Grammatical Metaphor In EST Texts And Its E-C Translation

Grammatical metaphor is initiated by M.A.K. Halliday in 1985. The significance of grammatical metaphor theory to systemic-functional linguistics as well as to metaphor studies has been generally acknowledged. According to Halliday and Thompson, in systemic-functional linguistics grammatical metaphor refers to the metaphorical expression of a meaning through a lexico-grammatical form, which originally evolved to express a more congruent kind of meaning. According to the three meta-functions of language, GM is initially classified into three types: ideational metaphors, interpersonal metaphor and textual metaphor. Later, Halliday proposes the notion of grammatical metaphor syndrome and classifies grammatical metaphor into 13 types.As the main writing skill of EST, grammatical metaphor, characterized by an objective, solemn and precise style, is regarded as one of the most prominent features of EST. So how to stress a complete representation of the facts and ideas expressed by grammatical metaphor and render them properly into Chinese becomes a critical link in the whole E-C translation of EST texts. Misunderstandings of grammatical metaphor may seriously undermine the whole informative function of EST.Therefore, in light of Systematic-functional linguistics, this paper aims to present an overall sketch of grammatical metaphor in EST, its origination, formation and usage to give translators a higher awareness and better understanding of the grammatical metaphor in EST. Secondly, the present study applies Halliday's classification of GM in its analysis. By analyzing grammatical metaphors in concrete passages and sentences from EST texts, the present paper attempts to answer the following questions:1) What are the concrete forms of GM in EST and which kinds of linguistic phenomenon can be brought up by the use of GM in EST?2) What are the functions of the use of GM in EST? Through analysis, the author found that what is called GM in EST texts primarily includes nominalization and attributive nouns, which is in accordance with Halliday and Martin's assumption. The use of GM can make the EST texts concise, objective and coherent.Thirdly, this paper is intended to find out an operable approach to the translation of the most commonly used forms of GM in EST texts. Peter Newmark's Communicative Translation and Semantic Translation and his text typology really provide a good theoretical guidance for us. Peter Newmark forges his own text typology based upon the classification of language functions. In line with Newmark, language includes three functions, expressive, informative and vocative function. Accordingly, texts fall into three major types, namely the expressive, the informative and the vocative texts. The type of text is the primary factor influencing translator's choice of proper translation method. According to Newmark, Semantic Translation is suitable for expressive texts, Communicative Translation for informative and vocative texts. Therefore, the author thinks that the translation of the most commonly used forms of GM in EST texts should use the method of Communicative Translation in light of 3 translation criteria of EST text which include faithfulness, conciseness and coherence.Although this paper cannot contribute much to the established systematic research of GM, the author really hopes it may throw some light on the analysis of GM in EST texts and the corresponding translation practice. The author believes that any further research and whatever effort in this area will yield fruitful results.