Abstract

The study was an examination through the pragma-stylistic approach to meaning of the linguistic acts that manifest in the Inaugural Speech of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the democratically elected president in May 2011 General Elections in Nigeria. Hence, the study focused on speech acts type of locution, illocutionary and perlocutionary in the speech. It is therefore part of the objectives of the study to find out which of the speech acts are more prominent based on the Speech Act theory of Austin (1962) and Searle (1969). The first Twenty (20) Sentences were extracted from the speech text, from which forty (40) speech acts were derived. The findings revealed thus; assertive – 55%, directive – 10%, verdictive – 15%, commisive – 75% and declarative – 45%. These results showed that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan relied more on sentences that performed commissive acts than other speech acts in his Inaugural Speech. This demonstrated that politicians are apt to show appreciation to people after victory at the polls. Hence, the speech act analysis assists in the interpretation of the messages in the selected speech.

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