Analysis Of Grammatical Metaphor In Chinese And English Scientific Discourse And Its Conversion

The importance of the grammatical metaphor theory to systemic-functional linguistics,as well as to metaphor studies has been gradually acknowledged. As one of the importantphenomena in scientific discourse, grammatical metaphor was put forward by thesystemic-functional linguist M. A. K. Halliday in his book An Introduction to FunctionalGrammar in1985. And it refers to the metaphorization of the expression form of languageand explains grammatical function of projecting the same proposition in different forms.Grammatical metaphor is characterized by the functions such as conciseness, objectivity, andhigh-density information. Nominalization and verbalization are the embodiment ofgrammatical metaphor in scientific discourse. The application of them makes scientificdiscourse more logical and convincing, and produces better cognitive effect. That is why thegrammatical metaphor theory has attracted increasing attention in all academic circles both athome and abroad.Based on the three metafunctions of language, grammatical metaphor is initially dividedinto three types, namely ideational metaphor, interpersonal metaphor and textual metaphor. Inorder to perfect the theory, Halliday proposes the notion of grammatical metaphor syndromeand reclassifies grammatical metaphor into13types. The thesis aims to highlight theimportance of grammatical metaphor in scientific discourse, so that the conversion ofgrammatical metaphor in Chinese and English scientific discourse can be eventually achievedbetter.In the thesis, the introduction mainly provides the purpose, the importance of theresearch, as well as the outline of this thesis at first. Secondly, a literature review offers a briefaccount of the history of metaphor study in the past20years and Halliday’s prominentcontribution to the grammatical metaphor theory. Thirdly, the employment of grammaticalmetaphor is discussed to implement the striking characteristics of scientific discourse, namelyconciseness, objectivity, high density of information, etc. Fourthly, the collected data areanalyzed in detail, as well as the process of analyzing and findings are illustrated then. Theanalysis shows that grammatical metaphor universally exists in Chinese and English scientificdiscourse almost in the same form. On the basis of the research, the textual functions ofgrammatical metaphor are proposed. Afterwards, some efficient methods are raised to fulfillthe conversion of grammatical metaphor between Chinese and English scientific discourse.Due attention is attached to the mutual conversion of the Chinese congruent form and Englishincongruent form. Besides, the higher-rank shift and the shift on the same rank of nominalization and verbalization are mainly discussed. Finally, the conclusion is made on thefindings of metaphor study in scientific discourse.On the basis of the framework of grammatical metaphor, this thesis compares andanalyzes the similarities and differences of newly-born13types of grammatical metaphor inChinese and English scientific discourse, for the purpose of putting forward effective ways toprocess the mutual conversion between Chinese and English scientific discourse. This thesisis highlighted to two main embodiments of grammatical metaphor in Chinese and Englishscientific discourse, namely, the conversion of nominalization and verbalization. Though thisthesis may make a little contribution to the subsistent systematic research of grammaticalmetaphor, it undoubtedly throws some light not only on the embodiment and functions ofgrammatical metaphor in Chinese and English scientific discourse, but also on thecross-cultural communication of Chinese and English scientific discourse. In addition, someconstructive methods are also advanced in the thesis to implement the mutual conversion ofgrammatical metaphor between Chinese and English scientific discourse. However, otherembodiments of grammatical metaphor in Chinese and English scientific discourse and thestrategies to achieve effective mutual conversion of grammatical metaphor in Chinese andEnglish scientific discourse are not mentioned in this thesis. And all these necessary studiesshall be conducted in the future.