A Study of Conversational Implicature in Selected Political Interactive Programmes

The paper analysed political interactive programmes presented on National Television Authority (NTA), moderated by Khadaria between Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressive Congress (APC), during the 2019 presidential election. Politeness strategies such as bald on record, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy and off record strategy as propounded by Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness were used for the research purpose. In using the strategies, the participants as well as the moderator used some of the sub-strategies under each of the strategies to achieve politeness and communicative essence. The study identified nineteen examples of implicatures used in the political interactive programmes. The implicatures were grouped based on the issues described in the programmes. In the analysis a total of eight (8) issues were raised and discussed under which the implicatures were identified and discussed. Of all the strategies used, the study found that bald on record was scantly used compared to the other three strategies. The study concludes that the implicatures identified is a reflection of some prominent Nigerian politicians who use indirectness when discussing crucial matters. The implicatures were both consciously and unconsciously used.

Keywords: Implicatures Politeness All Progressive Congress Peoples Democratic Party Communication

Authors

• Odey, James Eneji
  Department of English, Nasarawa State University, Keffi
  Jamesodey2015@gmail.com
  09053871045
• David, Stephen O.
  Department of English, Nasarawa State University, Keffi
  08039667677