“THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA” A SPEECH ACT ANALYSIS OF BOLA TINUBU’S POST-ELECTION SPEECH

Abstract

This paper explores the speech acts deployed by the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, in his post-election victory speech that was delivered on the 1st of March, 2023, after the concluded presidential election. This paper aims to answer what kind of speech acts have been applied in the selected speech. Theory and Approach: The focus of this study was the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the chosen speech. The Speech Act theory developed by J.L. Austin in 1962 and subsequently developed by J.R. Searle in 1969 serves as the theoretical foundation for this inquiry. Additionally, illocutionary techniques are employed with the speaker's aim. As a result, the data exhibits a dominance of aggressive, commissive, and directive behaviours, in that order. These actions are utilized to reaffirm and support INEC's declaration of victory.  Results: The findings uncovered his discourse incorporates assertive acts (60%), commissive acts (30%), directive acts (10%).