Systemic-Functional Linguistics and the Notion of Grammatical Metaphor

A theoretical study and a proposal for a semiotic-functional integrative model.

Miriam Taverniers

PhD Thesis, University of Gent, 2002

This dissertation has found its origin in an exploration of the concept of ‘grammatical metahor’, a concept which has been introduced in systemic-functional linguistics (henceforth SFL) and which is unique to that framework, and the status of this concept in a systemic-functional model of language as a whole. The central question which initially formed the basis for this exploration was:

is ‘grammatical metaphor’ a useful concept?

‘Metaphor’ in general is intrinsically a ’second-order’ phenomenon in language: a linguistic expression can only be labelled ‘metaphorical’ by virtue of there being a comparable non-metaphorical expression. Likewise, the concept of grammatical metaphor emerged in systemic-functional theory as a second-order resource, a resource which contrasts with and builds on other, non-metaphorical resources, whcih in this way form a non-metaphorical “baseline”.

In order to come to an understanding of the concept of ‘grammatical metaphor’ in SFL, it is necessary to explore, on a fundamental, theoretical level, the design of the linguistic model which has made the introduction of this concept possible (and indeed, as will be shown in this dissertation, necessary). Accordingly, this dissertation has two major interrelated aims:

  • On the one hand, it is a theoretical study of the systemic-functional model of language in general. In this study, attention is paid first and foremost to the general modelling of non-metaphorical linguistic resources in SFL, which form the ‘baseline’ which is exploited by grammatical metaphor. In relation to the study of the baseline model, it can then be investigated how and why the concept of ‘grammatical metaphor’ was introduced in SFL.
  • On the other hand, on the basis of this theoretical study, this dissertation proposes a refinement of the systemic-functional model of language, which will be motivated as a semiotic-functional model. This model is suggested as a ‘general’ model of (baseline, non-metaphorical) language, but one of its features is that ‘grammatical metaphor’ is fully incorporated in it. In this sense, the model whcih will be proposed is called integrative.