Sportscaster topicalization

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Jul 2, 2005, at 5:06 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> I'm not sure how much work has been done on sportscaster syntax,
> but on
> NBC's Wimbledon coverage I noticed some peculiar topicalizations
> from the
> announcer Mary Carillo...

> ...     She wants to make this all offense, Davenport...
>
> ...     Absolutely a tremendous player at the net, is Davenport...
>
> ... Has anyone else noticed these constructions?

the classic account of sportscaster talk is:

Ferguson, Charles A.  1983.  Sports announcer talk: Syntactic aspects
of register variation.  Language in Society 12.153-72.

i don't recall these dislocations in ferguson's paper, but i haven't
looked at it in a while.

the second construction is available in some british (non-announcer)
varieties: He's a fine lad, is our Johnnie.  a version of the second
(with a repeated auxiliary) is available fairly widely in informal
spoken english: She wants to make this all offense, Davenport does.

arnold