Contexts and Proximisation Features in President Muhammadu Buhari’s Speech on Regional Security in West Africa
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Date
2017-12
Authors
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Publisher
Department of English, University of Ibadan
Abstract
This paper complements the pragmatic attempts in its adoption of Auer’s contextual model and
Cap’s proximisation theory in carrying out a context-driven and discourse space pragmatic
analysis to track the speaker-imposed construal distance and proximity in political discourse on
security. President Buhari’s speech at the 2nd regional security summit delivered on the 14th
May, 2016 has been purposively selected for this exploration. The study identified three contexts
namely securitisation, rehabilitation and solidarity within which President Buhari seeks
legitimization by using spatial, temporal and axiological proximisation features in the
representation of the actors involved. The study identified pragmatic usage of verb phrases as
category accommodating markers and the symbolic movement between the discourse space
centre inside-the-deictic centre noun phrases and discourse space periphery outside-the-deictic
centre noun phrases is used by the speaker to achieve his vantage intentions. The study also
found out that the President deployed lexico-grammatical expressions to label Boko Haram
against the ideologies of extremist, terrorist, and killer. The study concludes that President
Buhari’s orientation to shared situational knowledge and mutual contextual belief within the
social context of securitisation, solidarity and rehabilitation imply that African politicians’ use of
language on war on terror promotes solidarity, galvanise support of the general public by
legitimising actions against insurgency or terrorism with a view to curbing the menace.
Description
Keywords
Discourse space centre, Category accommodation markers, Legitimisation, Symbolic movement
Citation
Olajimbiti, E. O. (2017). Contexts and Proximisation Features in President Muhammadu Buhari’s Speech on Regional Security in West Africa. Journal of Pan African Studies, 11(1), 135-153.