Gravitational Redshift Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Hawking (1988: 85):

The gravitational field of the star changes the paths of light rays in space-time from what they would have been had the star not been present. The light cones, which indicate the paths followed in space and time by flashes of light emitted from their tips, are bent slightly inward near the surface of the star. This can be seen in the bending of light from distant stars observed during an eclipse of the sun. As the star contracts, the gravitational field at its surface gets stronger and the light cones get bent inward more. This makes it more difficult for light from the star to escape, and the light appears dimmer and redder to an observer at a distance.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, according to General Relativity, the gravitational field of a star is the relative contraction of space intervals around the centre of its mass.  It is this contraction of space intervals that accounts for the geodesic trajectory of light from distant stars curving towards the star it is passing.

The redshift of the light from distant stars passing through the star's gravitational field is due to the light's passage from the relatively contracted space intervals near the star to the relatively expanded space intervals further from the star.  The relative expansion of space intervals means relatively more space between photons of a given frequency, and so relatively longer wavelengths, and so a relative shift towards the red end of the visible spectrum.