A Study of Transfer Directions in Grammatical Metaphor

Some systemicists recently proposed the bidirectionality of rank-shift in grammatical metaphor. This article is intended to explore whether there is any possibility that bidirectional transfer could occur in or across the three types of grammatical metaphor. The results show that rank-shift takes place along two dimensions, one from the semantics to lexicogrammar in the content plane of language and the other among grammatical categories at the lexicogrammatical stratum; both are unidirectional. Ideational metaphor is manifested as downward rank-shift. Metaphor of modality is manifested as unidirectional transcategorization from modal verbs through modal adverbs or prepositional phrases to modal projecting clauses, metaphor of mood as unidirectional transcategorization from unmarked to marked lexicogrammatical categories. Textual metaphor is manifested as unidirectional transcategorization from unmarked to marked structures.