Sports Discourse

This book both defines sports discourse, and provides an account of the different discourses that are utilized and come into play when the field of sport speaks. It shows how the sports communities have been addressed over time by various speakers, across various multimodal genres. Tony Schirato looks first at how discourse can be viewed as a form of work, something that produces and naturalizes meanings, and habituates the way we see the world. Grounding this exploration is an account of the development of the field of sport as a specific discursive regime, one that is both reflected and refracted by the dominant discourses and values of the time. These discourses have become naturalized and shape activities and materialities at local and global levels. The book ends with an examination of how new technologies and the Web are changing sports discourse, in some cases radically via online commentary, Twitter and user-generated content.

This collection brings together innovative research from socially-oriented applied linguists working in sports. Drawing on contemporary approaches to applied linguistics, this book provides readers with in-depth analyses of examples of language-in-use in the context of sport, and interprets them through the lens of larger issues within sport culture and practice. With contributions from an international group of scholars, this an essential reference for scholars and researchers in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sport communication, sport management, journalism and media studies.

This collection brings together innovative research from socially-oriented applied linguists working in sports. Drawing on contemporary approaches to applied linguistics, this book provides readers with in-depth analyses of examples of language-in-use in the context of sport, and interprets them through the lens of larger issues within sport culture and practice. With contributions from an international group of scholars, this an essential reference for scholars and researchers in applied linguistics, discourse analysis, sport communication, sport management, journalism and media studies.

Research methods courses have become a compulsory component of most degree programs in sport management. This is the first introductory research methods textbook to focus exclusively on sport management. Through the use of examples, cases and data taken from the real world of sport management it opens up a traditionally dry area of study, helping the student to understand the vital importance of sound methodology in their studies and subsequent professional practice. The book covers the full range of quantitative and qualitative methods across the whole span of the research process, from research design and the literature review to data analysis and report writing. Every chapter contains a range of useful features to aid student learning, including summaries, discussion questions and guides to further resources, as well as examples drawn from contemporary sport around the world. Research Methods for Sport Management is an essential course text for all sport management students and an invaluable reference for any sport management professional involved in operational research.

This volume serves as an in-depth investigation of the diversity of means and practices that constitute (dis)identification and identity construction in social media. Given the increasing prevalence of social media in everyday life and the subsequent growing diversity in the types of participants and forms of participation, the book makes the case for a rigorous analysis of social media discourses and digital literacy practices to demonstrate the range of semiotic resources used in online communication that form the foundation of (dis)identification processes. Divided into two major sections, delineating between the (dis)identification of the self across various social categories and the (dis)identification of the self in relation to the "other", the book employs a discourse-ethnographic approach to highlight the value of this type of theoretical framework in providing nuanced descriptions of identity construction in social media and illuminating their larger, long-term societal and cultural implications. This volume is a key resource for researchers, and students in sociolinguistics, discourse studies, computer-mediated communication, and cultural studies.

This ground-breaking book provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between sports (and leisure), religion and disability. In the shadow of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, at which athletes that were both able-bodied and disabled, provided an extravaganza of sporting excellence and drama, this text is a timely and important synthesis of ideas that have emerged in two previously distinct areas of research: (i) ‘disability sport’ and (ii) the ‘theology of disability’. Many of the elite athletes at this global sporting mega-event often explicitly displayed their religious beliefs, and in turn their importance in the context of sport, by observing different religious rituals, and or, utilising the multi-faith sports chaplaincy service. This raises a whole range of unanswered questions with regard to the intersections between sports, religion and disability, which to-date has been under- researched. Examples of subjects addressed in this text include: elite physical disability sport--Paralympics; intellectual disability sport--Special Olympics; reflections on the illness narrative of the cyclist Lance Armstrong through the lens of the theology of ‘radical orthodoxy’; the application of biblical athletic metaphors in understanding modern conceptions of disability sport; the role of sport and spirituality in the rehabilitation of injured British Military personnel, and; the importance of sports and leisure in L’Arche communities. This book begins a critical conversation on these topics, and many others, for both researchers and practitioners. This book was based on two special issues of the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health.

This volume presents research studies that investigate various aspects of corporate communication from the viewpoint of language and discourse, giving special attention to emerging issues and recent developments in times of rapid sociotechnical evolutions. The studies included here are diverse in their outlook, analytical procedures, and objects of enquiry, spanning across various areas of corporate communication, both external and internal, such as corporate image and reputation management, various forms of corporate behaviour, branding at different levels including employer branding, recruiting, and consumer reviews. Similarly diversified are the settings, genres and media analysed, from face-to-face interaction to communication through the press, from traditional websites to social networking sites. All the studies presented in this volume are set in a discourse-analytical framework and share the ultimate purpose of providing new insights into the evolution of communication and discourse practices in the corporate environment, taking account of the most important issues that have attracted researchers’ interest and are still open to debate.

What do we know about the world? Rhetorical and Argumentative Perspectives is a book trying to answer the title question by contributing to rhetorical and argumentative studies. It consists of papers presented at the “First International Conference on Rhetoric in Croatia: the Days of Ivo Škarić” in May, 2012, and subsequently revised for publication. Through a variety of different routs, the papers explore the role of rhetoric and argumentation in various types of public discourse and present interdisciplinary work connecting linguists, phoneticians, philosophers, law experts and communication scientists in the common ground of rhetoric and argumentation.. The Conference was organized with the intent of paying respect to the Croatian rhetorician and professor emeritus Ivo Škarić who was the first to introduce rhetoric at the Department of Phonetics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.