A Speech Act Analysis of Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s Declaration Speech

Abstract

The study focuses on a pragmatic study of the political speech delivered during the declaration of President GoodluckEbele Jonathan as a presidential aspirant under the umbrella of People’s Democratic Party. A campaign speech was chosen to bring to fore meanings intended by Goodluck Jonathan through the Speech Act Theory of Searle(1969). Our findings and analysis revealed that the selected sentences of the speech comprised the following speech act types: assertive-92%, expressive- 50%, declarative-33%, commissive-8% and directive-17%. The study has once again revealed that language of politics especially political speeches could be better understood through the speech act analysis of President GoodluckEbele Jonathan Declaration Speech of September 18, 2010.