Browsing by Author "Raj, Mohammed Salisu"

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    Pragmatic Factors in Ideological Development Strategies of Nigeria
    (Department of English Language, Nasarawa State University, keffi, 2011-03-01) Raj, Mohammed Salisu
    This paper analyses pragmatic factors in ideological development strategies of Nigeria by using the 7-Point Agenda as a case study. It aims at ascertaining how the use of language factor into the norms by which power is exercised and policy is made in Nigeria. Data for the paper is generated from the written text of the 7-point agenda. Five perfomative texts were sampled from each of the seven agenda making a total of thirty-five. The paper proceeded on the analysis of these samples using pragmatic mappings of the speech-act theory. Results from the. analysis show that the main illocutionary force of the language used in the agenda were the 'commissives' and the 'directives' through their act of vowing, pledging, commanding, stating, asserting and promising. The use of the ‘expressives’ and the 'representatives’ carrying the illocutionary force of affirming, declaring, assenting and notifying are relatively fewer. This shows that the language used in the articulation of the 7- point agenda lacked strong commitment to initiate action towards solving the challenges of development in Nigeria. It is therefore the recommendation of this study that appropriate deployment of linguistic resources should factor into Nigeria’s quest for national development. Policy statements of the magnitude of the 7-point agenda that are qualified to be called ideological strategies for national development require the use and activation of stronger, explicit commissive language in order to help actualize their objectives.