meaning is kept in expressions such as ir a 
tientas ‘to feel one’s way’, which is derived from this verb. 
In this section, I have analysed the related and non-related extended meanings of 
the sense of touch in English, Basque and Spanish. These are summarised in Table 2.6. 
Meanings English 
Basque 
Spanish 
‘to partake of food or drink’ 
√ 
√ 
√ 
‘to affect’ 
√ 
√ 
√ 
‘to reach’ 
√ 
√ 
√ 
‘to deal with’ 
√ 
√ 
√ 
‘to ask for a loan’ 
√ 
‘to consider’, ‘to weigh’ 
√ 
‘to correspond’ 
√ 
‘to persuade’, ‘to stimulate’ 
√ 
‘to be a relative’ 
√ 
Table 2.6: Extended meanings in touch in English, Basque and Spanish. 

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B. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano 
Polysemy and metaphor in perception verbs 
77