Semogenesis under scrutiny: grammatical metaphor in science and modern prose fiction

Scientific language، along with media and political discourse، has received adequate and ample attention in research on Grammatical Metaphor (GM) as it is a chief driving force in the discourse of those genres; Modern Prose Fiction (MPF) however has seen spotty and sketchy research at best. This study، thus، aims to bring out how GM is deployed in (MPF)، as opposed to such a deployment in the language of science. Drawing mostly upon the conceptualization of GM by Thompson (2004) and Halliday & Matthiessen (1999، 2004)، the study shifts the spotlight onto Harry Potter series، which is most representative of MPF discoursally and generically. The works placed under analysis for scientific discourse، selected based on clear and clarified criteria، are equally representative. This study is in a qualitative exploratory mould; it receives، in that spirit، three phases of compensatory sweeping analysis. The findings uncover six categories of GM in MPF and point to the category of Prepositional and Generic GM as the mainstays، underpinning all GM in the genre. The heart of the differential deployment of GM in MPF is found to lie in Semogenesis، the semiotic powerhouse of evolutionary meaning-making in language. The findings promise to broaden the understanding of GM and encourage undertaking analysis of GM in other prose genres، especially under-researched ones.