This paper examined first official speeches of presidents of Nigeria and Ghana on coronavirus pandemic. The study adopted content analytical method which involves qualitative and quantitative method of data analysis and presentation. Applying concepts from Pragmatics act, the study revealed different practs through which both presidents made their intentions known towards combating the virus. It was discovered that President Muhammadu Buhari deployed 95 practs in order to achieve five pragmatic functions namely: to reveal achievements and further action (53.69%), to instruct and direct (28.41%), to commend (4.21%), to pacify/encourage (10.53%), and to persuade (3.16%). President Nana Akufo-Addo deployed 39 practs to achieve six pragmatic functions: to reveal achievements and further action (56.41%), to instruct and direct (25.64%), to pacify (7.69%), to commendation (5.13%), persuasion (2.56%), and to warn (2.56%). It was discovered that shared situational knowledge, reference and inference enable the citizens of both countries to understand what both presidents wish to communicate especially where both presidents used words and phrases to refer to coronavirus. The paper concluded that through the analysis of different practs in speeches, thematic focus of a speech can be discerned.
References
[1]
Ademilokun, M. (2015). Aspects of Attitudinal Meaning in Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s Inauguration Speech: An Appraisal Analysis. The African Symposium, 15, 3-10.
[2]
Adukpo, J. (2017). An Analysis of Register and Lexical Cohesion in Selected Political Manifesto in Ghana. M.Phil. Thesis, Winneba: University of Education.
[3]
Ayeomoni, O. M., & Akinkuolere, O. S. (2012). A Pragmatic Analysis of Victory and Inaugural Speeches of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2, 461-468. https://doi.org/10.4304/tpls.2.3.461-468
[4]
Dadjo, S. (2018). Speech Act Analysis of President Akufo Addo’s Discourses about Africa’s Dependency on the West. Lettre, Sciences Humaines et Sociales, No. 13, 254-282.
[5]
Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The Qualitative Content Analysis Process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62, 107-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x
[6]
Fairclough, N. (1998). Language and Power. London: Longman.
[7]
Isa, S. S., & Abaya, A. S. (2019). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Rhetorical Devices in the Campaign Speeches of Presidential Candidate Muhammadu Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 Elections in Nigeria. Journal of Languages, Linguistics and Literary Studies (JOLLS), 8, 132-146.
[8]
Israel, P. C., & Botchwey, E. (2017). Language and Politics: A Study of Presidential Speeches of Selected Ghanaian Leaders. WORD, 63, 1-61. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2016.1275358
[9]
Iyengar, S. (2005). Speaking of Values: The Framing of American Politics. The Forum, 3, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2202/1540-8884.1093
[10]
Kantorgorje, C. (2020). An Epistemic Modality Analysis of Selected Inaugurals of Ghanaian Ghana. M.Phil. Thesis, Winneba: University of Education.
[11]
Koussouhon, L. A., & Dosoumou, A. M. (2015). Political and Ideological Commitments: A Systemic Functional Linguistic and Critical Discourse Analysis of President Buhari’s Inaugural Speech. International Journal of Linguistics and Communication, 3, 24-34. https://doi.org/10.15640/ijlc.v3n2a3
[12]
Kyei, N., Donkor, K., & Appiah, M. (2020). Move Analysis of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s 2017 Presidential Inaugural Speech (PIS). The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 8, 176-185. https://doi.org/10.24940/theijhss/2020/v8/i3/HS2003-058
[13]
Medubi, O., & Amuda, F. (2016). I Belong to Everybody and I Belong to Nobody’: A Socio-Pragmatic Analysis of President Buhari’s Inaugural Address. IJRDO-Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 1, 1-31.
[14]
Mey, J. (2001). Pragmatics: An Introduction (2nd ed., pp. 210-227). Massachusetts, USA: Blackwell.
[15]
Odebunmi, A. (2006). A Pragmatic Reading of Ahmed Yerima’s Yemoja, Attairu & Dry Leaves on Ukan Trees. Intercultural Pragmatics, 3, 153-169. https://doi.org/10.1515/IP.2006.010
[16]
Okafor, V. C., & Issife, G. U. (2017). Mood and Modality in Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari’s Inaugural Speech: A Stylistic Study. International Journal of Linguistics and Literature (IJLL), 6, 27-40.
[17]
Ugoala, B. (2017). Communicative and Cohesive Devices in President Buhari’s Directive to the Service Chiefs on the Urgency of Fighting Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria. Journal of Multimedia Technology & Communication Studies, 3, 187-211.
