“Beautiful Power Shield!” vs. “Explosive Superman Punch!” A Comparative Analysis of Promotional Metadiscursive Language in eSports and Mixed Martial Arts Sports Commentaries ”Vacker kraftsköld!” vs. ”Explosivt Supermanslag!” En komparativ analys av promotionsbefrämjande metadiskursivt språk i eSport och mixed martial arts sportkommentarer Anton Gustin Faculty of Arts & Social Science English English III: Degree Project 15hp Supervisor: Peter Wikström Examiner: Andrea Schalley Fall 2018 Title: “Beautiful Power Shield!” vs. “Explosive Superman Punch!”: A Comparative Analysis of Promotional Metadiscursive Language in eSports and Mixed Martial Arts Sports Commentaries Titel på svenska: “Vacker kraftsköld!” vs. ”Explosivt supermanslag!”: En komparativ analys av promotionsbefrämjande metadiskursivt språk i eSport och mixed martial arts sportkommentarer Author: Anton Gustin Pages: 76 Abstract Sports commentary is an essential part of live broadcasted sports as well as eSports and is a task that requires that the caster be verbally proficient and can maintain a high tempo when speaking, especially in more fast-paced sports. This study aims to analyze this promotional language sportscasters use by approaching it from the linguistic phenomenon of metadiscourse. This will be achieved by utilizing a theoretical framework adapted from previous research on eSports commentaries. By comparing a traditional sport, in this case mixed martial arts, with that of the eSport of Super Smash Bros. Melee, the aim is to see what differences can be found between the two sports’ commentaries and their use of metadiscursive promotional language. After comparing these two sets of commentaries, the results show that there are some differences in how promotional language is used to enhance the understanding and excitement of their respective sports. The major differences found are in how the two sets of commentaries use metaphors as well as that the eSport casters show a pattern of using evaluative adjectives in a more varied and colorful way. Keywords: metadiscourse, eSports, mixed martial arts, sports, promotional language, commentary, metaphors, evaluative adjectives Sammanfattning på svenska Sportkommentatorer är en väsentlig del av live-sänd idrott såväl som eSport och är en uppgift som kräver att kommentatorn är muntligt skicklig och kan hålla ett högt tempo när hen talar, särskilt i sporter med högre tempo. Denna studie syftar till att analysera det promotionsbefrämjande språk som sportkommentatorer använder genom att närma sig det från det lingvistiska fenomenet metadiskurs. Detta kommer att uppnås genom att använda sig av ett teoretiskt ramverk som anpassats från tidigare forskning om eSports kommentarer. Genom att jämföra det med en traditionell sport, i detta fall mixed martial arts, med eSporten Super Smash Bros. Melee, är målet att se vilka skillnader som kan hittas mellan dem två sporternas kommentarer och deras användning av metadiskursivt promotionellt språk. Efter att ha jämfört dem två kommentarerna så visar resultaten att det finns vissa skillnader i hur promotionsbefrämjande språk används för att förstärka förståelsen och spänningen i deras respektive sporter. De största skillnaderna som fanns är i hur de två kommentarerna använder metaforer samt att eSports-kommentatorerna visar ett mönster av att använda evaluerande adjektiv i ett mer varierat och färgrikt sätt. Nyckelord: metadiskurs, eSport, mixed martial arts, promotionsbefrämjande språk, kommentarer, metaforer, evaluerande adjektiv Contents 1. Introduction and aims ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. Background ........................................................................................................................................ 3 2.1 Metadiscourse ............................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1 What is metadiscourse? ......................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2 Previous research on metadiscourse ..................................................................................... 4 2.1.3 Earlier research with focus on non-academic promotional language ................................... 4 2.2 Sports commentary ...................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Sportscasters .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Previous research on sports commentary ............................................................................. 8 2.3 eSports .......................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.1. What is eSports? ................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2 Super Smash Bros. Melee (SSBM) ...................................................................................... 10 2.3.3 Previous research on eSports and Super Smash Bros. Melee ............................................. 10 2.4 Mixed martial arts (MMA) ......................................................................................................... 12 2.4.1 What is mixed martial arts? ................................................................................................. 12 2.4.2 Bellator MMA ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.4.3 Previous research on mixed martial arts ............................................................................ 13 3. Methods and data selection .............................................................................................................. 13 3.1 Data selection .............................................................................................................................. 14 3.2 Analytical procedure .................................................................................................................. 16 3.3 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................17 4. Analysis and results .......................................................................................................................... 18 4.1 Expressive nouns ........................................................................................................................ 18 4.2 Evaluative adjectives and property specifying adjectives .......................................................... 24 4.3 Intensifying adverbs ................................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Other categories ......................................................................................................................... 30 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 33 References ............................................................................................................................................ 36 Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................................ 39 Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 53 Appendix 3 ........................................................................................................................................... 58 Appendix 4 ........................................................................................................................................... 66 1. Introduction and aims The phenomenon of eSports has for many years been quite a popular spectator sport throughout the world. In countries such as Sweden especially, big tournaments are held every year at events like Dreamhack, and in South Korea eSports tournaments are watched as a national pastime just like any other sport (Lee, 2015). By 2019, eSports had become a big industry with global revenue topping around $1 billion (Russ, 2019). Every game also has its own culture which can vary drastically from each individual game and genre. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is an established sport which has its roots in other martial arts (Ferraino, 2013) and has as such matured and cultivated a culture that is its own while also remaining accessible and easy to understand even to newcomers to the sport, due to it being similar to other sports. The game Super Smash Bros. Melee on the other hand is still relatively young as an eSport, which did not not really see any major growth until 2004 when it was picked up by, for its time, one of the largest eSports organizations in the world: Major League Gaming, as an officially recognized eSport (East Point Pictures, 2013). By analyzing the commentary from both sports with a focus on what metadiscursive features said sets of commentaries utilize, the present paper aims to see if and how the commentators of Super Smash Bros. Melee differ in their use of promotional language to generate excitement and understanding of what is happening in the game compared to that