LINGUISTIC STEREOTYPING IN THE TV SERIES 'TED LASSO': A SOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Stereotypes as a widespread sociolinguistic phenomenon can be constructive or destructive according to the social goal they are oriented to. Such a phenomenon can be found in many aspect of social life as well as social media, TV series, and programmes as in the case of our current data. Ted Lasso is an American TV series full of stereotypes. The present study aims at (1) finding the dominant stereotypical type in Ted Lasso series; (2) stating the linguistic component of the stereotypical utterance abstracted from Ted Lasso; and (3) explaining the social function behind communicating stereotypes in Ted Lasso series. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are applied. The study finds that the highest frequency and percentage results is of Group Identity with 77.77% for the dominant steretypical types, State Verb with 33.33% for highest linguistic components and Social Categorization with 44.44% for the most prominent social function in Ted Lasso. In conclusion, Ted Lasso redefines stereotypes of social categorization as a tool for connection and communal identity rather than a weapon for division and negativity.