Grammatical Metaphor and Shifts in Translation

Metaphor is a common linguistic phenomenon in everyday communication. It is understood as a substitution or transference of metaphorical meaning to convey a covert comparison. However, the term ‘grammatical metaphor' as coined by Halliday (1985; 1994) in the Systemic Functional Grammar refers to variation in the expression of a given meaning, transforming the functions of lexico-grammatical elements that constitute meaning. Grammatical metaphor, also seen as an incongruent form of expression, is a predominant feature, characteristic of texts of official genres, which facilitates a number of shifts in linguistic terms for an effective transfer of meaning from a source language text into a target language text. This article discusses this linguistic phenomenon – grammatical metaphor - and introduces a translation-oriented approach to analysing changes via translation from a linguistic perspective