Chinese Nominal Groups: The Metaphorical Realization of Figures

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how nominal groups in Mandarin Chinese are involved in the realization of experiential grammatical metaphors, drawing on data from a history textbook chapter that recounts historical activities in the Opium War. We approach nominal group realizations of historical activities from a ‘top-down’ perspective along the hierarchy of stratification. While the discourse semantic figures construing activities can be realized congruently through a clause, the academic discourse of history favors nominal realizations. Previous descriptions of nominal groups in Mandarin Chinese have focused predominantly on the realization of entities. The nominal realizations of figures, however, have yet to be given sufficient consideration. We will show that some elements involved in such nominal groups do not share the functional characteristics of congruent ones. In addition to recognizable functions including Thing, Epithet, Measurer, Deictic and Qualifier, two distinctive functions, named here as Target and Orientation, are also identified. Our study aims to illustrate a descriptive method that considers multiple strata and provide a description of nominal groups involved in metaphorical realizations. The study suggests that grammatical descriptions need to reason from above, as well as round about and below – taking into account both discourse semantics and register variation.