The Pragmatic Function Of Grammatical Metaphor

Since Halliday M.A.K firstly proposed the concept of grammatical metaphor in 1976,grammatical metaphor has become a hotspot in linguistic circles.This paper tries to explore the pragmatic functions of grammatical metaphor from the three types of grammatical metaphor,namely,ideational metaphor,interpersonal metaphor and discourse metaphor,by analyzing the generative mechanism and the classification of grammatical metaphor under systemic-functional grammar and the research status of grammatical metaphor theory.In the thesis,the author focuses on the pragmatic function of pragmatic presupposition by grammatical metaphor,and demonstrates that grammatical metaphor,whether ideational metaphor,interpersonal metaphor and discourse metaphor,is one of the important means to realize pragmatic presupposition.In addition,the pragmatic function of ideational metaphor can be embodied by nominalization,verbalization and adjectivization.The pragmatic function of interpersonal metaphor can be realized mainly through the metaphor of mood and metaphor of modality,and the reasonable use of interpersonal metaphor can make the language more polite,besides,language is with objectivity,association,and negotiability by the use of interpersonal metaphor,so it is particularly common in the speech discourse and advertisement;The pragmatic function of textual metaphor is achieved through the discourse function of metaphorical theme,metaphorical news and metaphorical cohesion.Therefore,grammatical metaphor is not only a diversified expression of language,but also has its irreplaceable pragmatic value.Understanding and making reasonable use of the pragmatic function of grammatical metaphor contributes to our speech expression and discourse analysis,then achieving communicative purposes successfully.