While this book is a book about language, it is simultaneously a book about what language
helps humans do and what human language patterns can reveal. The main role our
language analysis plays in this book is to help shine a light on the mechanics or dynamics of
relating–how sports professionals actively construct, manage or shape their relations with
others in the course of their real everyday interactional activities. However, in illustrating and
unpacking these everyday relational dynamics we also have a valuable source

Kieran File—an Associate Professor in the Centre for Applied Linguistics at the University of
Warwick, United Kingdom—has drawn on his experiences teaching professional
communication, qualitative research methodology, and sociolinguistics to write an insightful
book for both specialist and nonspecialist audiences interested in linguistics and
professional high-performance sport. The purpose of this book is to build an understanding
of how relationships are actually working in a professional sports team, using spoken …