A Pragmatic Analysis of Conversational Breach in Frank Ogodo’s Harvest of Corruption

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Language is a means of communication between people in a community. According to Osisanwo (1), “it is the human vocal noise or the arbitrary graphic representation of this noise, used systematically and conventionally by members of a speech community for purpose of communication”. Language studies for a long time concentrated on language form at the expense of language function. This research intends to adopt a pragmatic approach to study a Nigerian dramatic text. Pragmatics is derived from the Greek word “pragma” meaning deed or action. Yule 1, defined pragmatics as the study of meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener. For so long, ‘play’ or ‘drama’ has been subjected to literary analysis by scholars and analyst. Therefore, the study it is an attempt to analyse a play using a pragmatics tool. ‘Drama’ is a genre of literature where societal events are acted or performed on stage. This, in other words, means that play involves spoken language and dialogue which is the interest of pragmatics and the major focus of this study.

Pragmatics has been variously defined by scholars. Yule (4) defines it as “the study of the relationship between linguistic forms and the user of these forms”. Bach and Harnish (1979), Wilson and Sperber (1981), Leech (1983) and Thomas (1995) generally explain that pragmatics accounts for specific meanings and situational contexts. According to Adegbija’:

Pragmatics is the study of language in particular communication contexts or situations….This would take cognizance of the message being communicated, or the speech act being performed; the participants involved their intention, knowledge of the world and the impacts of these on their interaction. What they have taken for granted as part of the context (or the presuppositions), the deductions they make on the basis of the context; what is said or left unsaid, the impacts of non-verbal aspect of interactions on meaning.(18)

The study of Pragmatics involves the understanding of the various approaches it contains. Among these approaches are; J.L Austin’s Speech Act Theory (1962), Grice’ Cooperative Principle and Implicature (1975, 1989) … Other aspects of pragmatics are; politeness principles, felicity condition, system of mood, presupposition, inference, entailment, hedges etcetera. This study is however concerned with cooperative principles and hedges.

Austine 1962 and Searle 1969 in Davies 3, Grice’s work on Cooperative Principle (CP) initiated the current interest in pragmatics, and led to the development of pragmatics as a separate discipline within linguistics … The main aim of communication in pragmatics is to give and receive information; people try to adopt a cooperative behaviour to convey their intentions and transfer their utterances implicitly. In this regard, Grice (41), points out that communication acts depend on the Cooperative Principle and interlocutors try to be cooperative with each other in most of the conversational exchanges. Conversation is based on a shared principle of cooperation. Cooperation is a term often used in linguistic literature to characterize human behaviour in conversation. By means of maxim, we assume that the meaning of the conversation which seems to violate the participant’s specifications or doesn’t seem to conform to cooperative principle has an implied or unstated meaning. According to Wale (248), the hearer of an utterance has no direct access to the meaning which the speaker has in mind. He has to go through the process of arriving at an interpretation of such utterances. This process is termed inference. Grice (43) divides inferences into two categories: first, inferences that are straightforward and listener can get the speaker’s intention directly, second, inferences that are conveyed by violating those maxims, which are called “implicature”. Conversation, no doubt thrives on cooperation between two interactants. Hence H.P Grice presents conversational implicature as relying on the cooperative principle.

Hedges, on the other hand, are cautious words, notes, and expressions applied by a writer to warn the listener or reader about how much of what is being said or written should be taken. They are small particles of language which soften the impact of Face Threatening Act (FTA). They include “sort of”; “by any chance”; “as it were”… (Osisanwo 96). Hedges are used as devices of politeness especially when the hearer is a person of a more authoritative status than the speaker.

Frank Ogodo Ogeche’s Harvest of Corruption (1997), is a drama text that is constructed and structured on dialogues which is the premise upon which CP thrives. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche is a Nigerian poet, playwright and novelist from Yala area in Cross River State Nigeria. He attended Awori-Ajeromi Grammar school, Agboju in Lagos and the Federal school of Arts and Science, Ogoja, Cross River State. He obtained his first degree in Communication Arts from the University of cross river in 1989. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche is a member of the association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has written a number of plays and poems. They are; “The Intruder”, “The promises of the gods” and “Harvest of Corruption”. His latest work of poetry is in his dialect entitled