Written By:
Ngozi U. Emeka-Nwobia.
Languages and Linguistics Department.
Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
PURPOSE OF STUDY (AVAILABLE REASONS)
Against the background of the gaps
that exist in the field with special reference to the Nigerian situation, the study
examines the political speeches of Obasanjo.
The
study is designed to determine the extent of the relationship between what
people say and what they use to say it and how their intentions are realized.
In essence, the goal of pragmatics theory should be to explain how utterances
convey meaning in context and how meaning is decoded from utterances in
contexts and how people react to meaning.
The
study looks at the extent the conversational maxims are upheld in
conversational utterances and what may be the conversational implicature of
possible violation. Grice argues that
the conversationalists are rational individuals who are, all the other things
being equal, primarily interested in the efficient conveying of messages” (Fraser
1990:222). The superior principle according to Grice is the Cooperative principle
(CP) that is to “make your conversational contribution such as is required at
the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are engaged”. To put it simply, the cooperative principle
calls for what one has to say, at the time it has to be said, and in the manner
it has to be said. In Arundale (2005) the term CP means “operating together”
when the creation of a verbal interaction is expected.
The
work of this nature will also show the role of language as an instrument for
social and interpersonal relationship, especially in politics where what is
said does not square up with the realities of age. Finally, the research will
examine the application of Austin’s
theories to the political speeches of President Olusegun Obasanjo and see how
the language is used to do things by the president.
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