Cross-National Rivalry: National Identity in Sports (A Case Study of English and Russian)

Nationalism and sport are often interwoven and, subsequently, the competitive nature of competition can also mirror contentious between international athletes. Evidence such inter-group conflict may manifest itself through ethnolinguistics is reinforced social identity theory. Data analysis for English Russian languages was evaluated in four categories. includes Word Association Network entries opposites event schema English: 1) strong – weak; 2) success failure; 3) ahead behind; 4) winner loser. Semantic established asymmetries lexical oppositions relative to competition, which reinforce manifestation ways that elevate status one group while degrading perception other. The authors believe this study exposes congruence semantics ethno-linguistics rooted identity. have equally contributed study. contribution included a literature review on subject showing how rivalry influenced by ethno-linguistics, helped identify dearth research into cultural implications underlying sports. collected dictionary definitions items sports performed data languages.