Misrepresenting Grammatical Metaphor [Revised]

Martin (1992: 17):

Stratifying the content plane provides one mechanism for handling semantic layering of this kind.  The level of grammar can be used to provide an interpretation of the "literal" meaning of metaphorical structures and the meaning of congruent ones; the level of semantics can then be deployed to construct additional interpretations for metaphorical expressions (their "figurative" or "transferred" meaning).

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, Martin proposes that, in his stratification of the content plane, congruent construals of experience are located at the level of lexicogrammar, and metaphorical construals of experience are located at the level of semantics. There are two fundamental problems that undermine this proposal:

1. On this model, there are no semantic systems unless there are instances of grammatical metaphor in a text.
2. On this model, the levels of symbolic abstraction are upside down. Martin locates the lower level construal, the metaphorical, at the higher level, and the higher level construal, the congruent, at the lower level. A metaphorical construal stands for (realises) the congruent construal — not the reverse.

As this demonstrates, and will be seen later, Martin understands neither stratification nor grammatical metaphor.