On the Classification of Semantic Changes in Grammatical Metaphor

Abstract

In terms of the correlations of grammatical metaphor, semantics and semogenesis, grammatical metaphor is studied as regard to its influence on semantic meanings. Theory of image schema in cognitive linguistic, together with the semantic analysis in semantics, is being adopted into the classification of change in semantic meanings, which is embedded in linguistic and non-linguistic level. Later it was found out that both ideational metaphor and interpersonal metaphor can create these four types of semantic changes, namely, semantic reduction, semantic addition, semantic inconsistence, and semantic reconstruction. Some human’s cognitive characteristics and cognitive processes are also revealed by this interdisciplinary approach of combining grammatical metaphor with other fields, such as cognitive linguistics and cognitive pragmatics.