Language in Sport
Real-Time Talk in Training and Games
Published on 15. September 2025
250 pages
978-1-040-39940-8 (ISBN)
Description
This collection showcases the language of "doing" sport, emphasizing the real-time talk of players and coaches during training and games toward elucidating real-time language use and encouraging effective sporting pedagogies. While there is established work at the intersection of linguistics and sport, this book places a particular focus on real-time participation, as opposed to media reporting or post-match commentary.
The volume is divided into two sections which look at language in action in sporting contexts, with the first part dedicated to player communication and the latter on coaches' engagement with players, to explore such issues as team building, leadership, player guidance, and instruction through language. Examples are drawn from a wide range of sports across levels, including basketball; volleyball; Formula 1; rugby; cycling; and skiing across professional, amateur, and youth leagues. Taken together, the volume makes the case for an integrated social and linguistic perspective on language use in sport in real time to better understand its impact on players, foster more inclusive sporting pedagogies, and continue to grow sport research in interdisciplinary directions.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars in language and communication, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and the sociology of sport.
The volume is divided into two sections which look at language in action in sporting contexts, with the first part dedicated to player communication and the latter on coaches' engagement with players, to explore such issues as team building, leadership, player guidance, and instruction through language. Examples are drawn from a wide range of sports across levels, including basketball; volleyball; Formula 1; rugby; cycling; and skiing across professional, amateur, and youth leagues. Taken together, the volume makes the case for an integrated social and linguistic perspective on language use in sport in real time to better understand its impact on players, foster more inclusive sporting pedagogies, and continue to grow sport research in interdisciplinary directions.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars in language and communication, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and the sociology of sport.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
39 Tables, black and white; 13 Line drawings, black and white; 4 Halftones, black and white; 17 Illustrations, black and white
File size
19,31 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-39940-8 (9781040399408)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.40
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Andrew S. Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Canberra, Australia.
David Caldwell is Associate Professor in English Language and Literacy at the University of South Australia.
Y. J. Doran is Associate Professor in English Language and Literacy at the Australian Catholic University.
David Caldwell is Associate Professor in English Language and Literacy at the University of South Australia.
Y. J. Doran is Associate Professor in English Language and Literacy at the Australian Catholic University.
Content
1 Sports Linguistics: Speaking and Doing
ANDREW S. ROSS, DAVID CALDWELL AND Y. J. DORAN
2 The "Other" Side of Leadership: Unpacking Leadership and Followership Performance through Linguistics in a University Basketball Team
ANASTASIA STAVRIDOU
3 Discursively Regulating Driver Emotions During Live Formula 1 Racing Events: an Emotion Regulation Interpretation of Time-Gap Information Messages
KIERAN FILE
4 The Lexicon of Team- Based Spoken Rugby Discourse
STUART BENSON
5 Socialisation and Organisation: The Language and Discourse Within Cycling Group Rides
ANDREW S. ROSS
6 Ambiguous Person Reference in Coach Talk: How New Zealand Rugby Coaches Mediate the Directness of Their Player-Directed Speech through the Use of Pronouns, Personal Names, and Familiar Address Terms
NICK WILSON
7 Mic'd up and Mentoring: A Discourse Analysis of Mediatised Coach Discourse
DAVID CALDWELL
8 Demarcating Information: Setting up Drills and Giving Instructions in Sport
Y. J. DORAN AND LILIAN I. ARIZTIMUNO
9 The Coach- Athlete Communication Interface at an Australian Ski Racing Club: Coaching Styles and Coach Communication in Ski Racing
JOHN LYLE, IAN RENSHAW AND JOHN WILLIAMS
10 Toward Language- Based Pedagogies for In- Game Communications in Youth Level Sport
IAN SHERWIN, FERGUS O'DWYER, AND SALLY MCCARTHY
11 Developing Behaviours and Beliefs in Ballet
ELENA LAMBRINOS
12 Language in Sport: Wherefore and Where To?
Y. J. DORAN, DAVID CALDWELL AND ANDREW S. ROSS
ANDREW S. ROSS, DAVID CALDWELL AND Y. J. DORAN
2 The "Other" Side of Leadership: Unpacking Leadership and Followership Performance through Linguistics in a University Basketball Team
ANASTASIA STAVRIDOU
3 Discursively Regulating Driver Emotions During Live Formula 1 Racing Events: an Emotion Regulation Interpretation of Time-Gap Information Messages
KIERAN FILE
4 The Lexicon of Team- Based Spoken Rugby Discourse
STUART BENSON
5 Socialisation and Organisation: The Language and Discourse Within Cycling Group Rides
ANDREW S. ROSS
6 Ambiguous Person Reference in Coach Talk: How New Zealand Rugby Coaches Mediate the Directness of Their Player-Directed Speech through the Use of Pronouns, Personal Names, and Familiar Address Terms
NICK WILSON
7 Mic'd up and Mentoring: A Discourse Analysis of Mediatised Coach Discourse
DAVID CALDWELL
8 Demarcating Information: Setting up Drills and Giving Instructions in Sport
Y. J. DORAN AND LILIAN I. ARIZTIMUNO
9 The Coach- Athlete Communication Interface at an Australian Ski Racing Club: Coaching Styles and Coach Communication in Ski Racing
JOHN LYLE, IAN RENSHAW AND JOHN WILLIAMS
10 Toward Language- Based Pedagogies for In- Game Communications in Youth Level Sport
IAN SHERWIN, FERGUS O'DWYER, AND SALLY MCCARTHY
11 Developing Behaviours and Beliefs in Ballet
ELENA LAMBRINOS
12 Language in Sport: Wherefore and Where To?
Y. J. DORAN, DAVID CALDWELL AND ANDREW S. ROSS
