Adjectivized Grammatical Metaphors in Daily Chinese Conversation

Abstract

This paper investigates the phenomenon of adjectival grammatical metaphor in everyday Chinese conversation, with the aim of determining its development and its relation to vocabulary structure. The results show that the verb phrase is one of the main sources of adjectival grammatical metaphors. The combination of adjectival phrases and nouns is a form of ‘verb phrase consists of verb + adjective’, which is commonly used in conversation situations. Moreover, vocabulary structure and lexicality are the major factors that affect the expression of adjectival grammar metaphor and its developing mode.