Use of language in sports headlines reporting soccer in Kenya

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to establish what language is being used by newspaper headlines of stories reporting soccer in Kenya.The objective was to establish the use of metaphorical language with a theme of war in the two leading local dailies,the Daily Nation and the Standard Daily. The study was a quantitative content analysis.It looked at the use of military language in a maximum of one local soccer article per day,for the days of Thursday,Friday,Saturday and Sunday of the two local newspapers.This was for a period of six months in the second half of the year 2014.The study findings were that there is vivid and colourful use of metaphorical language to insinuate that football is not only a constant battle but also a war.The Cognitive Metaphor Theory and the Semiotics theories of communication were engaged in the study.The study recommends mainly that careful consideration needs to be given to the language being used in reporting of soccer in Kenya,in order to avoid a ―hypodermic needle‖ reaction to what the reporters put out to the soccer fans.