Language and Style in Political Inaugurals: A Study of Inaugural Speeches of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State, Nigeria (Published)
Scholarly works abound on political speeches but very few are on political inaugurals in spite of its distinctive stylistic features and communicative import. This paper adopts a combination of stylistics and Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar as approaches to examine the patterns of language use in the inaugural speeches of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State with the view to uncovering the specific stylistic choices that characterise the speeches and their pragmatic import. The speeches are characterised by lexical items (adjectives, adverbs, pronouns) which the speaker creatively deploys to promote his political programmes, and to present himself as a committed, sincere and responsible leader. There is a preponderance of declarative sentences and declarative mood which Mimiko engages in promising, assuring and stating to persuade and mobilise listeners. Topicalisation and graphology; testimonial argument and promising; and rhetorical forms are creatively organised to convey pragmatic information such as humility, respect, unity, responsibility and commitment.
Keywords: Communicative Intentions, Inaugural Speeches, Mood, Political Discourse, Stylistics
Political Manipulation in Nigerian Presidential Discourses (Published)
This paper examines excerpts of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan’s political discourses to determine how language is utilized as instrument for manipulating the electorates by politicians. Working within the tenet of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper seeks to explore the workings of power in the Nigerian presidential discourse and to unravel the concealed meaning in the utterances under study. Findings reveal that the two presidents grossly utilized manipulative languages in marketing their agenda, ideology and programme to their audience. These were achieved in their portrayal of self as humble servants, political redeemers, alignment with the suffering of the vast majority of the people and statement of government reconciliation. While Obasanjo took time to narrate his walking through the valley episode, Jonathan painted his picture of humble childhood experience, and concluding that he is one of the suffering majority. These are manipulative strategies geared towards entreating and appealing to ideological sense, controlling the people’s thought and perception, and manipulate the unsuspected members of the public towards accepting their candidacy.
Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Language and Power, Manipulation, Political Discourse