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TopIntroduction: The Name And Nature Of Gm
It is well known that in the language there exists a common phenomenon that various grammatical structures can be used to express the same meaning. For instance:
1. A: “Have some more wine.”
B: “No, thanks.”
2. A: “Why not have some more wine?”
B: “No, thanks.”
In the two dialogues above, we can see that A invites B to have some more wine. In 1, the semantic function is finished with an imperative sentence while that in 2 with an interrogative structure. According to SFL, among the various grammatical structures available to express the same meaning, there are classified into two types: congruent form and grammatical form, or GM. In other words, there are two modes of realization for a given meaning: the congruent form and the metaphorical form. “For any given semantic configuration there will be some realization in the lexico-grammar—some wording—that can be considered congruent; there may also be various others that are in some respect ‘transferred’, or metaphorical.” (Halliday, 1994: 342).
Then, what are “congruent form” and “metaphorical form”? According to Thompson(1996: 28), the term “congruent” can be informally glossed as “closer to the state of affairs in the external world” and GM can be provisionally defined as “the expression of a meaning through a lexical-grammatical form that originally evolved to express a different kind of meaning”. The functional analysis of language structures can be developed from their congruent form and metaphorical form. For example, nouns usually express objects, concepts and things while verbs express action. Grammatically, an interrogative sentence indicates a “question”, while a declarative sentence expresses a “statement”. When nouns are used to express action, then there appears metaphorical form like nominalization (such as using nouns to express processes). Similarly, when an interrogative sentence is not used for asking a question and demanding answers, the metaphorical form can be seen.
Accordingly, it can be explained that 1 is “congruent form” and 2 is “metaphorical form”. In light of function of grammatical structures, an imperative sentence is to indicate offer, demand and invitation, or command and warning while an interrogative sentence is used to ask a question and require an answer. However, in 2, the interrogative sentence is not to ask a question but rather express an invitation, which can be inferred from answer B. Therefore, the function of it is to express “invitation”, often indicated by an imperative sentence, though it is an interrogative sentence grammatically. So, 2 is a GM. Comparatively, as an imperative sentence, 1 expresses “invitation” or “offer”, which is its basic function, hence it is “congruent form”.
It should be pointed out that the terminology “metaphorical form” is not absolute but relative to “congruent form”. If there is not congruent form, there will be no metaphorical form. And only if there are two or more grammatical structures available to express the same meaning will we need to distinguish congruent form and metaphorical form.