LANGUAGE, IDEOLOGY AND POWER RELATIONS IN NIGERIAN TELEVISION TALK SHOWS BY RUTH KARACHI OJI B.A/Ed. (Nsukka), M.A (Lagos) Matric No: 168893 A Thesis in the Department of English, Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of the UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN OCTOBER 2015 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN ABSTRACT Television talk shows (TTSs) are forms of talk-in interactive programmes where hosts and participants employ different discourse strategies, laden with latent ideologies – ideas that reflect their beliefs and interests – and power relations – the controlling of contributions by more powerful participants. Previous studies on Nigerian TTSs described their discourse strategies using conversation analysis, without adequate emphasis on their ideological basis and linguistic features. This study, therefore, examined the ideologies and forms of power relations in Nigerian TTSs in order to elicit their linguistic and paralinguistic cues. The theoretical framework combined van Dijk‟s, Fauconnier and Turner‟s approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis and complemented them with Brown and Levinson‟s Politeness Principle and Poyatos‟ approach to non-verbal communication. The following public-owned stations – Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Lagos Television (LTV); and private-owned stations – Silverbird Television (STV) and Africa Independent Television (AIT) were purposively selected for having more talk show content. Eight talk shows: „Today on STV‟ and „Head to Head‟ (STV); „Focus Nigeria‟ and „Kakaaki‟ (AIT); „Daytime Talk‟ and „Morning Desk‟ (LTV); „Good Morning Nigeria‟ and „Reflections‟ (NTA); and three episodes of each, produced between 2012 and 2014, were purposively selected for possessing linguistic categories that accounted for ideologies and power relations. Data were subjected to critical discourse analysis. The ideological underpinnings of the selected Nigerian TTSs vary, as revealed in the accompanying quoted expressions. NTA‟s talk shows employed pro-government and social-democratic ideologies: „„government has insurgency in control‟‟ and “federal government is committed to creating a better Nigeria”. LTV‟s talk shows employed libertarian ideologies aligned to the state party and in opposition to NTA: “federal government is a failure” and “government is the political Boko Haram”. STV‟s talk shows expressed more social-democratic ideologies – “striking unions are insensitive” and “protesters against government are charlatans”; while AITs‟ expressed more liberal ideologies – “federal government deserves media support in the fight against Boko Haram” – both talk shows in favour of federal government. Power relations were evident in domination of turns and topics, guffawing satirical laughter and aggressive portrayal of ideologies in STV shows through shouting and fuming by participants and hosts‟ deployment of face threatening acts. NTA hosts ignored salient points against the station‟s ideologies and interrupted participants‟ turn to avoid revealing mitigating information. However, AIT and LTV talk shows were more cooperative. In the selected talk shows, hosts and participants employed linguistic cues such as relational modality to express commitment to the truth; indirect quotations and presuppositions to expose their non-neutral stance; and „pretentious‟ positive other-presentation and negative self-presentation to express ideologies. The paralinguistic cues observed were eye contacts by hosts and participants to reveal states of disbelief; lack of it to show psychological distance; and low pitch in voice to signal hesitation and disappointment. UNIVERSITYThe selected Nigerian television talk shows OF are replete IBADAN with leftist and conservative ideologies expressed by hosts and participants in an atmosphere of dominating and cooperative power relations. The talk shows rely heavily on linguistic and paralinguistic cues that promote their latent ideologies and determine how power relations are negotiated. Keywords:Nigerian television talk shows, Ideology, Power relations, Discourse strategies, Relational modality. Word count: 497 ii DEDICATION to My better half – Uchechukwu – who always believes in me; and My lovely sons – Henry and Richard UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At this point my heart swells with gratitude to my Maker, the Giver of life and the Sustainer of it. Three years ago I embarked on this journey and he has been faithful to see me through it to this point. The living and true God, Jehovah! I am forever indebted to him for this privilege he has granted my wish to come to a successful completion of this programme. I would not have made it this far without his divine guidance and abundant blessings. Despite the challenges that almost made me quit at a point, he saw it fit that I continue and come to this graceful completion. I praise his name! My able supervisor – Dr.Adesina Sunday – was a pillar of support and a bulwark of strength to me. His proactive nature, forward-looking trait, patience, goodness and godliness, has summed together to bring me this far. He believed in me and gave me the necessary academic and moral nudging to keep pace with my work. My prayer is for my good God, Jehovah, to reward him manifold. Dr. Ayo Osisanwo was incredibly helpful to me with his time. I appreciate his selflessness in bringing my work to the desired standard. His corrections and insights on my work made it come out better. He did not make any impositions but sought to make learning from him a convenient and memorable experience. I would also like to acknowledge the amazing goodness of Professor ObododimmaOha. From the inception of my programme, he took me as his daughter and kept an eye on me. We had discussions time and again, that helped to put my work in good focus. I appreciate his mentorship which has helped me grow, academically and professionally. UNIVERSITYDr.TundeAwosanmi gave a great deal ofOF help to IBADANme in ensuring that my abstract was finally accepted at the Faculty and subsequently at the PG School. I cannot thank him enough. My thanks goes to Dr. R.O. Olaniyi who also took his time to proofread my abstract and ensure that I crossed all t‟s and dotted all i‟s. I appreciate all such wonderful support. iv The thoughtful support of my Head of Department, Professor E.B.Omobowale, cannot be overlooked! He was, indeed, a mentor and still is. I appreciate his concern over my work and his desire to see it come to this successful completion. Mr.GbengaOlaoyeof the English Department is a rare gem. He never complained about having to accommodate my requests for assistance in getting materials and other support for my research. I appreciate him. All non-academic staff of the Department of English gave support to me in one way or the other – Mr.Bassey Andrew, Mr. VictorImafidon, Mr.MukailaIyiola, Mrs.YetundeOladipo and Mrs.FolashadeAgoye – and I am deeply grateful. This acknowledgement would not be complete without my mention of the support given to me by some amazing ladies I met in Ibadan during the course of this programme. My prayer is that they will never lack assistance whenever they need it. Ms.Ifeoma Dominica Oluoha was one such. She was more than a sister. She opened her heart and home to me. She gave much moral support to me. Ms.KikelomoOmonojo was another such. She almost emptied her soul on my behalf. She was always willing to share. She also opened her home to me and we became much more than sisters. It was possible to brainstorm on academic issues with her because she was of a like mind. Ms. Dupe Yusuf and Ms.Ndukuba gave me so much moral support and I enjoyed talking about my thesis with them. Mr. and Mrs.Omoghene took me as their sister during the period of this programme, as I sometimes had to pass through their home to Ibadan. They would always welcome me and provide for me during my stay in their home. I cannot thank them enough for their kindness. Mrs. Smile Rotimi played a big role in sometimes assisting with looking after my boys when I would be at Ibadan. I appreciate her loving support. Mr. and Mrs.Igberamiran also took care of my boys some of the time. And this helped me to gain much focus for my studies. Mr. and Mrs.Alajemba played a crucial role in supporting me during this programme. I appreciate their moral support. Dr. Bose Okuntola was another pillar of support for me during this programme. As the proprietor of my children‟sUNIVERSITY school, she gave extra care and conside OFration, IBADANgiven that she understands what it takes to run a PhD away from home. These shall be repaid by my Maker. My parents and siblings were wonderful throughout the period of this programme. They gave so much support to me. They took care of my children, gave words of encouragement to bolster my zeal and efforts and desired to see me conclude this v programme. Here I am. My sons, Henry and Richard Benson, have been no less supportive. Whenever they saw me working on my system, they would ask, „Mum, are you going to Ibadan tomorrow?‟ They came to understand the enormity of the task before me and each time I needed quietude at home, they were willing to oblige. Finally and very importantly, I wish to acknowledge the amazing, thrilling, loving and immeasurable support given to me by my husband. He has indeed been a blessing to me. Without his permission, I could not have embarked on this programme, let alone, successfully complete it. He took care of the home and the children for most part of the time, during my absence. He made unquantifiable sacrifices to see me get to this point. He has given me so much more. He even assisted with transcription of some of my data from speech to text. He helped me source for materials. He was my project partner and together we have succeeded.