Plan: Introduction

Broadcasting
In contrast with most newspapers, only a small part of radio and television output is devoted to news and its discussion (current affairs) takes as little as 5 per cent, on some channels but its significance is perceived to be far greater than this small figure suggests. The core element in this output is well-defined: the news bulletin, consisting of a series of items of varying size, often divided into sections (e.g. general, business, sport, weather), sometimes punctuated by advertising. Each of them fits into a format which may be of any length, but often as short as two minutes.
Analysis of a typical day’s radio or television broadcasting brings to light several varieties of language which are in use elsewhere. Indeed, probably all conceivable spoken varieties will be found at some point or other in the broadcasting media. If a use of language is important enough to develop predictable linguistic features, the situations to which they relate are undoubtedly going to be of regular interests to listeners and viewers. The only constraint is sensitivity to taboo words.
The broadcasting media have also been responsible for the emergence of varieties of their own; though not as many as might be thought. These media are in a continuous search for new ideas and formats, and their fear of the stereotyped favours the promotion of linguistic idiosyncrasy rather than the preservation of stable styles. When such styles emerge, they stand out, as in the case of educational programmers for very young children whose distinctive prosodic features and simplified sentences are often parodied. Another find is game shows which regularly fuel language stock of catch phrases.
Weather reporting is one of the best examples, especially on radio where, in its specialized form, it is reduced to its bare essentials, as a restricted language. The names of the Meteorological Office sea areas surrounding the British Isles provide British English with some of the most distinctive weather-forecasting lexicon. Along the well-known areas such as Irish Sea, Plymouth, Portland, Thames, there exist a great deal of new coinages applied to meteorological regions, for example, Viking, Cromarty, Dogger, Forties ( in the east), Shannon, Rockall, Bailey (in the west), or even more confusing phrases North Utsire and South Utsire (the western parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula). Most people know at least some of the names by heart, though few could locate more than a handful with any accuracy. It also usually comes as a surprise to see how these North and South are spelled.
Two contrasting styles “informal and conversational or formal and formulaic “are used on BBC Radio in weather forecasting. A successful weather forecast is a mixture of fluent spontaneity, controlled informality and friendly authority.
The fluency is partly a matter of careful preparation, but is largely achieved through the broadcaster’s ability to rely on formulaic phrasing (with light winds and largely clear skies, blue skies and sunshine, widespread frost) and on standard sequences of locations. The number of likely weather situations is really quite limited in a particular region, and certain combinations of features frequently recur.
The conversational tone may be achieved through the use of:

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  informal lexicon (take a tumble, just a chance, odd rogue shower);
  
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  everyday turns of phrase which ordinary people use about the weather (become a little bit quieter, turn colder);
  
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  fuzzy expressions (more or less, round about);
  
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  contracted verbs;
  
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  colloquial sentence connection (anyhow, in actual fact).
  

At the same time, the scientific element in the weather forecast message is evident in the numerical underpinning (eight degrees, minus one or minus two) and the reference to notions which are generally not found in the speech of the amateur (icy patches on untreated roads, well broken cloud, south-westerly wind).
The other style of forecast has a highly formulaic character and is notorious for its specialized vocabulary, reduced grammar, controlled prosody, and cyclical discourse structure, which is typical of a restricted language, e.g. Now at ten to six it’s time for the shipping forecast issued by the Met Office at one seven double oh on Monday the seventh of February. There are warnings of gales in Viking, North Utsire and South Utsire. In many ways this forecast resembles the language of commentary.
But it is the commentary, used in both media, which is probably the most famous and the most distinctive variety to have emerged from the world of broadcasting.
Commentary is one of the most distinctive of all uses of English. Its roles extend well beyond broadcasting. It will be heard in such varied contexts as fashion shows, race-course meetings, and cookery demonstrations. Within broadcasting the use of commentary extends beyond sporting occasions. It will be heard accompanying such public events as inaugurations, funerals and other processions.
But the most frequent kinds of commentary are those associated with sports and games. Here, two elements need to be distinguished: the play-by-play commentary, and the colour-added commentary. The latter is important, for it provides an audience with pre-event background, post-event evaluation, and within-event interpretation. But there is little to be said about it stylistically: it is conversational in style, and often in dialogue form. Consider a fragment of colour commentary: “It was two dollars before and I just think something’s wrong with those dividends that are showing up on our screen. They’ve got Speedy Cheval the favourite but I’m not exactly sure that that’s correct, but anyway they’re in behind the mobile going towards the starting point now for the first heat of the Lion Brown Rising Star Three-Year-Old Championship just about there.”
Stylistic interest in commentary lies chiefly in the play-by-play component.
Because commentary is an oral reporting of ongoing activity, it is unlike other kinds of narrative which are typically reported in past time. Indeed, it is unlike any other kind of speech situation. US linguist Charles Ferguson (1983, p. 156) captured its uniqueness when he described radio sports casting as a monolog or dialog-on-stage directed at an unknown, unseen, heterogeneous mass audience who voluntarily choose to listen, do not see the activity being reported, and provide no feedback to the speaker. If such a strange activity is to survive, and to be successful in maintaining fluency and listener interest, it needs special linguistic features.
The variety does survive successfully, because of the way language has been adapted to suit unique circumstances. Its chief feature is a highly formulaic style of representation, which reduces the memory load on the commentator and thereby helps fluency. The amount a commentator has to remember can be quite considerable, especially in a football match or a horse race, where many participants are involved. There may be genuine difficulties hindering the commentator from following what is taking place. At such times, the commentator cannot stop. Silence is anathema, especially on the radio. Formulaic language provides a partial solution; it allows the commentator time to think, as the following quotation from a horse race illustrates: it’s Fraytas in the lead / followed by...as they come round the Canal Turn way over on the other side of the field by Everest/...
Presumably the commentator was having some trouble seeing who was in second place, at that point; the formula’s X followed by Y was interrupted by two other formulae (they come round the Z and (way over) on the other side of the field), giving him time to work out exactly which horse it was.
There are several different kinds of formula. Some are used when starting and finishing a race (they’re off!, and at the post). Some introduce a fresh cycle of activity (in the straight they come, and round the turn). Scoring formulae are also important in such games as football, cricket, and baseball (3 - nil; 34 for 3; count of 1 and 1). (After K. Kuiper & P. Austin, 1990).
Look at an extract from a sulky-racing commentary which has been set out in lines (rhythmic units) so that phrasal repetitions and parallelisms can be more clearly seen: