Abstract
Drawing on Austin’s (1962) Speech Act Theory, this paper investigates President Goodluck Jonathan’s Concession Speech and General Muhammadu Buhari’s Acceptance Speech for the purpose of examining the impacts of context and evaluating their effects on Nigerians. The application of Speech Act Theory to these political discourses has revealed valuable findings. To mention but a few, this study has shown a high proportion of claiming assertive speech acts in Jonathan’s speech indicating thus how unity, stability and progress of Nigeria depends on Jonathan who has excellently proved this by conceding victory to his opponent Buhari. This has been confirmed by the very low proportion of these acts in Buhari’s speech. Furthermore, Jonathan’s acts of thanking, congratulating and praising indicate not only his high degree of recognition, attachment to peace and democracy but also his magnanimity whereas those of Buhari indicate his degree of recognition. Through the use of directive speech acts both Jonathan and Buhari have proved to be law abiding and peaceful. Through the use of commissive speech acts Jonathan has proved to be democratic and patriotic whereas Buhari has proved to be open, cooperative and democratic. The thoughtful performance of the different speech acts has enabled both speakers especially Jonathan to maintain peace and stability in Nigeria.
Highlights
The study of language use has been widely carried by various scholars in different fields far
The high proportion of claiming assertive speech acts indicates that unity, stability and progress of Nigeria depends on Jonathan and he has excellently proved this by conceding victory to his opponent Buhari
To mention but a few, the study has shown that assertive speech acts are predominant in both Speeches
Summary
The study of language use has been widely carried by various scholars in different fields far. This study applies Speech Act Theory to two selected political discourses delivered in a context of presidential elections in Nigeria. It aims at examining the impacts of context in these speeches and evaluating their effects on Nigerians. It aims at decoding meanings from these speeches through a comparative appraisal These discourses deserve critical analysis as they are central to the democratic process in Nigeria and more importantly they have been delivered at a highly critical moment during which the use of a single unsuitable utterance could lead voters to protest the results and undoubtedly the whole country to violence or civil war. This study analyzes the sentence structures of the selected speeches on the basis of Eka’s (2000) classification of sentence structures
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
