Politicians make use of language for the purpose of achieving desired goals. In political utterances, many acts are performed as politicians through their speeches try to manipulate the listeners by the way they use language. This study investigates the deployment of speech acts and welfarist ideology in Governor Aregbesola’s address to the Osun State workers in commemoration of year 2013 “Workers’ Day”. The speech is selected for analysis to bring out Aregbesola’s language use and to highlight the welfarist ideology of the government of Osun State of Nigeria. The speech titled “Productivity is the key to Wealth” is analysed within the framework of J.R. Searle’s Speech Acts to bring out the illocutionary force in it. The analysis reveals Aregbesola’s language use in performing certain actions with a view to changing the attitudes of workers and also to project the government as welfarist in its programmes.
Keywords: Labour, Language, Politics, Rauf Aregbesola., Speech Acts., Welfarist Ideology
