Exploring Grammatical Metaphor: Insights from Systemic Functional Linguistics

by Zhong Yang

Overview

This book explores the fascinating world of grammatical metaphor through the lens of systemic functional linguistics. It provides a valuable toolkit for understanding how grammatical metaphor can expand the potential for meaning and serve as a key resource for bridging linguistic and cultural gaps in different contexts.

Grammatical metaphor is presented not merely as a linguistic feature, but as a powerful tool that transforms meaning across grammatical categories. This book examines how this phenomenon of “transcategorisation” works, showing how it shifts and enriches the representation of meaning. Using the framework of systemic functional linguistics, the book emphasises the dynamic relationship between language systems and the texts they produce. Combining theory and practice, it investigates the wide-ranging applications of grammatical metaphor in fields such as contrastive linguistics, discourse analysis, and translation studies. Readers will discover how grammatical metaphor increases the flexibility and depth of language, enabling speakers and writers to achieve more nuanced and effective communication.

This book will be essential reading for linguists, language learners, translators, and intercultural communicators. Whether you’re a researcher or a practitioner, this book will inspire new ways of thinking about language and communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032916743
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2025
Series:	China Perspectives
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Zhong Yang is a professor at Northeast Normal University, with research interests in systemic functional linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and language education. He has authored four books in collaboration: Text, Function and Cognition (2003), A Multi-Perspective Study of Language (2018), An Introduction to Linguistics (2022), and Pragmatics. Cognition. Communication (1998). Additionally, he has published over 100 articles on topics including language teaching, theoretical linguistics, and translation.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. A Review of Grammatical Metaphor Research 3. The Theoretical Foundation of Functional Linguistics in the Study of Grammatical Metaphor 4. Definition and Classification of Grammatical Metaphor 5. Grammatical Metaphor and Lexical Metaphor 6. The Motivations of Grammatical Metaphor 7. Grammatical Metaphors in Political Discourse 8. A Contrastive Analysis of Grammatical Metaphor in English and Chinese 9. Grammatical Metaphor in English-Chinese Translation 10. Summary and Outlook