The linguistics behind Formula 1: the predominant lexical, grammatical and pragmatic features of team radios
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: 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 fourteen Grands Prix from 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.
Author: Beatriz Pilar Rubio López
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412457513