Sport Commentary Language Structure, a Characterization

Michał Wiśnicki

The forms of expression used by journalists commenting sports events live are of great variety. In their commentaries from different competitions we can find contrasting language elements. On the other hand, we can also observe certain regularities common to all television reports. This article attempts to describe the structure of journalist commentaries of football games on television. Based on the observations, singled out were three basic segments of commentary: introduction to the game, the game itself and conclusion. Each of these was characterized separately, examining the various language levels. Analysed was also the stylistic aspect of football commentary including grammatical and prosodic elements. This characterization focuses on TV football game commentary. It seems, however, that it also pertains to commentaries from other sport disciplines.

KEYWORDS

television, sport commentators