A Study In The Pragmatic Functions Of Grammatical Metaphor

This thesis tries to study metaphor from the lexicogrammatical perspective, further announcing to public the properties and pragmatic functions of grammatical metaphor in college English. This thesis is composed of six parts, including an introduction, a conclusion and four chapters.Introduction looks back at the traditional metaphor theories, and talks about the development trend of modern metaphor research, putting forward a new kind of aspect of metaphor study, namely the grammatical metaphor. Chapter one takes a panoramic view to the metaphor. Originally metaphor was only considered as a kind of traditional rhetoric means. Later, cognitive linguists Lakoff &Johnson put forward the conceptual metaphor. While Halliday put forward grammatical metaphor theories under the frame of the systemic functional grammar theory.Chapter two expounds the pragmatic functions of ideational metaphor. Halliday believed that people could divide mankind's experience into six kinds of different processes. Along with the conversion of processes, each functional component can mutually be metaphorized. Nominalization is another method to generate ideational metaphor. Finally, the pragmatic functions of ideational metaphor in reading are fully expounded.Chapter three expounds the pragmatic functions of interpersonal metaphor. Interpersonal function is realized by mood system and modality system. Interpersonal metaphor could take place in mood system and modality system. The variant of mood, that is, from one sub-domain of mood to another sub-domain of mood generates metaphors of mood.Modality is typically expressed through modal verbs and adjuncts or the combination of the two. Metaphors of modality can also be generated by means of nominalization. At the end, the pragmatic functions of interpersonal metaphor in listening and speaking are fully explained. Chapter four expounds the pragmatic functions of textual metaphor. Halliday does not include textual metaphor in his treatment of grammatical metaphor. However, the views about textual metaphor differ from one another among scholars themselves. In Martin's model, there are two kinds of textual metaphors, i.e.metaphorical themes and metaphorical news. The pragmatic functions of textual metaphor are fully expounded.Conclusion summarizes the whole thesis. I hope this thesis can benefit both college teachers and students through grasping the pragmatic functions of grammatical metaphor...