Sociolinguistic Analysis of Football Chants in English Football Culture

Abstract

Football is a cultural staple in many countries, including England. This research explore the chants of football culture especially in England with the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis as the main theory to draw the relation between the social situation which arose from the history of the club itself and the social behaviour which shaped from the fan's reaction to the historical situation arose from the social situation, which dissected with linguistic usage that resemble classification of linguistic discourse to identify which part resemble the social situation's reaction. The data are taken from YouTube videos from various clubs' chants from the English Premier League and EFL Championship. The result showed that the majority of the chants contain aggressive language and inappropriate words to strengthen their reaction to the social situation, which typically rivalries. It's also noted that the linguistic usage of these chants usually shows some levels of bitterness and disdain toward the rivals.