LANGUAGE OF ALTERCATION IN CONFLICT SITUATION: A CRITICAL STUDY OF SELECTED SPEECHES OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND MAZI NNAMDI KANU

Abstract

Language use in conflict situation is essentially a skillful undertaking that calls formeticulousness and diplomacy among interlocutors so as to mitigate the impact of conflict onhuman relations. While a cautious and diplomatic use of language has the potential to douseconflict, language of altercation escalates it and truncates peaceful coexistence among diversemulti-ethnic conglomerates. To this end, this paper examines language of altercation in conflictsituation and makes a critical discourse analysis of selected speeches of President MuhammaduBuhari and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The motivation for the study is the expediency of examininglinguistic choices that often characterize utterancesof “powers that be†in the Nigerian sociopoliticallandscape, with a view to ascertaining their implication on the peaceful coexistence ofNigerians. Data for the study were textual, culled from Daily Newspapers, live interviews andbroadcasts on television stations. Atextual analysis approach was adopted for the analysis.Findings revealed that the two principal actors, in many occasions, engaged in the use oflanguage of altercation in advancing and explicating their views and perspectives on certainsensitive national discourse without taking cognizance of the effects of such utterances onnational security, unity and cohesion. Consequently, the paper recommends, among others, thatwhile occupants of exalted public offices should desist from making unwarranted andprovocative utterances, the media professionals should not accept to publish writeups withexplicit or implied language of altercation. The paper equally advocates that the Ministry ofInformation should organize public orientation to educate Nigerians on the need to ensure thattheir language use has a touch of civility and politeness.