关键词:
metaphor of mood; metaphor of modality; Emma’s speech
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摘要:
Interpersonal metaphor is an aspect of Halliday’s Systemic
Functional Grammar and is mainly realized by metaphors of mood and
metaphors of modality. In recent years, some scholars in China have explored
interpersonal metaphor in texts like advertisements, news, and speeches. But
little research has been done on the function of interpersonal metaphors in
character utterances in a novel. Therefore, this study uses systematic statistics
and classification to analyze the employment of interpersonal metaphor in the
speech of the protagonist Emma in the novel of the same name to reveal her
character and social skills and thus show the meaning of interpersonal
metaphor in communications. All Emma’s utterances in the novel are collected
and those containing interpersonal metaphors are selected, classified, and
analyzed. The study demonstrates that interpersonal metaphors abound in
Emma’s interactive communications and perform different communicative
functions. The analysis of the interpersonal metaphors in Emma’s speech
reveals that Emma is smart, decent, and polite, but she sometimes also
behaves in a strong-willed, prejudiced, and self-centered way. This study
demonstrate the explanatory power of interpersonal metaphor, providing a
new appreciation of Emma and other literary works, as well as providing a
reference for adopting suitable strategies in communications.