Sport facilitates the crossing of national borders, such as migration to play professional sport in another country, or the coming together of nations at a transnational event such as the Olympics. However, sport is also... [ view full abstract ]
Sport facilitates the crossing of national borders, such as migration to play professional sport in another country, or the coming together of nations at a transnational event such as the Olympics. However, sport is also replete with discourses that construct social borders, such as gendered sociolinguistic practices and in-group identities constructed in team discourse. From another perspective, the study of sport breaks down the conceptual borders between disciplines, with research on sport found in sociology, anthropology, psychology, medicine, and educational studies. We argue that sociolinguistics has much to contribute to the scholarly study of sport in society, especially as sport is an important social practice for a large number of people around the world. Moreover, we recognise that sociolinguistics of sport is a growing field of study that can yield important insights in the study of linguistic practices at both a local and a global level. The papers in this colloquium adopt a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to demonstrate a variety of ways that language is used in relation to sport to both cross and reinforce borders.
We have included papers that look at language used in relation to sport by fans, players, managers, officials, and journalists. The analyses presented look at sports discourse on the field, in the locker room, on television, while spectating, and in everyday conversation. Across this wide variety of situational contexts and participant frameworks, language used about sport and whilst doing sport is analysed as a linguistic resource to construct identities and perform gender in a variety of different ways. We also take a wider view on how the language that is used to describe sport crosses borders through transglossia.
The colloquium will conclude with a discussion about future directions for using sport as a resource for sociolinguistic research, and we welcome anybody wishing to join us in this discussion. It is the aim of the colloquium organisers to produce an edited collection of the papers presented at this panel
