COMPARISON IN LIVE FOOTBALL REPORT

Abstract

The article characterizes the specificity of comparative constructions as figurative means of direct football reporting. The source material was the comments of journalists in Ukrainian on the TV channels “MEGOGO Football First”, “Football 1”, “Football 2”, “Suspilne Kyiv” during the broadcast of football matches. The research is based on the established classification of the components of comparison: the subject of comparison, the object of comparison, and the feature by which one subject (subject) is compared with another (object). It is noted that a number of objects, persons or phenomena directly or indirectly related to a football match can act as a subject of comparison in a football TV commentary: a game, a team, a football player, a ball. The objects of comparison appear to be the most original in mass media texts, as they are often not based on common-language established semantics of comparison, but are individually authored, that is, they explain imagery. In a football TV report, one subject (subject) is compared with another (object) according to the following characteristics: speed, direction of movement of players; positional situation on the field; the quality and accuracy of the player’s actions, etc. The lexical-semantic characteristics of the comparison in general and its components in particular create an apperceptive network of interconnections with the corresponding lexical units of the text. The grammatical expression of comparative constructions is analyzed. It is concluded that comparisons, as characteristic features of the language of live football television reporting, on the one hand, verbalize the peculiarities of the commentator’s linguistic thinking, and on the other hand, are a means of interactively depicting the game on the football field. Comparison as a trope emphasizes the language of football, serves to form imagery, express expressiveness, and significantly expands the palette of linguistic means of television commentary. The need to study the linguistic personality of a TV journalist commenting on football matches is emphasized.