A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF CHURCH POSTERS IN AWKA METROPOLIS, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

In our social construct, language is used to present and represent. As a social tool, it fundamentally fulfills the communicative needs of human beings. It is deployed in disseminating as well as creation of information by writers. This study explores the language of communication in some selected church activity posters to uncover the intended and unintended meanings in the poster’s themes, focusing particularly on the illocutionary act force and perlocutionary effects as well as the instances of non-observance of maxims which are strategy in conveying their intentions to the general public. Qualitative method of data analysis is employed. Seventeen data were purposively collected and sampled for analysis. The theoretical framework of H.P Grice’s Implicature and J.L. Austin’s Speech Act theories are deployed for analysis. The study revealed that the illocutionary force of asserting is frequently employed in most of the selected posters and the intent of the advert producers is also, particularly, to get new memberships for their church’s expansion and expansion of the kingdom of God. It also showed that the violation of quantity and quality maxims are instances of maxims non-observation forms manifested in the texts which are strategies to get the readers curious and further persuaded to attend their church program.