A Critical Stylistics Analysis of Sports Commentaries

Abstract

Drawing on Jeffries’ Critical Stylistics Analysis, the current study was done on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 commentaries to reveal the discursive strategies used by the commentators that contribute to the ideological themes embedded in their commentaries. Six matches from the tournament were recorded and transcribed. The commentaries were then analysed using Jeffries' Critical Stylistics Analysis toolkits called textual-conceptual functions. Though not prominent, the findings reveal traces of ideologies of representation of races and religion found in the commentaries only by using six out ten Jeffries’ textual-conceptual functions toolkits. The current study helps sports commentators to comprehend how commentaries influence viewers’ perceptions of sports and the world around us. The current study adds to the literature on ideological frameworks to determine distinct frameworks employed in sports commentary. This could be useful for scholars interested in the relationship between language and ideology, as it could give them an excellent grasp of how these frameworks are employed to develop and maintain specific worldviews.