COMMUNICATIVE PRINCIPLES IN HATE SPEECH OF INTER ETHNIC CONVERSATIONS IN NIGERIA

This study is on Communicative Principles in inter-ethnic conversations laced with emotional undertones in Nigeria. It explores the language of interlocutors to determine how this linguistic theory can account for the language of such sensational interactions. The research looks at a naturally-occurring language situation of two speakers belonging to two ethnic groups in Nigeria who have stereotyped themselves. From the findings, the result shows that the communicative principles as propounded by Grice could not virtually account for such language situation in which speakers have developed predetermined assumptions against each other. This is because the conversational maxims are just moral codes that guide how language use can be mutually intelligible when speakers cooperate but could hardly account for language in sensational situations as exemplified in this study.