INTERACTION STRUCTURE AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES IN THE 2008 NATIONAL QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARING ON THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA FOLUKE OLAYINKA UNUABONAH INTERACTION STRUCTURE AND PRAGMATIC FEATURES IN THE 2008 NATIONAL QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARING ON THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA BY FOLUKE OLAYINKA UNUABONAH B.A. English (Ife), M.A. English (Ibadan) A Thesis in the Department of English, Submitted To the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of the UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN MARCH 2012 Certification Page I certify that this work was carried out by Mrs. F. O. Unuabonah in the Department of English, University of Ibadan. …………………………………………………. Supervisor S. A. Odebunmi, B.A., M.A. (Ilorin), Ph.D. (Ife) Senior Lecturer, Department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria ii Dedication I dedicate this work to God Almighty, my Maker, my Redeemer, my Husband and my Friend. He is the One who sees the end from its beginning. He is the Alpha and Omega of my life and this work. iii Acknowledgments I thank and bless the Lord Almighty for the gift of life and the enablement to complete this research. I greatly thank my father, Mr J. Salami for his love, care and support during the course of this programme. May God preserve him long enough to see and eat the fruit of his labour. My unreserved appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr. S.A. Odebunmi for his kind support as well as his useful and constructive criticisms, which have been of great benefit to this research. Indeed, he has been a great challenge to me and a light I can follow in this field. I have been so blessed to have him as my supervisor. I thank the HOD, Prof. Raji-Oyelade and all lecturers in the Department of English for creating an enabling environment for study and research. My appreciation also goes to all non-academic staff, who in one way or the other, have been of great help in the course of this programme. I also appreciate Dr. Ayo Kehinde, for his fatherly support and care throughout this programme, and Dr. Tayo Lamidi, for giving me the necessary push I needed, in order to make sure that the research was completed on time. My appreciation goes to Pastor Beckley and Mr Adinoyi, who helped me to obtain my data at African Independent Television (AIT). You are both God- sent. I also appreciate the secretary to the Deputy Clerk of the Senate for providing me with the needed document as well as Mr Habib of the office of the Deputy Clerk of the Senate. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to Dr Mary Bock of the University of Capetown and Dr Annelies Verdoolaege of Ghent University for providing me with their past works on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing, which served as part of my literature review. I am grateful to all the members of my family for their love and support: Toyin and John Oziegbe (and their lovely children); Bunmi and Kunle Idowu (and their lovely children) and Femi, my baby brother. I also appreciate my in-laws, Mr & Mrs M.I. Unuabonah, Eromon, Faith, Ilefoje, Ibhoje and Oseto Unuabonah for their love, support, care and prayers throughout this programme. I warmly appreciate the love, prayers and support of close friends: Desola Ogunruku, Funke Oni, Tosin Oni, Ayo Ogundare, Bunmi Oyebode, the Duduyemis, the Chigbundus, the Adesijis, the Fesobis, the Sanyaolus, the Osawes and the Ekors. I also appreciate the prayers and support of Prof. K.O. Adebowale iv (of Chemistry Department) and his family throughout my stay in U.I. I also thank my family in Peace House, especially the Adeyemos, the Adedibus, the Dipeolus and the Onamades. I also appreciate the Head of the English Department of Redeemer’s University, Prof. F. Akere and other members of the Department, for their support during the course of my programme. I am also grateful to the Dean of Humanities, Prof. E. Bamiro and the former Dean, Prof. J. Osuntokun of the Redeemer’s University for their kind support. I must not forget the help of Dr Adebileje, Dr Odebode, Mr. Ighile, Mr. Ekpe, Mrs Folorunsho and Mr Ale-Daniels of the College of Humanities, Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun State. I also want to appreciate members of the General Studies Unit in Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, for their support, as well as friends at the Chemistry Department, Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun, State: Dr Adeyemi, Dr Agunbiade, Dr Eseola, Dr Sojinu, Dr Adewuyi, Mr Atolani, Mrs Elutidoye and Mrs Azeez. My affection goes to my baby, David Unuabonah, for being a wonderful boy. Indeed, we wrote this PhD together, even from the womb. He filled my life with fun and joy and did not disturb me. My warmest appreciation goes to my husband, Dr. Emmanuel Unuabonah, for his love, care, prayers and support throughout the course of this work and for being a great challenge to me in the academic field. I could not have done this without him. I love you both. My prayer is that we will all make it together to the finish line at Jesus feet. Foluke Olayinka Unuabonah v Table of Contents Title page i Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgments iv Table of contents vi List of tables xi List of figures xii List of abbreviations xiii Abstract xiv CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Political discourse 1 1.1.1 Political discourse in Nigeria 3 1.2 Language and discourse of law 5 1.2.1 Legal discourse in Nigeria 8 1.3 Public hearings 9 1.3.1 The nature of public hearings 9 1.3.2 Public hearings in Nigeria 12 1.3.3 The public hearing on FCT Administration 13 1.4 Statement of the problem 15 1.5 Aim and objectives of the study 17 1.6 Scope and delimitation of the study 17 1.7 Justification of theories 17 1.8 Significance of the study 18 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.0 Introduction 19 2.1 Theoretical framework 19 2.1.1 Genre analysis and Generic Structure Potential 19 2.1.2 Speech act theory 23 2.1.2.1 Locutions 25 2.1.3 Pragmatic acts 29 vi 2.1.4 Contextual beliefs 32 2.1.5 Conversational analysis 38 2.1.6 Self and other representation in discourse 43 2.2 Review of related literature 45 2.2.1 Previous Studies on political discourse 45 2.2.1.1 Studies on the language of political debates 45 2.2.1.2 Studies on the language of political interviews 47 2.2.1.3 Studies on the language of political speeches 51 2.2.1.4 Studies on the language of politics in the media 53 2.2.2 Previous studies on legal discourse 55 2.2.2.1 Studies on courtroom interactions 55 2.2.2.4 Studies on legal documents 58 2.2.3 Previous studies on the GSP of various genres 50 2.2.4 Previous studies on legislative public hearings 62 2.2.5 Previous studies on quasi-judicial public hearings 63 2.2.6 Previous studies on the South African TRC hearings 64 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0. Introduction 70 3.1 Study population 70 3.2 Sampling technique 70 3.3 Data collection 71 3.3.1 Video recordings of the quasi-judicial public hearing sessions 71 3.3.2 Structured Interviews 71 3.3.3 Newspaper report supplements 72 3.3.4 Report on the public hearing on FCT administration and written submissions 74 3.4 Analytical procedure 74 CHAPTER FOUR: GENERIC STRUCTURE AND LOCUTIONS IN THE QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARING ON FCT ADMINISTRATION 4.0 Introduction 77 4.1 Generic structure 77 4.1.1 Affirmation Order 81 4.1.2 Affirmation 81 4.1.3 Invitation of Perspectives 83 vii 4.1.4 Presentation 84 4.1.5 Interrogation 95 4.1.6 Interrogation Compliance 98 4.1.7 Prayer Demand 100 4.1.8 Prayer 101 4.1.9 Admission 103 4.1.10 Finis 104 4.2 Locutions in the public hearing 108 4.2.1 Lexical patterns 108 4.2.1.1 Lexical choices 109 4.2.1.1.1 Jargon 109 4.2.1.1.1.1 Political jargon 111 4.2.1.1.1.2 Financial jargon 118 4.2.1.1.1.3 Legal jargon 123 4.2.1.1.1.4 Property jargon 127 4.2.1.1.1.5 Medical jargon 131 4.2.1.1.2 Plain and sub-technical words 136 4.2.1.2 Lexical collocation 140 4.2.1.2.1 Fixed collocation 140 4.2.1.2.2 Free collocation 148 4.2.1.3 Lexical relationships 152 4.2.1.3.1 Antonymy 154 4.2.1.3.2 Synonymy 155 4.2.1.4 Word formation 156 4.2.1.4.1 Affixation 158 4.2.1.4.1.1 Prefixation 158 4.2.1.4.1.2 Suffixation 161 4.2.1.4.1.3 Derivational and inflectional affixes 167 4.2.1.4.2 Abbronymy 172 4.2.1.4.3 Compounding 175 4.2.1.4.4 Clipping 177 4.2.2 Functional sentence types 178 4.2.2.1 Declarative sentences 180 4.2.2.2 Interrogative sentences 182 viii 4.2.2.3 Imperative sentences 184 CHAPTER FIVE: CONTEXTUAL FEATURES AND PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS IN THE PUBLIC HEARING 5.0 Introduction 186 5.1 Contextual beliefs 186 5.1.1 Shared contextual beliefs based on the shared knowledge of the aims and procedure of the public hearing 186 5.1.2 Shared contextual beliefs based on the law regarding landed property and other related legal matters 193 5.1.3 Shared contextual beliefs based on shared knowledge of government involvement 199 5.1.4 Shared contextual beliefs based on shared knowledge of Abuja metropolis 203 5.2 Pragmatic functions in quasi-judicial public hearing on FCT Administration 206 5.2.1 Ordering 206 5.2.2 Swearing 209 5.2.3 Informing 210 5.2.4 Complaining 214 5.2.5 Defending 215 5.2.6 Advising 217 5.2.7 Accusing 218 5.2.8 Denying 219 5.2.9 Questioning 220 5.2.10 Requesting 223 5.2.11 Promising 225 5.2.12 Admitting 227 5.2.13 Appreciating 228 CHAPTER SIX: A COMPARISON OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION HEARING AND THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY HEARING 6.0 Introduction 232 6.1 Background to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing 232 6.2 The comparison