Throughout history, many activities have incited a passion and interest in man, from art and architecture to literature and music. The same holds true for sport, which can not only be practiced or followed, but also analyzed from an academic point of view, or in this case, linguistic. Thanks to the rise of mass media such as newspapers and television, the language of sports has acquired its own specific lexicon. This research paper takes a closer look at the technical terminology that pertains to this field and the style of language used in spoken and written Italian, by focusing on six different sporting events: three football matches, two basketball matches and one tennis match. The first part of the dissertation explains the origins of sports and sports journalism in Italy and its development during the last century. The second part is of a theoretical nature, its aim is to define the notion of a sectorial language, while placing emphasis on the description of journalistic and sporting languages, as well as to outline the defining characteristics of the spoken and written language and to provide a brief comparison between the two. Finally, the analytical part, based on the six matches, provides detailed examples throughout the second part of the dissertation and, by means of a textual analysis, gives the necessary information on the technical terms that were found.
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