Abstract
This paper attempts a pragmatic analysis of political texts in political posters of gubernatorial candidates for 2015 General Elections in Oyo state, Nigeria, within the purview of Mey's (2001) Pragmatic Acts Theory. Data were collected from political posters of Governor Abiola Ajimobi(the incumbent governor of the state), the erstwhile governors of the state, Rasheed Ladoja and Alao Akala, and Professor Adejumo, a yet to be declared PDP's gubernatorial candidate for the said election. The study reveals that the language of politicians in the state is characterised by practs such as accusation, challenge, abuse, warning and persuasion, commendation and condemnation which draw on contextual features such as Shared Situational Knowledge (SSK), Shared Cultural Knowledge (SCK), Metaphor (MPH) and Relevance (REF). The paper concludes that politicians in the state, an indication of what happens on a large scale in the country, employ language to attack one another's personalities, rather than address issues that could help move the state forward.
Highlights
Language is a social tool that is essential to every walk and domain of life, politics inclusive
Such is the case in Oyo state of Nigeria, where political rivalry has manifested in the creative and captivating ways political parties and electoral candidates deploy language to sell their ideologies to the electorate, as well as castigate their opponents
The speaker accuses the past two administrations of being failures, condemns their disruptive and destructive tendencies and commends or praises the present administration for doing wonderfully well. He persuades the people, electorate to continue supporting the present administration, especially as she is preparing for the year‟s(2015) elections. It has been made apparent in this paper that language is a mjor tool or weapon politicians employing in politicking
Summary
Language is a social tool that is essential to every walk and domain of life, politics inclusive. Politicians often employ this social tool to woo the hearts of the electorate, and most times run down and berate their opponents; even without expressly mentioning names. Such is the case in Oyo state of Nigeria, where political rivalry has manifested in the creative and captivating ways political parties and electoral candidates deploy language to sell their ideologies to the electorate, as well as castigate their opponents. Of particular note in this regard is the rivalry that ensues among the three dominant political parties in the state, namely APC, PDP and AP
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