Harbin Keynote

8/2/2019 Harbin Keynote

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Naming is also considering

a media case study of representations of minorities on French television

Arnaud RICHARD, Lecturer in Linguistics and Communication, French University Sport Federation


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Introduction: Language: Sport and Diversity during the 1992 Winter Olympic games

correlation withlanguage andsocio-linguistic behaviors

Sport has developed some terminological specificities but nonetheless it has grown as

amassive theme in our everyday discourses and in some other important fields.

The hypothesis is that the French media were not presenting the information in thesame way, depending on the country it was about. I will highlight this difference thanks

to the use and comparison of different linguistic categorizations.


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Plan:

Introduction: Language: Sport and Diversity during the Winter Olympic games (in

1992)

Methods / Methodology: Critical Discourse Analysis and Mass Media

Results: French Television live comments and documentaries

Discussion / Conclusion: Need of consideration for countries names in order to

respect their citizens


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There is no meaning, there is only the production of meaning. In the same way, there is no identity (in the

usual sense of describing ethnic identity by different idealizations of origins or races), there is only the incessant

production of identityaccording to the dialectic of the Same and the Other.

There is a complex interplay of identifications and differentiations: I dont have an identity, I have several

identities that are actualized according to the Other, the type of contact we have, and the structure of our

relationship. That which I pose as Same when the dialectic operates on a certain level becomes the Other when

the identity production movement is narrowed, or changes levels: individual identity, sexual identity, ethnicidentity, social identity, national identity....This list is not exhaustive; to conclude it would be to block the

dialectical movement that, at every occasion, defines the Same and the Other. All discourse establishes a

hierarchy of identities.

[Barberis et al., 2003: 97]


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[...] the media can teach norms and values by way of symbolic reward and punishment for different kinds

of behaviour as represented in the media. An alternative view is that it is a learning process whereby we all

learn how to behave in certain situations and the expectations which go with a given role or status in society.

Thus the media are continually offering pictures of life and models of behaviour in advance of actual experience.

[McQuail, 2005: 494]

As part of the expansive relationship between popular culture and nationalism, sports provides a contradictory

terrain upon which a multitude of questions and claims of identity race, gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality

are constructed and contested, challenged and yet sustained. In particular while sport is not the only arena inwhich national self-definition, and questions of racial identity that go with it, plays out, it is one of the

most central. The athlete serves as one of the most visible integrated racial subjects in modern society, seen in

fall facets of media, cheered by millions of fans, teamed with white counterparts, and, at least on the surface,

accepted.

[Bass, 2005: 3]


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General History:

First Winter O.G. in 1924

Albertville were the third ones in France (Chamonix, 1924; Grenoble, 1968).

In February 1992, from the 8th until the 23th.

64 countries were represented with 1801 athletes (488 women and 1313 men)

Focus: TV rights

Albertville (1992) = 292 millions (de dollars) Turin (2006) = 832 millions

Atlanta (1996) = 935 millions Pkin (2008) = 1 715 millions


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Comte Jean de Beaumont, in 1968

Athens 2004, 140 NOC and 939

grants

209 millions for 2001-2004

245 millions for 2005-2008

For Winter Olympiads, the firstindividual helps are for Vancouver

2010


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Extraction: INA (French National Institut of Audio-visual)


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Transcription

orthographic transcriptions with

specific arangements of the

voices (audio part)

+

consideration of the meaningful

environment

(like the music or the text

incrustation)


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Results: French Television live comments and documentaries

These very obvious manifestations of national identity overshadowing the Olympic ideal sometimes obscure

the fact that all Olympic competition is covered by the media in a nationalistic way. Each nation follows most

closely its own winners, with commentators using phrases like its gold for Britain as a way of linking the nation

with the individuals success.

[Beard, 1998: 38]

If one of the reasons for having commentary is to add colour to a game, then it is likely that in an international

match commentators will show a certain amount of support for the home team they can be confident that

most of the viewers will agree. The word commentator, though, does suggest someone who is analytical,

critical, neutral in stance. So commentators are not expected to be obviously biased as some newspapers were

before this particular match. In domestic games between teams from say Manchester and Liverpool they have to

be even more careful in case they alienate the supporters of one side.

[Beard, 1998: 73-74]


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Results: French Television live

comments and documentaries

Example:

1 : Ces touristes les voici avec par ordredapparition lcran, les mexicains, champions du

monde ex-quo de bobsleigh patins en lair avec

les jamaquains et les portoricains

1: These tourists here they are, in order ofappearance on screen, the Mexicans, world

champions tied in bobsled skates in the airwith

the Jamaicans and the Porto-Ricans

Announcement effect: like a circus speaker or the

opening of a comedy (w i th the credi ts

presentations)


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Example:

2: Les plus grands ne sont pas ne reste, ce touristede lquipe dcidment dsunifie, nest pourtant

pas un dbutant.

2: The greatests are not in rest, this tourist from

a definitively dis-unified team is not whereas a

beginner.


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The Same and the Other

The dialectic of the Same and the Other, and the manner in which it affects linguistic functions, constitutes

a central point in praximatic reflection (Lafont 1978b).

In this perspective, the production of meaning functions by the inclusion of identical traits common to the

several units (Same), and the exclusion of non-pertinent traits (Other), the self being the result of this

operation.


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Example:

2: Les plus grands ne sont pas ne reste, ce touristede lquipe dcidment dsunifie, nest pourtant

pas un dbutant.

2: The greatests are not in rest, this tourist from

a definitively dis-unified team is not whereas a

beginner.

No direct naming (CEI not refered)

No sarcasm but a simple mitigation


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Example:

3: Rien ninterdit par exemple, ce concurrent

marocain de nous offrir un programme personnalis

de figures libres...

3: For example, nothing can forbid this

Moroccan competitor to give us a customized

free skate routine...

Clear mention of the exact country

Irony


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Discussion / Conclusion: Need of consideration for countries names in

order to respect its citizens

Names, as linguists have demonstrated, are critical in the construction of social reality. By assigning names to

things, we impose a pattern and meaning that allows us to manipulate our experiences. Like language in

general, naming is neither a neutral nor random process but is, rather, a linguistic operation that encodes biasesand prejudices, and those who have the power to name and rename retain a powerful cultural prerogative. With

regard to naming practices, the inferiorization of womens sport and womens athletic performances is

accomplished through conventions whereby women athletes are subjected to a variety of trivializing forms of

address, including the use of patronizing and demeaning terms such as girls, sweetie, princess, doll, and

young ladies, informal use of first names, and/or inappropriately girly names for teams.

[Seagrave, 2006: 32-33]

The sprinter Frankie Fredericks, who comes from Namibia in Southern Africa said before the Atlanta Olympics,

Im not doing this sport to be famous. I look as it as an opportunity to put my country on the map.

[Beard, 1998: 39]


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Discussion / Conclusion: Need of

consideration for countries

names in order to respect its

citizens

Importance and impositions of genres

live broadcasts are more standardized

simultaneity of retransmission and comments

makes the speech more descriptive and lessstylized


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Thank you

Merci

...

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