Uwagi wstępne do analizy komunikacji na forach fanów tenisa ziemnego
Introductory Remarks to the Analysis of Communication on Tennis Fan Forums

Summary/Abstract: The rapid development of communication in the digital space leads to the emergence of new, media-constituted text types as sources of information and communication practices in which the identity of fans also manifests itself linguistically. The object of discussion in this article is fan communication in tennis forums and the linguistic expression of forum users with its specificity. For the purpose of the introductory analysis of the language level, entries from a German and a Polish tennis forum will be considered. The structural and network-specific components of a forum are taken into ac- count, which can in any case determine the communication strategies of fans. The starting point of the consideration is the definition of the fan and fandom profile in the references. It is emphasised that fans represent common interests and use the internet and other technologies to share opinions and information, to develop forum resources or to build feelings of belonging. It is to emphasised that in the case of tennis forums, one is often dealing with a professional discourse that requires its participants to have expert knowledge of the sport and a receptive and productive use of tennis language. The study presented for the purposes of this paper is an introduction to the analysis of tennis fans’ language using the social network language research model developed by Szurawitzki (2010). Szurawitzki’s model can be adapted for comparative research, whose interdisciplinary po- tential deserves special attention. With regard to the language behaviour of tennis fans in selected examples, which takes place via simplified statements or even coded expressions, it is concluded that there are only a few differences. In the German tennis forum, colloquial language dominates, with an emphasis on neutral posting. The neutral style in the Polish example of the forum is altered by the use of vulgarisms or swear words, which appear in a hidden form. In addition to informative statements, emotional reactions to posts by other users and subjective opinions can be distinguished, with individual posts following forum-specific conventions that facilitate their reception. Noteworthy is the role of emoticons, which have a phatic function, accelerate the speed of message creation and are mostly used to express moods, behaviours and emotional states of the author. Due to the popu- larity of this genre, its availability and the possibility of directly acquiring expertise on the chosen topic, the reservoir of forums will continue to grow quantitatively (quantitatively and structurally, their transformations seem to be complete) as long as they ensure a platform for the free exchange of opinions on all kinds of topics.

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