An invaluable resource for scholars and social scientists in linguistics and relationships, showcasing the use of a linguistic lens to understand relationships that could be applied to many different social settings, not just in sport. As a resource for practitioners in sport interested in culture and high-performing teams, it offers value in thinking about the language they use and how it impacts on the team. * International Journal of Sport Communication * A welcome and long-overdue contribution to the burgeoning field of applied linguistics and sport. Files work is ambitious in scope capturing the range and complexity of spoken language in the context of professional sport. At the same time, his description and analysis is extremely accessible. Anyone with an interest in the role language plays in relationship building in sport should read this book. -- David Caldwell, University of South Australia, Australia Drawing on unique ethnographic data of recorded talk among members of a professional rugby team, this highly insightful study offers a very original and well-informed account of the relational dynamics of communication in contexts where power and solidarity intersect with hierarchy and leadership.
This book is an invaluable resource for all scholars working on the linguistic negotiation of relationships not only in sports teams but also in all kinds of transactional social interactions in group-based workplace communication contexts. -- Jan Chovanec, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
