Linguistic Indecision. The Case Study of the SUPERlative

This research paper aims to identify and explain the ways in which the superlative comprising the prefixoid super- is spelled in current sports journalese. The absolute superlative renders the highest intensity of a quality, it has a non-comparative character ([+Intensity], [–Comparison]) and an increased productivity. I opted for the analysis of the language used in sports journalese, as this field is characterised by competition. In order to attract the readers’ attention, the journalists have the tendency to exaggerate and to this end they use intensifiers excessively. One of the ideas I started from in my research was to identify which terms, structures, pronunciations can or cannot be considered as deviations from the norm/mistakes. I will pay heed to the norms in force, as well as to the incontestable deviations from those norms. For this research I analysed contexts which comprise super as a prefixoid – an element which is used in the formation of a new word separated from the main word by a hyphen or linked to the main word, on the one hand, and super as a separate word, on the other hand. The analysis is based on a corpus which comprises articles containing words or structures with the element super. The articles in the corpus were retrieved from the website www.sport.ro® and they were published in the period January 1st - July 31st 2023. In this research I analysed the degree to which the rule regarding the spelling of compounds comprising prefixoids is respected in current sports journalese or whether there is a tendency of formal (semi-) autonomy of super as a means of expressing the absolute superlative. In order to obtain a clear picture of the linguistic phenomenon under scrutiny in this article I combined both modern and traditional methods of research.