Pragmatic Analysis of Selected Political Speeches of President Muhammadu Buhari
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
This study investigates the pragmatics of selected political speeches of President Muhammadu Buhari. It attempts therefore, to show how the language of the speech is organized to communicate the political intentions of President Muhammadu Buhari. To realise the aims and objectives of this study, the following specific objectives were formulated:
- To identify the speech acts features of the selected political speeches, and
- To determine how the identified features project the message of the president in the
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter focuses on the review of existing literature in the interpretation of discourses using pragmatic approach and other aspects related to the study and analysis of political discourses. This review is not constrained by geography; attempts would therefore be made to review the works of both foreign and Nigerian scholars who have contributed to the development of pragmatics as a linguistic field in one way or the other through their intellectual contributions in this discipline.
Undoubtedly is the fact that pragmatics which is a subset of discourse analysis has received varying degree of attention in recent times as it is a new area of linguistics dwelling on the “study of meaning in relation to situations” (Geoffrey N. Leech 6) and the “relationship between linguistic forms and the user of those forms” (George Yule 4). Studies on presidential speeches as an aspect of political discourse have been carried out by different scholars as it is a domain of language use that has captured the hearts and interests of researchers for a while now. This is because politics and political discourse is a complex human activity that deserves critical and in-depth study and analysis because of its central role in the organization and management of human societies. Nonetheless, scholars have also dwelt on the pragmatics of literary texts, newspaper editorials and even the communicative strategies employed by politicians through the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. This review centres on the works of Shevelena Alla (53-62), Al-Faki Ibrahim Mohamed (180-198), Akinwotu Samuel Alaba (43-51), Olaniyi Oladimeji and Bamigbola Esther (21- 32), Krisagbedo Celina Ebere (1-86), Olamide Ijadimine and Segun Aminu (1-8), Abaya Samson Angulu (1-375), Sharndama and Mgbemena (19-37), Ikenna Kamalu and Richard Agangan (31-53), Agbedo Chris Uchenna (146-165), Ademilokun Mohammed (1-12), Ayeomoni and Akinkuolere (461-468), Onuigbo Sam (1-167), and Odebode Idowu and Eke- Opara Cynthia (13-23).
Shevelena Alla undertakes a study of the lingo-rhetorical and socio-pragmatic peculiarities in political speeches of Barack Obama. The study consisted of two parts- the description of the lingo-stylistic means used by the speaker, which were aimed at making speech more emphatic, expressive, bright and intelligible while the second part contained a brief commentary on the socio-pragmatic peculiarities typical of Barack Obama’s political speeches. The data for the study were Obama’s inaugural address on January 20th, 2009, and his speech titled “The Change We Need” delivered on September 17th, 2011. These speeches were subjected to comparative and descriptive analysis, observation, comparison, generalization, description and critical discourse analysis. The analysis of the linguistic and stylistic means revealed that the orator used metaphors, reiteration and parallel structures which produced a deep impression on the audience while the description of the socio- pragmatic peculiarities of Mr. Barack Obama’s speech behaviour revealed his communicative strategy in his use of political rhetoric. In this study, the pragmatic of Buhari’s political speeches was not analysed thereby creating a gap in scholarship which this research intends to fill.
Al-Faki Ibrahim Mohamed explores the political speeches of some African leaders from a linguistic perspective. The aim of the study was to contribute to the field of critical discourse analysis and the sub-field of political discourse analysis by examining and analysing political speeches from a linguistic perspective. It also aimed to show how linguistic tools can be manipulated to reveal speakers’ ideology and political stance. The theoretical framework adopted for the study was M.A.K Halliday’s “Transitivity”, H.P Grice’s Speech Act Theory as well as a semantic representation appearing in the political analysed speeches. It adopted a qualitative method of data analysis to determine the presence of the examined linguistic tools found in the political speeches of some African leaders while the data for the study was derived and collected from secondary sources, concentrating heavily on printed materials, books, articles, magazines, the internet and periodicals.
CHAPTER THREE
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework for any research serves as the tool for the analysis of research data. For this study, the Speech Act Theory of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969) served as the “spreadsheet for the analysis and evaluation of the selected speeches” (Ayeomoni and Akinkuolere 463) of President Muhammadu Buhari. The choice of this framework was borne out of the fact that people perform different actions through their words and when utterances are made, a particular act is performed. This is what this theory intends to explore in this study via the analysis of data.
The Speech Act Theory was initiated by the Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, but was actually given prominence by the British philosopher, John Langshaw Austin, in his William James’ Lectures at Harvard in 1955. These lectures, twelve in all, were posthumously published as How to Do Things with Words in 1962 shortly after his death in 1960. This could be considered as one of the central development of pragmatics, the other, being the Theory of Conversational Implicature by Paul Grice (1962). His ideas, however, were refined and systematized by his pupil, John R. Searle, the American philosopher. Patrick Griffiths (148) defines speech acts as the “basic units of linguistic interaction ”
Also, Cutting Joan (13) states that speech acts are “the actions performed in saying something”. For Wale Osisanwo (55), “an utterance is a speech act”. This is because in any utterance a person makes, an act is performed. Acts performed include the following, but are however not restricted to them: stating a fact, an opinion, confirming or denying something, making a prediction or a request, issuing an order, asking a question and so on. It should be noted that “speech acts are tied to sentences” (Jef Verschueren 131). This, therefore, means that a ceremonial or political speech is not a speech act but a sequence or series of speech acts.
According to Y. Huang (1000), the “central tenet of the speech act theory is that the uttering of a sentence is part of an action ” The speech act theory aims to do justice to the fact that people do more things with words than what their words ordinarily encode. Speech acts which include making a promise are made up of verbs and these verbs play important roles in speech acts. These verbs are divided into two: the performative verbs and the constative verbs.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND DISCUSSION OF RESULT
Data Analysis of Selected Speeches
Here, the researcher undertakes an in-depth analysis of the data gathered for the analysis of these five speeches in order to identify the speech acts in these selected speeches. She grouped these data using the English alphabet system of A, B, C, D and E to aid simplicity of the analysis.
Data A: Formal Declaration of Interest for Presidency A1
Locution (The act of saying something):
I would like, Mr Chairman, if I may, pay tribute to Nigerians as a whole who are enduring all sorts of hardships and deprivations on a daily basis.
Illocution (The act performed in saying something):
- Direct- assertive (stating)
- Indirect- verdictive (assessing)
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
Summary of Findings
The researcher in this study undertook a pragmatic analysis of President Buhari’s speeches during the campaign build-up of the March 2015 general elections in Nigeria. In summarizing this study, therefore, a synthesis of the results obtained by the research and some reflections derived from them will be offered. This thesis has been aimed primarily at identifying the speech acts that manifest in the five purposively selected speeches of President Buhari: Formal Declaration of Interest for Presidency, My Manifesto and Vision for Nigeria, his speech at Chatham House, London, Acceptance speech and Inaugural speech and to demonstrate how these speech acts project the speaker’s meaning.
The basic findings of this study began with the background of the study where language was seen as a socio-political issue and a centrality to political stability or polarization. The Speech Act Theory of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969) served as the theoretical framework for the analysis of data. The choice of this framework was necessitated because it captures the objectives of this study, in that it is a linguistic theory that looks at what the speaker does with his words, his illocution, hence, President Buhari’s speeches were analysed into direct and indirect illocutionary acts from which we had the illocutionary acts of expressive, commissive, directive, declarative, verdictive and assertive. It was discovered from the study that in the process of performing a speech act, other acts were been performed through our identification of direct and indirect illocutionary acts in these speeches.
Also, the result of the analysis as was captured by the Overall Relative Frequency Percentages (ORFPs) revealed a dominance of assertive and commissive acts with each having 60% and 42% respectively. These acts were used to affirm, state, make promises and to give assurances to Nigerians as is common with the political class especially during campaign periods in order to canvass and win the support of the electorates. The speeches of President Buhari performed different perlocutionary effect on the electorates with the dominant perlocutionary effect of hopefulness. Nigerians were hopeful because they needed a change that will be evident in all sector of the nation. It was this hope that made them come out in their numbers to support the President.
In essence, this work has examined the pragmatics of President Buhari’s speeches using the linguistic framework of the Speech Act Theory in order to identify the speech acts used by the President and how these speech acts contributed to his overall victory at the polls.
Conclusion
The main thrust of the Speech Act Theory is to understand what the speaker does with words. Our conclusion which derives from the results of the analysis clearly showed that President Muhammadu Buhari employed the illocutionary acts of directive, declarative, assertive, expressive, commissive and verdictive which were used for stating, affirming, confirming, assuring, promising, guaranteeing and assessing. Though, it is not possible to open up and see the heart of the President, one can judge and perceive his intentions from these speeches. As a result of this, Nigerians are hopeful for positive change as was promised by the President during his campaign. Finally, the time has come to deliver of his promises and implement these changes. The people expect and hope that the situation of things in the country will change positively as this is the major reason why their mandates were given to him because they seek to enthrone leadership driven by patriotism and love for our dear motherland, Nigeria.
Suggestions for Further Studies
Having considered the pragmatics of President Buhari’s speeches to a certain extent, the researcher would not claim that all the work to be done in this study has been completed. Therefore, this study recommends that further studies be carried out in the area of linguistic stylistic analysis of President Buhari’s speeches. Also, studies should be carried out in the analysis of President Buhari’s speeches using the Cooperative Principle of Herbert Paul Grice and the Felicity Conditions of Austin and finally an analysis of these speeches from the perspective of multimodal discourse analysis.
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