English Language

Sporting commentators all have a distinctive style of speaking that is recognisable wherever you go, this is called sociolect. Sports commentators are well known for their exaggeration and use of phonology. For example Andy Gray says “Look at the prey on the little flick through...” For enthusiasts and follows of the sport, football fans will understand and recognise the jargon used by the commentators. The metaphor used; “Look at the prey...” is used to entice the listeners and keep them interested in the jargon only follows of the sport will know and understand. This also is shown from Gray later on when he says "...then try and transfer it across” this language is shaped and selected for the sport as “Transfer it across” wouldn’t normally be associated with a football.
In addition football comes with its own lexicon, like other sports it includes its own unique terminology. For example Gray comments “you don’t usually take out a striker out of the penalty for a free-kick round...” The terminology used is here is “penalty” “striker” and “free-kick” the language is specifically selected for football therefore foreigners of the sport would find it more difficult to understand. Using specialist vocabulary, football phrases are used worldwide even the exact same words just delivered in numerous languages.
Sports commentators use figurative language such as imagery to engage the listeners, imagery highlights the commentator’s perspective; using imagery he can tell the listeners what it is he is seeing as they are unable to. Tyler after a pause says “...it was a good idea to steer it forward quickly into the path of Phillips...” By specifically using the word “steer” it enables listeners to visualize what is going on without being there, “steer” showing us what the footballer is actually doing is figurative language also it is a metaphor as normally when describing movement of a football you don’t tend to use “steer” as a describing word you would perhaps use