• The Conference
  • Home
  • Programme
  • Venue & directions
  • Organizing Committee
  • Scientific Committee
  • Exhibitors & sponsors
  • Satellite events
  • Conference Party
• Past & future
  • Previous symposia
  • Finland 2014
  • Spain 2016
• About FU Berlin
  • University homepage
  • Humanities at FU

Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 589

Part of Session 135: The sociolinguistics of football (Other abstracts in this session)

Football talk, footballspeak, footballese. Properties of English football language, its principal users and domains

Authors: Bergh, Gunnar; Ohlander, Sölve
Submitted by: Bergh, Gunnar (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

Reflecting a truly global and popular sport (e.g. Goldblatt 2007:xii ff.), the language of football can be seen as the world’s most widespread special language (cf. Sager et al. 1980:68), where English has played – and still plays – a dominant role. However, in contrast to many other special languages, e.g. academic and legal English, relatively little research seems to have been carried out on its linguistic properties, both from a synchronic and a diachronic perspective (Lavric et al. 2008:5). A similar lack of coverage can also be noted as regards football language from a sociolinguistic point of view, where there are many interesting connections, on and off the pitch, between different user groups and football repertoires that warrant further scholarly study (cf. e.g. Stockwell 2002:36-38).

The present paper discusses certain features of English football language, from different perspectives. On the one hand, it deals with the specificity of the register as such, especially vocabulary, including its relationship to general language and sports language (cf. e.g. the use of side-foot versus win and semi-final). On the other, it identifies the principal domains relating to the main subvarieties, or codes, of football language, spoken as well as written, i.e. (i) official language, as used in the documents issued by FIFA and UEFA, e.g. The field of play must be rectangular; (ii) journalistic reporting, as used in live broadcasts and post-match commentary in newspapers, e.g. It was a good time to score; (iii) participant talk, as used on the pitch and in the dressing-rooms, e.g. Man on!; and (iv) supporter language, as used in fanzines, supporter blogs and on the terraces, e.g. You are not singing any more.

It is argued, among other things, that while football language can be seen as a fairly well-defined register on its own, it also contains highly specific features and formulae that can be distinctly related to specific user groups, be it administrators, journalists, players or fans. At the same time, however, there is likely to be a great deal of overlap between the subvarieties identified, for example between journalistic reporting and supporter language. All in all, then, football language appears to offer a variety of sociolinguistic angles or dimensions.

References:

Goldblatt, David. 2007. The Ball is Round. A Global History of Football. London: Penguin.
Lavric, Eva, Gerhard Pisek, Andrew Skinner & Wolfgang Stadler (eds.). 2008. The Linguistics of Football. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Sager, Juan, David Dungworth & Peter McDonald. 1980. English Special Languages. Wiesbaden: Oscar Brandstetter.
Stockwell, Peter. 2002. Sociolinguistics. A Resource Book for Students. London: Routledge.