International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

Challenges Faced by Non-Native Speakers of English Understanding the Metaphors, Similes and Idioms in English Football Commentary

Open access
While idioms are relatively low in usage, football commentators largely use both similes and metaphors in football commentaries. English commentators' use of similes and metaphors distinguish World Cup, English Premier League (EPL) and Union of European Football Association (UEFA) from others in live football commentaries. Hence, the current study aims to explore how metaphors and similes complement English football commentaries and evaluate the extent of similes and metaphors expected to describe football events. The study investigates the lively impact and descriptive power of similes, metaphors and idioms in European live football matches commentaries. The adopted approaches include that observations were made; interviews were conducted; and questionnaires were distributed among participants. The study underscores a significant use of similes and metaphors on one hand, and a rare introduction of idioms in English football commentaries on the other hand. The findings highlight examples of similes and metaphors utilized in the football commentaries.
Abou Bakr, G. H. (2022). The language of football commentaries in British English and Egyptian Arabic: A contrastive study. Egyptian Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 11(1), 181–212.
Al-Desouki, M. (2022). “This is not football, this is music”...the history of sports commentary in football matches. Retrieved date 04/03/2024, at 10:48 from http://gate.ahram.org.eg/News/3875381.aspx
Al-Maashito, M. (2018). Pragmatics Glossary, 1st ed., Al-Ridwan Publishing and Distribution, Amman, p. 149.
Al-Zaalouk, A. M. (2017). The Language of Sports Commentary on Football Matches, Third Year, Fifth Issue, Egypt: Journal of the College of Arts and Media.
Alzawaydeh, S., & Alghazo, R. (2018). Analysing media discourse: The case of conceptual metaphors in football news headlines in English and Arabic. International Journal of Linguistics, 10(6), 116-133.
Aston, J., Goldstein, T., & Markowitz, L. (2023). The rhetorical effect of figurative language in sports broadcasting. Institute for Sports Rhetoric.
Beard. (1998). The language of sport. England; Routledge.
Bekar, M., & Takovsky, A. (2019). “While the ball is in the air”: Metaphors and humor in the 2018 World Cup commentaries. In Proceedings of the ESIDRP International Conference (pp. 125–137).
Carston, R. (2006). Language of Thought. In Brown, K. (Ed.) Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics, Second edition.
Farouk, W. (2019). Sports commentary...talent versus outlook. Retrieved date 04/03/2024, at 09:18 from http://www.eletihad.ae/article/58965/2019/.
Fatak, F. (2019). Communication from the Perspective of the Theory of Appropriateness by Dan Sperber and Wilson, Academy of Social and Human Studies, Volume 12, Issue 1, p. 37.
Hadim, A. (2013). Relevance Theory, A Revolutionary Theory in Communication Categories and Conceptual Extensions, Al-Khattab Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp. 62-63.
Khalaf, N. (2022). Sports commentary...culture and politics on football fields. Retrieved date 04 22, 2024, at the time: 1011 minutes from http://www.alaraby.co.uk/culture/
Okasha, M. (2013). The Pragmatic Linguistic Theory, A Study of Concepts, Origins and Principles, Maktabat Al-Adab, 1st ed., p. 94.
Ramus, F. (2014). Introduction to the Study of Pragmatics, the Principle of Cooperation, the Theory of Relevance and Interpretation, Translated and Presented by: Yahya Hamdai, 1st ed., Dar Ninawa for Printing, Publishing and Distribution, p. 118.
Ross, A. S., & Rivers, D. J. (2019). “Froome with His SKY Bodyguards, Layers of Armour”: The ‘Sport is War’Conceptual Metaphor in Grand Tour Cycling Commentary. Communication & Sport, 7(2), 176-197.?
Sperber, D., and Wilson, D. (1995) Relevance: Communication and Cognition. 2nd Edition, Blackwell, Oxford.
Wilinski, J. (2015). Sports metaphors in the Language of Politics: Evidence from English. Political Discourses in Contemporary Anglophone Literature and Culture, pg. 109.?
Titelman, G. (2000). America's most popular proverbs and sayings. Random House.
Wilson, D. & Sperber, D. (2004). Relevance Theory: The HandBook of Pragmatics. P. 251.
Yousuf, Q. (2018). Interpretive Similarity between the Original Text and the Target Text in Light of the Relevance Theory, Al-Isha'a, Volume 5, Issue 2, p. 125.
Yolanda, Y., & Maulyna, V. M. (2018). Ontological Metaphor by Valentino Simanjuntak: Study on Television live broadcast of AFF U-18 Championship 2017. In the 10th International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture and Education (Vol. 45, pp. 93-100).
Yus, F. (2015a) “Relevance theory.” In: The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Analysis (Second edition). Eds. B. Heine and H. Narrog. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 642-662.
Alqudah, M. M., & Hassan, I. (2025). Challenges Faced by Non-Native Speakers of English Understanding the Metaphors, Similes and Idioms in English Football Commentary. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(4), 192–201.