Grammatical Metaphor/Metonymy in the Treaty Establishing A Constitution for Europe: A Comparison between the English and Swedish Versions

Abstract

In order to investigate the use of grammatical metaphor in comparable English and Swedish texts, the English and Swedish versions of the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe were analysed. Results show that the Swedish version prefers combinations of ad¬verbials and passive verb forms to corresponding active verb forms. In contrast, comparison with current Swedish usage shows that active verb forms occur in similar cases in general language. The term gram¬mati¬cal metonymy is proposed for a certain type of grammatical metaphor.