A Deictic Analysis of Selected FIFA Men’s World Cup Theme Songs

Abstract The FIFA Men’s World Cup is a quadrennial mega-sporting event whose theme songs communicate the tournament’s ideals to global audiences. This study examines personal, spatial, temporal, social, and discourse deixis in four widely recognised songs from the 2010 South Africa and 2022 Qatar tournaments: Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), Wavin’ Flag, Hayya Hayya (Better Together), and Light the Sky. Guided by Cruse’s (2006) deictic classification and Luo’s (2023) five-step qualitative content analysis procedure, all deictic tokens were coded and organised systematically. A total of 460 tokens were identified. Personal deixis was most frequent (193; 41.9%), followed by temporal deixis (136; 29.5%), spatial deixis (60; 13.0%), discourse deixis (43; 9.3%), and social deixis (28; 6.3%). The dominance of personal and temporal deixis foregrounds shared participation and immediacy, while social and discourse deixis support solidarity and cohesion. Overall, deixis reinforces global unity, cultural diversity, sportsmanship, and collective identity among worldwide audiences.