A Study On The Textual Function Of Conceptual Metaphor In Grammatical Metaphor And Its Implications To College English Reading Teaching

Metaphor is a pervasive phenomenon, for it is used, consciously or unconsciously, in our daily conversations. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) said that "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature." (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980:3). Thus, Metaphor plays a basic role in defining the way we perceive the world, the way we think and act to that perceived world.The study of metaphor, with a long history in western countries, can be traced back to the age of Aristotle (384-322 BC). M. A. K. Halliday put forward Grammatical Metaphor Theory in the 1980s, which marked the beginning of the theoretical study on GM. In the theory, GM is regarded as an incongruent realization of meanings involving transference of grammatical units from one grammatical domain to another, and it is divided into two kinds: ideational metaphor (conceptual metaphor) and interpersonal metaphor.Conceptual metaphor has been explored from various perspectives, including the types, the nature, the experiential basis and its basic functions. But few studies have focused the attention on its textual functions in discourse. In fact, the use of conceptual metaphor in text can contribute to the coherence of text and make text more vivid and help to develop the topic. Some linguists such as Ricoeur (1975/1986), Gibbs (1994) and Cameron (2002) have pointed out that metaphor has a textual metafunction but they have not made detailed analysis.Conceptual metaphors frequently appear in reading materials, which can enhance text cohesiveness and coherence. This thesis makes an analysis of the textual functions of conceptual metaphor in English discourse with lots of examples. Then with two groups of college students' questionnaires and test papers, the positive study brings forth the following results: there is quite a difference between the two groups in construing congruent texts and metaphorical texts; metaphorical text helps subjects produce better cognitive effects. Furthermore, the findings show that the college students'textual awareness of conceptual metaphor is weak and that because of the significance of textual functions of conceptual metaphor, it becomes essential for the teacher to foster students' metaphorical ability in the teaching of reading.This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is the introduction, presenting the objective and the organization of this thesis. Chapter Two gives the traditional view of metaphor and goes to the study of grammatical metaphor in systemic-functional linguistics. Chapter Three introduces three metafunctions of language. Chapter Four specifies the textual functions of conceptual metaphor and shows how conceptual metaphor performs the cohesive and coherent functions in discourse with lots of examples. Chapter Five is concerned with a research on whether the conceptual metaphor can facilitate the cognitive effect in reading comprehensions and college students' awareness of textual functions of conceptual metaphor as well. The findings show that first, the conceptual metaphor can facilitate the cognitive effect of reading comprehensions; secondly, their textual awareness is weak and that further training is necessary for the purpose of improving students' reading ability method and teachers'reading teaching method. Chapter Six sums up the ideas of the whole thesis on the one hand, and raises the limitations of this research and suggestions for further research on the other.