ready to die for the goals metaphor in football – england vs. germany forschungskolloquium...

Ready to die for the goals

Metaphor in Football – England vs. Germany

Forschungskolloquium SprachwissenschaftKU Eichstätt, 02. Juni 2010

Elmar Thalhammer, M.A.

Metaphor in Football

Outline

1. A brief history of football2. English football terminology in German3. Football and Linguistics4. Metaphors we live by5. Pilot study & research questions6. Corpus design7. Methodology8. Preliminary results9. Suggestions for further research

# 202.06.10Elmar Thalhammer, M.A.

1. A brief history of football

Postulated origins

Shrovetide football

• Ashbourne, Derbyshire

• Kirkwall, Orkney Islands



Roman Empire: Harpastum


1. A brief history of Football

Italy: Calcio fiorentino

• 16th century

• originally elite sport

• played between† San Giovanni† Santa Maria

Novella† Santo Spirito† Santa Croce



China: Tsu-Chu

• 3rd century BC

• military training



Britain – the early years

• 12th - 19th century: increasing popularity and regulations• 1846: first official rules (Rugby)• failed attempts to unify the rules• 1863: foundation of the FA



Britain – spreading the game

• 1857: first club: Sheffield FC

• 1871: first tournament: FA Cup



Britain – spreading the game

• football at schools

• 1906: Ministry of Education: football in the national curriculum



Germany: Fußball vs. Turnen

• 19th century: Turnvater Jahn



Semantic change: Englische Krankheit


Rickets

Football

Hooliganism

2. German football terminology

Germany: Konrad Koch, “the father of football“

• first German rules (1875)

• German football terminology (1903)

• Voßische Zeitung (13.09.1892): „Capitain […] Goal […]

Goalkeeper […] Half Time […] Passing […] Kickin […].“

central role of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Sprachverein




Koch‘s “successful” attempts



backs = Hinterspielercaptain = Spielwart, Spielkaiserdribble = treibendrop-kick = Sprungstoß, Prellstoßfull-back = Schlussspielergoal = (Tor,) Malhalf-back = Halbspieler, Markmannto heel out = herausfersento score a goal = ein Tor gewinnen, zählen

Koch‘s “unsuccessful” attempts

3. Football and Linguistics

The Literature: England vs. Germany



English Linguistics

• very few publications• scattered across fields

• Beard: textbook

• Mackenzie: grammar

• Kuiper: discursive organisation

• Knobbe: text types / semantics



Beard (1998): The Language of Sport

• textbook

• general introduction

• overview of the many possible applications

• newspaper reports

• commentary (radio/TV)

• sports writing

• focus on football




“Sporting contest, tactics and skills are also described in metaphorical terms and one of the most obvious fields of reference for sporting metaphor is that of war. Some of these metaphors are so deeply embedded in the way that we describe sport, that we fail to notice them consciously as metaphors.”

(Beard 1998, 34)




Metaphors

• in almost every chapter• fails to grasp their all-pervasiveness• unclear terminology: domains, semantic fields,

references• unclear view of metaphor:

cognitive (Lakoffian) vs. classical (Aristotelian)



Mackenzie (2005): Does time pressure have an influence on a commentator‘s linguistic output?

• corpus: 30 minutes of highlights of a Premier League match

• categorisation of syntactic complexity:

holophrasitc < phrasal < clausal < sentential

• categorisation of time pressure:

attacks > midfield play > dead balls > summary



Mackenzie (2005): Does time pressure have an influence on a commentator‘s linguistic output?

Results:

more time pressure = more holophrastic structures

Problems:

choice of corpus assumptions about categories



Kuiper (1996): Smooth talkers

• sportscasters and auctioneers• requirements of sportscasters

fast sports slow sports


3. Linguistics and Football


fast sports • instantaneous linguistic realization of events• similar to simultaneous translating• danger of getting behind• accumulation of too much information to be relayed

slow sports• no danger of falling behind• challenge of filling in the gaps


3. Linguistics and Football


fast sports • play-by-play commentary• more linguistic formulae

slow sports• colour commentary• fewer linguistic formulae

influence of the medium in question (radio vs. TV)



Knobbe (1997): Linguistic aspects of sports reporting in English tabloid newspapers

• corpus: 24 x The Sun, 8 x Daily Mail, 8 x Daily Mirror, 3 x Daily Express, 7 x Today (sports pages, 1995)

• macro structure of sports pages (header, body, etc.)

• frequent rhetoric devices (alliteration, inclusive we, etc.)




• metaphors as a tool for identifying national tendencies

• main functions of metaphor

• illustration

• dynamic effects

• (conscious) focus on certain analogies




Results:

• influence of many Lebensbereiche (similar to source domains)

• English tabloids more prone to militaristic metaphors

Problems:

choice of corpus view of metaphor



The Literature: England vs. Germany



German Linguistics

centres of interest

• “Germanness” of football terminology• influence of football language on other domains

football as a source domain

• style/syntax of football reporting• metaphors in football language



“Germanness” of football terminology

Koch (1903): getting rid of English terms

• original English terms must be “germanised”• competition with Jahn’s Turnen• official promotion through the DFB• distribution of new terms on signs (Wappenhans 1905)



Football as a source domain

Settekorn (2001), Haubrich (1965), Bues (1939)

• football and/or sports as a source domain for:• economics• politics• etc.

• sporting universals• racing: start, finish, lap• ball sports: goal, shoot



Football as a source domain

Settekorn (2001), Haubrich (1965), Bues (1939)

• “football language” = Sondersprache (terminology + jargon)

• corpora: newspapers

• high frequency reflects its importance in society



Style of football reporting

Dankert (1969), Feige (1963), Thormann (1982), Laven (1956)

• uniform, static vocabulary (and metaphors)

• criticism of creative word-formation

• impoverished, (syntactically) reduced form of language



Style of football reporting

Dankert (1969), Feige (1963), Thormann (1982), Laven (1956)

• dramatisation of banalities

• mixed metaphors

• (implicit) criticism of professionalism

• global criticism of style



Metaphor and Football

Rosenbaum (1969), Siefert (2002)

• rhetoric vs. cognitive view of metaphor

• WAR as the most (if not only) significant source domain

• particular importance between England and Germany

• often focus on tabloids



Metaphor and Football

Vierkant (2008)

• corpus: radio commentaries (2006 World Cup: GER-CRC, GER-SWE, GER-ITA)

• analytical tool: MIP (Pragglejaz 2007)

• restriction to nouns and verbs

unclear assignment of source domains


4. Metaphors we live by


+ =

Achilles was a lion in battle.


Is Achilles really a lion?


Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary

“a large powerful animal of the cat family that eats meat and is found in parts of Africa and southern Asia“

“(dated) a brave or famous person“


Mapping of qualities


Achilles Lionbravestrong

courageous


George Lakoff & Mark Johnson (1980):Metaphors we live by…

Your claims are indefensible.He attacked every weak point in my argument.His criticisms were right on target.I demolished his argument.I‘ve never won an argument with him.You disagree? Okay, shoot!If you use that strategy, he‘ll wipe you out.He shot down all of my arguments.

ARGUMENT IS WAR



Metaphors we live by: Mappings


argument war

opinion fortress

winning an argument victory in battle

losing an argument defeat in battle

? attacking/defending



Metaphors – “just” language?

You‘re wasting my time.This gadget will save you hours.I don‘t have the time to give you.How do you spend your time these

days?That flat tire cost me an hour.I‘ve invested a lot of time in this.I don‘t have enough time to spare for

that.You need to budget your time.

wastesavehave, givespendcostinvesthave, sparebudget


TIME IS MONEY



precious

limited

quantifiable


Metaphor in football: to shoot



Klaedkte, Egon C. (1987): Fußball ist schön


5. Pilot study & research questions

Pilot study


• MA thesis, handed in October 2007

• qualitative, corpus-based approach

• 164 metaphors and metonymies

• corpus: commentaries on 4 matches in both English and German

• selective: no transcription of the entire commentary

• source domains: WAR, DEATH, ORGANISATION, SPACE, TOOLS, NATION


Research questions

• What is the central (and peripheral) vocabulary of English and German football language?

• Which conceptual metaphors are the most prominent and developed ones?

• Which source domains are the most productive ones in terms of metaphorical expressions?



Methodological prerequisites

• extensive corpus

• tool for detecting symptomatic vocabulary

• procedure for identifying metaphors and source domains


6. Corpus design

Munich Corpus of Football Commentaries (MCFC)

• English and German (MCFC-E, MCFC-G)

• transliterated radio commentaries

• no prosodic information

• no POS tagging


6. Corpus design

Why radio commentaries?

• large text output and word/minute ratio

• immediacy

• spontaneity

• “blind listener”

assumption of a symptomatic, yet not too specific choice of words


6. Corpus design


[...] Roma have the ball down the right side and they’re gonna win a corner. That’s very clever play by Mancini, who’s switched flanks. And the corner taken quickly, United are sleeping, Mancini inside the penalty area, shoots, hits a defender and that fell very kindly for United. They almost counter-attack there. A terrific header forward by Chivu, Ronaldo was in a great position, van der Saar spots him, but doesn’t get the delivery right, hits it straight through the middle between Solskjaer and Ronaldo straight through to Doni.

Yeah, a couple of opportunities for Manchester there to attack and counter-attack very quickly, weren’t able to do so, misplaced kick by van der Saar.

An example (34 seconds/113 words)

6. Corpus Design

Munich Corpus ofFootball Commentaries

(English)

MCFC-E


6. Corpus design


Match Day Station Commentators

Everton – Liverpool 04/02/2009 BBC 5 Live John Murray, Pat Nevin

Portsmouth – Liverpool 07/02/2009 BBC 5 Live David Oates, Nigel Adderley, Kit Symonds

Roma – Arsenal London 11/03/2009 BBC 5 Live Alistair Bruce Ball, Mark Bright

Aston Villa – Tottenham 15/03/2009 BBC 5 Live Darren Fletcher, Robbie Savage

Chelsea – Manchester City 15/03/2009 BBC 5 Live Ian Brown, Ian Dennis, Alan Pardew

Wolverhampton – Derby County

09/12/2008 BBC 5 Live Dave Woods, Darrius Vassell

Tranmere – Huddersfield 14/03/2009 BBC Leeds Paul Ogden, Kieran Oriegan

Hull City - Newcastle 14/03/2009 BBC 5 Live John Murray, Danny Mills

Barnsley – Birmingham 09/04/2007 BBC Sheffield

Paul Walker, Derek Parker

Roma – Manchester Utd. 04/04/2007 BBC 5 Live Graham Taylor, Simon Brotherton, Alan Green

PSV Eindhoven - Liverpool 03/04/2007 BBC 5 Live Mike Ingham, Jan Molby, Alan Green

6. Corpus Design

Munich Corpus ofFootball Commentaries

(German)

MCFC-G


6. Corpus design


Match Day Station Commentators

Wehen – Mainz 16/03/2009 90elf.de Fabian von Wachsmann

Germany – England 19/11/2008 WDR 2 Jens-Jörg Rieck, Alexander Bleick

Mönchengladbach – Hamburg

07/03/2009 90elf.de Marko Röhling

Hoffenheim – Wolfsburg 15/11/2008 90elf.de Mario Bast

Leverkusen - Hoffenheim 30/08/2008 90elf.de Jochen Stutzky

Olympiakos – Hertha BSC 18/12/2008 rbb Nikolaus Hillmann, Guido Ringel

Real Madrid – Bayern München

29/02/2000 B5 aktuell Günter Koch, Hans-Peter Pull

Schalke – Bayern München 09/11/2008 90elf.de Tom Hilgers

Schalke – Köln 06/03/2009 90elf.de Rolf Lange

6. Corpus design


Match Date Station Commentators

Sporting Lissabon – B. München

25/02/2009 B5 aktuell Hans-Peter Pull, André Siems

Stuttgart – Bielefeld 15/11/2008 90elf.de Ralf Bosse

Bremen – Stuttgart 15/03/2009 90elf.de Thomas Reckermann

Bremen – Panathinaikos 04/11/2008 Radio Bremen

Henry Vogt, Heiko Neugebauer

6. Corpus design

Differences in commentator set-up

England:

• one commentator with an expert summariser (usually an ex-footballer)

• two main commentators with an expert summariser; the main commentators switch once during each half of the game

• in-between updates from other matches


6. Corpus design

Differences in commentator set-up

Germany

• no expert summarisers

• one commentator (90elf.de)

• two commentators alternating every couple of minutes


6. Corpus design

Testing uniformity

• division into subcorpora = each speaker‘s linguistic output

• concordance tool AntConc

• keyword analysis: subcorpora against MCFC


6. Corpus design


6. Corpus design

What does AntConc do and what do the numbers mean?

• statistical comparison of texts

• basis: reference corpus

• calculation of loglikelihood values

p < 0,01 LL > 6,64p < 0,001 LL > 10,83

“The higher the LL-value, the more symptomatic a word.”


6. Corpus design

How idiosyncratic is Ralf Bosse‘s vocabulary?


44.800 innen24.270 rausgeköpft16.092 Ecke10.926 rechts10.787 Abwurf10.787 rausgeschlagen9.728 Strafraum9.659 abgeblockt9.657 Spielunterbrechung9.282 vorne8.991 alleine8.706 endgültig8.090 gegenseitig7.824 passiert7.640 Flanke6.992 erleben6.992 Gefühl6.992 Klassenerhalt6.899 bekommen6.777 spielen

44.800 innen24.270 rausgeköpft16.092 Ecke10.926 rechts

p < 0,01 p < 0,001

6. Corpus design

Representativeness & caveats

• results indicate a fairly uniform vocabulary

• corpora are symptomatic for football language

“uncontrollable” factors:

result of a match course or development of a match intensity of the game


7. Methodology

Corpus analysis

• keyword analysis

• MCFC-E, MCFC-G

• reference corpora:

• BNC (spoken part)

• Datenbank Gesprochenes Deutsch


7. Methodology

Metaphor identification

Pragglejaz Group (2007)

• establishing a simple analytical tool

• reliable across analysts

Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP)


Peter CrispRaymond GibbsAlice DeignanGraham LowGerard SteenLynne CameronElena Semino Joe GradyAlan Cienki Zoltan Kövecses

7. Methodology

Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz 2007, 3)

1. Read the entire text–discourse to establish a general understanding of the meaning.

2. Determine the lexical units in the text–discourse3. (a) For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context. Take

into account what comes before and after the lexical unit.(b) For each lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other contexts than the one in the given context. For our purposes, basic meanings tend to be• more concrete [what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel,

smell, and taste];• related to bodily action;• more precise (as opposed to vague);• historically older;

(c) decide whether the contextual meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can be understood in comparison with it.

4. If yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical.


7. Methodology

Basic meanings

• more concrete [what they evoke is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste];

• related to bodily action;• more precise (as opposed to vague);• historically older;

Where do we find these?


7. Methodology

Problematic issues with MIP

• Read the entire text?

• Historically older meanings?

What about Mannschaft?


7. Methodology

MIPVU – a development of MIP (Steen et al. 2010)

• reports practical experiences with MIP• extends the analysis to different discourse domains• more explicit guidelines

• lexical units

• basic meanings

• metaphor flags

positive reliability tests


7. Methodology

MIPLMU ? Methodological considerations

Which dictionary?


7. Methodology


• stronger inflectional morphology

more word forms

• particle verbs

• AntConc operates on a word-by-word basis

adjusting statistics


7. Methodology


• analysis of compounds

Nationalmannschaft vs. Fußballgott


not in the dictionary

two lexical units: Fußball + Gott

in the dictionary

‚Mannschaft, die sich aus den besten Spielern eines Landes zusammensetzt

no contrast: not metaphorical

7. Methodology


Fußball: ‚Kampfspiel zw. zwei Mannschaften zu je 11 Spielern […]‘

Gott: ‚übermenschl., meist unsterbliches, mit Willen u. Macht ausgestattetes, kult. verehrtes Wesen, Gegenstand des relig. Glaubens‘


no contrast between contextual and basic meaning

contrast between contextual and basic meaning

Fußballgott is metaphorical

7. Methodology

Combining AntConc & MIP(VU)

• AntConc: keyword analysis

• corpus-based, football vocabulary for E & G

• central vs. peripheral


7. Methodology



MIP(VU) WARTOOLS

ORGANISATION

THEATREANIMALS

7. Methodology


How do English and German conceptualise football?


WARTOOLS

ORGANISATION

THEATREANIMALS

WARTOOLS

ORGANISATION

THEATRE

ANIMALS

NATION

WORK

DEATHRELIGION

RELIGION

7. Methodology

Assigning source domains

• notorious problem in metaphor research

• much individual variation

• broad vs. narrow categories


7. Methodology


Possible solutions:


7. Methodology


threefold classification:

• Class: abstract relations, intellect

• Division: formation of ideas, individualvolition

• Head: attack

to attack, assault, to besiege


7. Methodology


twofold classification:

• broad: time, society, culture

• narrow: attack

angreifen, belagern, entern


8. Preliminary results

Keyword analysis: German


1 1153 4.539 Ball2 819 3.224 Und3 479 1.885 Der4 3309 1.825 der5 460 1.811 Seite6 413 1.612 Bayern7 381 1.500 Das8 1757 1.467 den9 313 1.232 Tor10 304 1.197 Jetzt11 403 1.154 null12 1231 1.119 auf13 278 1.094 Freistoß14 272 1.071 Spiel15 260 1.023 Die

16 243 956.510 Minuten17 230 905.339 Da18 228 897.467 Schalke19 218 858.104 FC20 614 849.012 wieder21 184 724.271 Einwurf22 1113 698.253 jetzt23 169 665.227 Hälfte24 166 653.419 Also25 177 645.710 rechten26 961 618.356 für27 333 603.826 gegen28 170 600.510 linken29 151 594.375 Strafraum30 191 585.307 vorne


Keyword analysis: German


1 1153 4.539 Ball2 819 3.224 Und3 479 1.885 Der4 3309 1.825 der5 460 1.811 Seite6 413 1.612 Bayern7 381 1.500 Das8 1757 1.467 den9 313 1.232 Tor10 304 1.197 Jetzt11 403 1.154 null12 1231 1.119 auf13 278 1.094 Freistoß14 272 1.071 Spiel15 260 1.023 Die

16 243 956.510 Minuten17 230 905.339 Da18 228 897.467 Schalke19 218 858.104 FC20 614 849.012 wieder21 184 724.271 Einwurf22 1113 698.253 jetzt23 169 665.227 Hälfte24 166 653.419 Also25 177 645.710 rechten26 961 618.356 für27 333 603.826 gegen28 170 600.510 linken29 151 594.375 Strafraum30 191 585.307 vorne


Metaphor identification: Seite

DUDEN: • ‚eine von mehreren ebenen Flächen, die einen Körper,

Gegenstand begrenzen‘• ‚Fläche eines Raumes, Gegenstandes, Körpers‘• ‚rechter oder linker flächiger Teil eines Gegenstandes,

Körpers‘

WAHRIG:• ‚Grenzfläche eines Körpers‘• ‚Grenzlinie eines Körpers‘• ‚rechte oder linke […] Fläche‘



Metaphor identification: Seite

Contextual meaning:


no significant difference between literal/basic and contextual meaning

no metaphor


Metaphor identification: Tor

DUDEN: • ‚Öffnung in einer Mauer, Zaun, o.Ä., die durch ein Tor

verschlossen wird, breiter Eingang, breite Einfahrt‘• ‚Vorrichtung aus Holz, Metall, o.Ä., die ein Tor verschließt‘

WAHRIG:• ‚große Öffnung in einer Mauer, Begrenzung, die mit einer

großen Tür verschlossen werden kann, Einfahrt, breiter Eingang‘

• ‚große Tür, mit der eine Öffnung in einer Begrenzung, Mauer verschlossen werden kann‘



Metaphor identification: Tor

Contextual meaning:


difference between literal/basic and contextual meaning

metaphor


Keyword analysis: English


1 718 3.092 ball2 2509 2.940 s3 518 2.484 nil4 418 1.858 Liverpool5 2294 1.782 it6 411 1.715 goal7 690 1.523 just8 716 1.408 And9 310 1.372 kick10 697 1.332 back11 330 1.272 game12 469 1.134 side13 235 1.096 Yeah14 257 1.086 penalty15 211 1.005 gonna

16 466 918.987 right17 192 912.435 Roma18 454 908.638 think19 212 899.084 throw20 175 851.618 PSV21 301 840.908 play22 420 827.275 away23 370 802.163 half24 362 756.893 got25 412 749.094 here26 169 741.635 Villa27 371 695.284 left28 142 691.027 Tranmere29 163 670.615 Arsenal30 273 647.851 area


Metaphor identification: side

Macmillan:

• ‘a particular area of something such as a building, street, or town’

• ‘an outside surface of an object or shape that is not its front, back, bottom, or top’




Meaning in context





metonymy

Barnsley side: indicating possession


Metaphor identification: territory

Macmillan:• ‘an area of land controlled by a particular country,

leader, or army’• ‘an area of land that is officially part of a country but

does not have the status of a state or a province’



Metaphor identification: territory


metaphor

Summing up

• conceptual metaphor

• corpus: radio commentaries

• distillation of essential English and German football vocabulary

• applying MIP to German

• charting the conceptual landscape of English and German football language


9. Suggestions for further research

Approaches worth looking at…

• diachronic

• constructions/collostructions

• football and gender

• “non-footballing” cultures


The Final Whistle

Thank you for your attention.

Presentation and bibliography under:http://www.anglistik.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/thalhammer/index.html

[email protected]# 10102.06.10Elmar Thalhammer, M.A.

http://www.anglistik.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/thalhammer/index.html

http://www.anglistik.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/thalhammer/index.html

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