On Grammatical Metaphor And Rankshift

The theory of grammatical metaphor has been accepted by more and more people. In recent several years the theory has got a sound development in the field of linguistics. If we want to understand grammatical metaphor, we should not only understand the semantic meaning and the structure of the sentences, but also we should consider the cognitive function of human mind. Based on the theory of grammatical metaphor, this essay focused on the interior functions of rankshift. The aim of the study is to reveal the potential features of GM hidden in discourse and the rankshifted process in human mind. In this way people can understand grammatical metaphor in multiple dimensions.The first chapter of this essay aimed to introduce the background of GM and make a brief review of GM from different schools. The other part of this chapter is new development of GM.The second chapter is relative to the detail of the nature of ideational metaphor and interpersonal metaphor. This chapter also concerned with the different classifications of rank in Halliday's theory and Chomsky's theory. Although the terms are similar, this essay pointed out that the starting point, angle and function are still not in consistence.The third chapter focused on context which has a close relationship to GM. When we study GM we have to consider the function of context. This is a key point which is strengthened in Halliday's present papers. There are many kinds of classification of context, but there are two main kinds which can include most functions of it. One is the micro—context which has a direct effect on the speech act. The other is the macro—context which has an indirect effect on the speaker. Semantic meaning will be different in the reason of different context. And in a certain degree semantic meaning may reflect context. Under this situation the structure of expressions should be changed according to the need of context. If the metaphorical way is adapt to the context, the rank—down form will make its way to realize metaphor, after that the semantic meaning can be shown better and the context can be set off by contrast. After making a clear explain of the close relationship between context and rankshift, this essay talked about the psychological element to generate metaphor: cognition. Piaget's cognitive theory has a great guidance function to analyze the generation and appliance of GM. Context is the external cause, and cognition and the destination of communication are the internal cause. They interact and limit each other.The fourth chapter is the part which analyzed the metaphorical examples under the guidance of theory. Much research has shown that metaphor can be successfully used to analyze scientific discourses, yet in this essay almost all the examples are chosen from the famous English novel 'Jane Eyre". My aim is to excavate the effect and function of GM especially that of nominalization in the style of novel. I analyzed the examples from the perspective of the phenomenon of rank down in different levels. I also analyzed the change of process combining with the context in order to explain the motivated cause of rankshift. Afterthat I made comprehensive analyses to all the selected examples and figured out the rate of the different ranks which were down from higher ones. In this way we can study the randshift from the angle of numbers.The fifth chapter is the appliance of GM. This essay focused on the translation of metaphorical sentences. Combining the understanding of metaphor I try to find some strategies in metaphor translation and let students make a good use of metaphors.