The Linguistics Behind Formula 1: The Predominant Lexical, Grammatical and Pragmatic Features of Team Radios

• Beatriz Pilar Rubio López ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Zaragoza

     Universidad de Zaragoza

     Zaragoza, España

     
• Localización: LFE: revista de lenguas para fines específicos, ISSN 1133-1127, Vol. 31, Nº 1, 2025, págs. 114-143
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • La lingüística de la Fórmula 1: rasgos léxicos, gramaticales y pragmáticos predominantes en las radios de equipo
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    El inglés se convirtió en una lengua de contacto que permite comunicarse a personas que no comparten la misma lengua materna. Esta práctica puede observarse precisamente en la comunidad de la Fórmula 1, donde se agrupan personas que poseen distintas culturas e idiomas. Esta sociedad tan diversa y multicultural es un campo todavía inexplorado en lo que concierne a la lingüística. Como consecuencia, este trabajo pretende explorar los rasgos lingüísticos encontrados en el medio básico por el que los participantes de la Fórmula 1 interactúan, las conversaciones de radio. El estudio está basado en los aspectos léxicos, gramaticales y pragmáticos más relevantes de este género tan específico, y el corpus se compone de setenta y siete ejemplos extraídos de catorce grandes premios de la temporada de Fórmula1 del 2020. Los resultados del análisis se complementan con las respuestas de algunos profesionales actuales y ya retirados de la Fórmula 1 a un breve cuestionario en línea. En la última sección de este trabajo se exponen las conclusiones del estudio, que reflejan que los miembros de esta disciplina deportiva cuentan con excelentes habilidades comunicativas, en lo que a precisión y fluidez se refiere, cuando se comunican en Inglés como Lengua Franca (ILF) a través de las radios.

  • English

    English emerged as a contact language that allows those who do not share a common mother tongue to communicate successfully. It is precisely what happens in the community of Formula 1, where people from entirely different linguacultural backgrounds converge. This diverse and multicultural society is an unexplored field regarding linguistics. Hence, this paper aims to explore the linguistic features found in the basic way of communication of Formula 1 participants, Team Radios. First, a lexico-grammatical, discursive, and pragmatic study was conducted. The corpus comprises a total of seventy-seven instances extracted from fourteenGrands Prixfrom the 2020 season. They illustrate the core linguistic features of this genre. The results of this research are complemented by the answers of some current and former Formula 1 participants to a brief online survey. The final section offers the conclusions of this research, displaying the excellent communication skills in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) that Formula 1 participants possess, concerning both fluency and accuracy, during team radio interactions.

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