Stokesy ct. Foakesy b. Woakesy: Transparent nicknames in British sporting discourse [AAM]

This article has been published in a revised form in English Today: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0266078424000348. This is the version of the article that was accepted for publication and it is published here under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND licence. No commercial re-distribution or re-use allowed. Derivative works cannot be distributed. © copyright holder.

Using a data set of nicknames of elite athletes compiled from the mainstream British sporting press and media, this article explores grammatical patterns in the way we create hypocoristic nicknames like , and . It outlines the purpose of nicknames and their particular role in sport, and provides an analysis of the predictable morphological and phonological rules that apply to a type of nickname categorised here as ‘transparent’. It offers some initial observations on the social distribution of particular nickname variants and on the potential for creativity and playfulness inherent in transparent nicknaming processes.