Exploring Speech Acts in The Editorials of the Punch and the Blueprint Nigerian Newspapers (Published)
The study looks at how specific words in the Nigerian Newspapers Punch and Blueprint manifest their intended functions. The goals of speakers’ remarks and the actions they use them to accomplish are ascertained through speech act analysis. Thus, the study looks at the predominant speech actions that editors utilize while writing editorials and how they interpret the statements. The information was obtained from editorials in the Punch and Blueprint newspapers. The statements collected are the topic sentences of the first five paragraphs in each of the editorials. The data are analyzed using Speech Act Theory of Searle (1969) to reveal the preponderant acts performed by the editors in writing the editorials for meaning-making, with particular reference to illocutionary act classifications which are representatives, directives, commissives, expressive and declaratives. The findings reveal that there are 6 representative acts constituting 60%. The dominance of representative act shows that the major functions of the news editors is to inform the readers. Equally evident, the editors skillfully employed two directive acts—20% of the total—to construct meaning in the editorials by requesting that Nigerian leaders fulfill specific obligations. Additionally, the editors employed two expressive acts—20% of the total—to convey their opinions regarding the issues raised by the data. However, it is equally revealed that both commissive and declarative acts are not used in the data elicited. There is no declarative act in the data collected because declarative act is only used to present verdicts made on certain issues. The insignificant use of commissive acts shows that editors do not rely on commissive acts in writing editorials. The study, therefore, contributes to the increasing works in the field of pragmatics by revealing the peculiarity and usage of speech act theory in analyzing the editorials in the selected Nigerian newspapers.
Keywords: Editorials, Newspaper, Speech Act, blueprint, punch
A Cross-Cultural Study of Objects of Complimenting in Western and Armenian Communities (Published)
The speech act of complimenting in Western and in some Eastern speech communities has been an object of extensive comparative investigation. However, the study of complimenting in Trans-Caucasian speech communities, the Armenian community in particular, remains less-investigated. The aim of the paper is to indicate the objects of complimenting in Armenian community. The analysis shows that taken in general terms the objects of complimenting in Western and Armenian societies do not differ greatly, but the accents are fairly different which can be explained by the mentality and perception of social values that each society displays. Whereas in Western societies the accent is on appearance and abilities, in Armenian community the greater part of compliments refers to the ability and performance, family members, especially children and hospitality. As far as appearance is concerned, the attention is focused mainly on new looks and new possessions (hairstyle, dress, earrings, etc.).
Keywords: Speech Act, communication, compliment, politeness strategy, praise, topic of compliment