Thursday 15 December 2016

Metaphorical Kissing


Actor
Process: material
Goal

congruent
he
kissed
his sister

he
gave
his sister
a kiss
metaphorical
Actor
Process: material
Recipient
Goal


Because grammatical metaphor is a junctional construct, the metaphorical expression construes 'his sister' both as the Goal and as the Recipient of the Process 'kiss', and construes 'kiss' both as Process and as gift (Goal: the Medium of giving).

The advantages of the metaphorical construal of a process as a participant include:
  • it can be sub-classified, as in he gave his sister a perfunctory and very reluctant kiss,
  • it can be given thematic status in a message, and 
  • it can be given modal responsibility in a proposition.

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