Chapter 13Stylistics of sports English.docx

Chapter 13Stylistics of sports English.docx

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Chapter13StylisticsofsportsEnglish

Chapter13StylisticsofSportsEnglish

Contents

1.Introduction

2.Definitionandclassification

3.StylisticanalysisofsportsEnglish

3.1StylisticFeaturesofSportsEnglishHeadlines

3.1.1Structuralfeatures

3.1.2Functionalfeatures

3.1.3Cognitivefeatures

3.2StylisticFeaturesofSportsEnglishTexts

3.2.1Structuralfeatures:

endocentricconstructions

3.2.2Functionalfeatures

3.2.3Cognitivefeatures

4.Comments

5.Researchprospects

6.Summary

1.Introduction

Nowadays,sportsplaysacrucialroleinsocialandculturallifeofmodernsociety,wherethedevelopmentlevelofsportsmarksthedegreeofsocialcivilization.Withthegallopingdevelopmentofeconomyandtheenhancementofinternationalcommunication,sportshasbeenattractingmoreandmoreattentions,especiallyafterChina’ssuccessfulbiddingforandholdingofthe2008OlympicGames.Thelanguageandpersonalitiesofsportshavebecomepartofourcommonvocabulary.Itisalsobelievedthatsportsjournalismhasbeenmaturingsincethefinaldecadeofthe20thcentury.Itisadjustingandchangingrelationsandstandardsinvolvingsportsandsociety（Garrison,1993）.

Today,sportshasbecomeamajorsellingpointformanycomprehensivenewspapersordailypapers,becauseofwhichthereisanurgentneedtoanalyzethestylisticfeaturesofsportsEnglish.However,peoplealwaysfinditdifficulttocomprehendwhatiscoveredwhenreadingsportsnews,stillharderwhenreadingthoseinanotherlanguage.Thisdoesnotmeanthatsportsnewsisofextraobscurity,allforthecontemporarysportsnewspossessesmanypeculiarfeaturesexceptthegeneralcharacteristicthatallkindsofnewshave,whichdisplayintheirvocabulary,sentenceanddiscourse,aswellastheculturalbackground.Thespeedyandpromptdeliveryofinformationinnewsreportingisconsideredprominent;therefore,newsreportinglanguageisnovel,vividandreadable.Furthermore,sportsnewsreporting,whichisanimportantlinguisticandsocialembodiment,isnolongerasimplelistofscores.Actually,thecontemporarynewsreportersalsofocustheirattentiononmanythingsotherthanthecompetitionitself,forexample,thecontractsquabblesofathletes,drugoralcoholabusebyathletes,urinecheck,playertiradesagainstfansorcoaches,domesticviolencebyathletesandeventheweddingsanddivorcesofathletes.【这一段删去】

ComparedwithotherwrittenregistersofEnglish,sportsEnglishhasitspeculiarfeatures,whichhasbeenlargelyneglectedbyappliedlinguistics.Onlyalimitedamountofresearchhasbeendoneinthisfield.CrystalandDavy（1969）【参考文献中需要列出来】analyzed“TheLanguageofUnscriptedCommentary”forcricket;Plimton（1977）describes“ThebestAmericansportswriting”;andFerguson（1983）analyzedthelanguageofAmericanbaseball.Buttheirstudiesarerelatedonlytospokencommentarybroadcastedontheradio.AndinChina,ZhangJian（1994）andWuQianlong（2001）【参考文献中需要列出来】studiedseveralpiecesofsportsnewsrespectively;JuYumei（2004）analyzedthestylisticfeaturesofsportsnewsinEnglishjournals.ThoughsomeresearchhasbeendoneonthestylisticfeaturesofsportsEnglish,asystematicframeworkofthestylisticsofsportsEnglishstillneedstobeestablishedwiththerapiddevelopmentofmodernlinguistictheoriesanddisciplines.

2.DefinitionandclassificationofsportsEnglish

SportsEnglishisaspecialtypeofEnglishtext.ItiscommonlyacceptedthatsportsEnglishmainlyreferstosportsnewsreporting,whichisanopenandfreefieldinEnglishjournals.Generallyspeaking,sportsEnglishfunctionsasatooltodeliverthefreshsportsnewstoreadersorlisteners.Itmainlyservestomeetthesportsenthusiasts’interestsincertainathleticitems.Soitmaynotbesoseriousaspoliticalnews.Sportsnewsreportingcoversawiderange,includingfootball,basketball,volleyball,swimming,tennis,skating,golf,racing,etc.Therefore,italsohassomepeculiarities,suchasfocusingonathleticssports,beinginternationalandemotional,concentratingonrecreationalparts.Amongtheabovefeatures,thelastoneisofgreatsalience,justasMengLianfen（2007:

219）putit,“Sportsisdefinedasasourceofdiversionorphysicalactivityengagedinforpleasure”.

Asportsnewsreportingconsistsofaheadline,aleadandabody.Whenwereadanewspaper,aheadlineisthemostprobablethingthatcomesfirstintosight.Ithastworequirements:

tocapturetheessenceoftheeventandtoattractthereaders’attention.Likeheadlines,aleadisthefirstoneortwoparagraphsofanewsstory,whichincludesasummaryofthemostimportantmaterial,somebackgroundandsecondarymaterial.Themainpart—body—containsthedetailsofthesportsnews.

ConcerningtheclassificationofsportsEnglish,therearedifferentcriteria.Onthebasisofthedegreeofelaboration,itcanbedividedintothefollowingtypes:

straightreporting,featurestory,depthreportingandcolumn.Thefirsttype--straightnews,whichseemstobeoneofthemostclearlydefinedtextcategories,tellsreaderswhathappenedinastraightforwardaccount.Itnotonlystandsuptothetestofpurpose-orientedgenrestory,butalsosetsapartfromothermajornewspapertextcategoriesbyanumberofstylisticfeatures.Suchasthefollowingpiece,thereaderswillgetapieceofdirectandstraightforwardinformationaboutthisNBAgamefromthereport.

EASTRUTHERFORD,N.J.,Dec.7—JasonKiddreturnedFridaynightfrom,dependinguponwhomyoubelieve,hisboutwithmigraineheadachesorhisone-gameprotest,buthewasoflittlehelptothestrugglingNets.WithKiddunabletogetuntrackeduntillateinthefourthquarter,theNetslost,96-89,totheHoustonRockets.（fromtheNewYorkTimes,Dec.8,2007）

Featurestorycanbeanythingaboutsports,whichcanusuallyentertainthereaders.Takethefollowingasanexample:

ThingshavebeenbadinHoustonthelasttwoweeksandYaoisgettingdesperate.ThenightbeforethedisasterinPhiladelphiainanotherlopsidedlossagainstadecidedlyaverageTorontoteam,anexasperatedYaosaid,“IfeelthisistheworstgameIeverhadinmycareer.”Heonlyhadtowaitabout24hoursbeforeputtingonanevenworseperformance,shootinganintolerable3-of-11againstSixersateamtheRocketsbeatby50pointslastseason.

OthershavearguedthatYaoisnottheonewhoistheproblem.YuJia,thewell-knownChinesesportscommentator,wroteonhisblogthatteammateTracyMcGradyistheRockets’“No1problem”andheistheonewhoshouldbecomingoffthebench.（fromChinaDaily,Dec.13,2007）

TheaimofthissportsEnglishtextisnottodeliversomenewstoreaders,buttoamusethem.ItisjustafeaturedstoryaboutacrisisoftheleadershipinRocket—YaoMingorMcGrady.

Thethirdtype—depthreporting—attemptstoputanewseventintoperspectivebyrelatingittoothereventsorreports.Basicallyitisaconcreteanddetailedsportsnewsreport,whichdemonstrates【这样用是否准确？

isconsidered】tobeauthoritative.Forexample,

Thelastone--acolumnistheultimateinjournalisticfreedom.Itletsthewriterindulgeincreativeexpressionandpersonalopinionthatwouldnotbetoleratedinanyotherkindofstory（Bell,1991:

237）.Asportscolumnistcanpassjudgments.

Basedonthestandardwhetheritisareportongame,sportsEnglishcanbeclassifiedintotwotypes:

matchsportsEnglishandnon-matchsportsEnglish.Theformeronedescribesthematchesdirectly,andisthemainformofsportsEnglish;whilethelatterportrayssomethingoutsidethematches,suchassomeprivacyaboutathletes.Thefollowingonebelongstothenon-matchsportsEnglish:

CARSON,Calif.,July13—DavidBeckhambeganhissoccercareerintheUnitedStatesonFridaywithastadiumreceptionthatwaspartcrusade,partcontrivedspectacle,asifithadbeenjointlyproducedbyBillyGrahamandWorldWrestlingEntertainment.Musicblared,confetticannonsexplodedandabout2,500fansoftheLosAngelesGalaxyattendedtheintroduction,somechanting,“There’sonlyoneDavidBeckham,”otherssinginghisnametothethemefrom“TheFlintstones.”Some600mediatypesfrom10countrieschronicledBeckham’sbriefappearance.Heworeasmokygraysuitanddrewaverbalyellowcardforcallinghissport“football,”beforecorrectinghimself,saying,“I’llgetusedtothat.”（fromtheNewYorkTimes,July14,2007）

DuetotherichresourceofsportsEnglishanditsdiversifiedfeatures,wearetoanalyzeitsstylisticfeaturesinthecomingsection.

3.StylisticfeaturesofsportsEnglish

Traditionally,stylisticanalysisusuallygetsitsconcentrationonthegraphicallevel（includingpunctuation,pictures,etc.）,lexicallevel（includingwordlength,wordclasses,wordforms,etc.）,grammaticallevel（includingsentencelength,sentencestructures,etc.）andsemanticlevel（includingrhetoricdevices,cohesivedevices,etc.）.Incombinationwithdifferentschoolsoflinguistics,weareintendedtoanalyzethestylisticsfeaturesofsportsEnglishfromstructural,functionalandcognitiveperspectives.Inaddition,becauseoftheparticularsalienceandsignificanceoftheheadlinesinsportsEnglish,ourdemonstrationwillfocusontheheadlineandalsothebodyofsportsEnglish.Concerningwithcorpus,wewillselectassociatedmaterialfromthosecelebratednewspapers--TheNewYorkTimes,TheTimes,TheMirror,TheGuardian,TheAssociatedPressandTheChinaDaily.

3.1StylisticfeaturesofsportsEnglishheadlines

Narassinha（1998:

10）said,“Ifjournalismisanart,theheadlineisitsheart.Thisisapplicabletoallheadlines,whateveritisfornewsreports,articlesoreditorials.Byglancingatheadlines