A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF RHETORICAL DEVICES ON THE FLYERS MESSAGES, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Theology

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A PRAGMATIC STUDY OF RHETORICAL DEVICES ON THE FLYERS MESSAGES OF SELECTED NIGERIAN PENTECOSTAL DENOMINATION CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background to the Study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Significance of the Study 1.4 Aims and Objectives 1.5 Methodology CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Brief on Flyer 2.2 The Language of Flyers 2.3 The Importance of Flyers to Pentecostal Churches 2.4 Theoretical Framework 1 2.5 Pragmatics 2.6 Elements of Pragmatics 2.7 Rhetoric 2.8 Context 2.9 Advertisement and Religious Communication CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction CHAPTER FOUR DATA PRESENTATIONS, ANALYSIS AND DISSCUSSION 4.1 Analysis of Data 4.0 introduction 4.2 Discussion of Findings 4.3 Rhetorical Devices of Foregrounding CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, FINDING AND CONCLUSION 5.0 Summary 5.1 Conlusion 2 and if you don’t have access to experience, then you are not going to be able to think. That is, language is very important and cannot be removed from a community or else, the community is officially dead. The reason for success in a community is being able to communicate intelligibly because it is difficult to function without language. Through language, several acts are performed and there are possibilities that the writer of a flyer can cajole people to come to his church by putting up an upcoming event. This is where pragmatics comes in, the writer of a flyer has used some pragmatic elements in the construction of those flyers and this is what the researcher has decided to show to all. Pragmatics is an important aspect in the use of flyers because it is necessary to decode the messages embedded in the flyers. The linguistic encyclopedia (1990) defines pragmatics as “the study of rule and principle which govern language in use”. That is, pragmatics is the study of language use. 1.1 Background to the Study Since time immemorial, language has remained an inseparable component of the practice of religion. Besides serving as the medium through which religious beliefs and experiences are communicated, language remains one of the most potent social variables that define the adherents of a given religion as a distinct social group (Okpeh, 2016). For example, both in terms of its discourse value and lexical properties, the language of African traditional religions and that of Christianity are not the same. In the same vein, even within Christianity, differences of contextual relevance in language use abound 5 (Okpeh, 2017). It is therefore impossible to acquire a religion and claim to be its adherent without an in-depth understanding of the language associated with such a religion. This is because the doctrines, beliefs, practices of a religion are encapsulated in its linguistic practices. The current study focuses on a pragmatic study of rhetorical devices on the flyers messages of selected Pentecostal denomination. Pragmatics is an area of language studies which, according to Leech and Short (1981:290), is concerned with “that aspect of meaning which is derived not from the formal properties of words and constructions, but from the way in which flyers messages are used and how they relate to the context in which they are uttered”. The pragmatic investigation of language seeks to unveil how more is communicated by speakers than what they literary say and the basis on which the meaning of an flyers message can transcend the conventional standard meaning of the words the speaker or writer uses. In pragmatics, we seek to find out the relationship among the meaning of words, what speakers mean when uttering these words, the particular circumstances of their flyers message, their intentions, actions and what they manage to communicate in the final analysis. The foregoing in summary suggests that pragmatics is the analysis of language in relation to context which, according to Lyons (1977:49), is the totality of the extra-linguistic features that have relevance to a communication act. These extra-linguistic features, in Firth’s (1957:15) conception, relate to the social and cultural background that language forms can depend on. In the current study, there is a deliberate attempt to identify the acts contained in selected Pentecostal gospel advertisement and analyze the contextual basis on which the target audience of such adverts interprets the illocutionary forces of the acts. Advertisement is a type of communication and therefore language use within its domain has generated considerable intellectual attention among linguists. For instance, Leech (1996) attempts a 6 comprehensive study of the language of advertisement as it relates to such aspects of linguistics as grammar, vocabulary, rhetoric, discourse and rhyme, with particular focus on how these areas of language are manipulated in advertisement on television. Leech (1966) also demonstrates how the use of words, phrases and classes constitute a unique characteristic of advertising language. In their study of the language of advertising in the commercial press, Vestergaard and Schroder (1985) analyse how the expressive, informational, contextual and directive functions of language are manipulated in advertisements to encourage consumers to patronize a particular product. In Jefkin’s (1985) view, the language of advertisement is characterized by a number of preferred linguistic techniques and patterns, some of which include simple, personal and colloquial style with a familiar vocabulary having such phonological devices as rhyme and alliteration to sustain consumers’ attention, and a generous use of superlatives and hyperbole in characterizing products with often indirect reference to rival products. In the same vein, Crystal (1987:390) is of the view that the language of advertisement “is generally laudatory, positive, unreserved and emphasizing the uniqueness of a product”. Advertising does not impose; rather it persuades, so as to get the desired goal of the product’s acceptance. A general view of the language reveals a deliberated deviation from the proper usage of the grammar of such language. In order to achieve their goal, advertisers play with words, they deviate from normal grammatical patterns, spelling are distorted to suit their purpose and rhythms are created for attractiveness. In other words, advertisers make use of elements which naturally do not follow their regular pattern of use in the language. Such element which form the background for advertisers’ language use, in creating attractiveness include: simile, metaphor, ambiguity, rhyme, rhythm, disjunctive language and figurative language. 7 from flyers messages. Since we now live in a world of rhetorical device on the flyers messages, we may no longer interpret rhetorical device on the flyers messages without taking cognisance of the society which produces them. Hence, the study of church advertisements would benefit from a theoretical perspective which recognises the overlapping relationship between multimodality and rhetorical device on the flyers message , since multimodality encompasses multiple means of communication. Machin and Mayr (2012: 6) also argue that a “linguist might be able to provide a thorough and revealing analysis of the language used in an advertisement, but much of the meaning in this advertisement might be communicated by rhetorical device on the flyers message features”. 1.2 Statement of the problem Flyers are well known by the people, with the emergence of new technologies, societies are gradually influenced and shaped which makes it necessary to examine contents on Pentecostal denomination the flyers with advertising messages. Duncum (2015a) also acknowledges a shift in contemporary cultural life, which is increasingly rhetorical device on the flyers message. Duncum (2015b: 252), however, further observes that studies are yet to fully prove that rhetorical device on the flyers message involves more than the perceptual system of sight but as a way of seeing which is influenced by society. Thus, the overarching problem this study seeks to study the pragmatic of rhetorical device on the flyers message. The study is premised on the assumption that advertisements are located within s, and in order to understand them one must not only understand the language of advertising but also the milieu which produces advertisements. In this study, the researcher analyses flyers message of Nigerian Pentecostal church denomination while also focusing on the multimodal factors related to the production of such flyers message advertisements. 10 1.3 Significance of the Study There are many approaches to advertising, but this study focuses on the rhetorical device on the flyers message. Although audio advertising (for example via radio or word of mouth) has its advantages which differ from country to country, rhetorical device on the flyers message advertisements have some indices which make them more effective, especially in a hyper-rhetorical device on the flyers message world. This study considered these indices in the light of selected flyers message. The study also contributes new ideas to the existing literature. Current studies on rhetorical device on the flyers message depend on Eurocentric frameworks which are generally applicable to the West. In this research, I work towards creating an Afrocentric model of the in African countries, with a focus on Nigeria. 1.4 Aims and Objectives The study aims to conduct a pragmatic study of rhetorical devices on the flyers messages of selected Nigerian Pentecostal denomination To achieve this aim, the objectives pursued in this study are to: 1. To examine the pragmatic study of rhetorical device on on the flyers messages of selected Nigerian Pentecostal denomination 2. Explore the influence of (rhetorical device on the flyers message) on some Pentecostal denomination 1.5 Methodology 11 The study employs a qualitative case-study approach to examine the a pragmatic study of rhetorical devices on the flyers messages of selected Nigerian Pentecostal denomination Since Christianity is a religious belief system, this study also investigates how this belief system manifests in the language of advertising. Purposive sampling was employed, and data were collected from flyers messages. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction Pentecostalism is a charismatic protestant Christian movement that places emphasis on direct personal encounter with Jesus Christ (God) as the healer and saviour of mankind through the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the belief of converts to be “born again” (Kalu, 2008; Rotimi, Nwadialor & Ugwuja, 2016). It is a revival movement with unique tenets and mode of worship which has gradually expanded in terms of number of adherents and denominations. Specifically, Pentecostal denominations are the denominations that uphold the belief that all Christians should seek a post-conversion experience called baptism of the Holy Spirit which is believed to be accompanied by a sign - the gift of tongues as 12 In the context of Nigerian Pentecostal English usage, Aremu (2013) avers that the expressions are attributive to the sociocultural knowledge of participants who communicate with religious registers in religious and non-religious interactions to recontextualise the circumstances from scriptural events. In this direction, Aleke (2018) states that Nigeria’s usage of the expression to God be the glory could account for different meanings depending on the communicative situations. It could an expression of empathy, performative, conclusive, presupposition and response markers, meta-discourse or interruptive device. The frequent uses of these expressions by the Pentecostal denomination have provided new dimensions in their contextual interpretations in Nigerian English usage. On this note, Kperogi (2019) avers that the Pentecostals have emerged as a fundamental source of the linguistic seepage of scriptural registers and expressions into popular Nigerian English occurring in increasingly vast domains. The scholar further hints that expressions such as it is well, it is not my portion, among other Biblical repertoire, are default expressions to show concern and express religiosity in tragic situations, and the conferment of positivism in obviously grievous circumstances. The terms are contextually conceived with meaning appropriations and extensions among the target set of Christians. As insightful as the scholarly views above are, they are not broad enough to account for the various pragmatic dimensions available in the Nigerian English users concerning expressions with Biblical inferences and references. The thrust of this research is to broaden the scope of the earlier studies in terms of the number of such expressions. The study also provides the origin of the expressions with scriptural references in addition to an expansive pragmatic analysis of their contextual meanings and situational usage among the Nigerian Pentecostal denomination. 2.1 Brief on Flyer Communication is a means of transmission of ideas, thoughts/feelings. It is made of two major categories; the verbal and the non-verbal means. The most common of the two used for interaction in 15 human societies is the non-verbal. Flyers is one of the leading non-verbal means of communication in the society today especially the commercial, political and religious flyers. While the commercial flyers are commonly designed to appeal to customers to patronize a particular product and the political campaign flyers designed primarily to familiarize a candidate to the electorate, the religious flyers on their own are also designed specially to attract worshippers to the church/mosque or other places of worship. Flyers are a very important form of visual communication; it presents pictures with meaning lying behind it. Sharndama and Mohammed, (2013) observe that: “a flyers is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically flyers include both textual and graphic elements (although a flyers may be either wholly graphical or wholly textual).” Flyers are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. They may be used for many purposes. They are a frequent tool of advertisers (particularly for events, musicians, films, crusades, rallies) propagandists, protestors and other groups trying to communicate a message. Flyers are used for reproduction of art works, particularly famous works and are generally low- cost compared to the original artwork. A flyers is a message carrier and medium of advertising with variety of functions. As a form of advertising its main function is to attract attention and to manipulate. It is also a socio-cultural medium that transmits artistic and social phenomena and problems. It equally entertains primarily. Flyers have been examined from the point of view of advertising and marketing, but their communicative situation and linguistic devices have not been analysed in depth only as part of the characteristics of the language of advertising. Sas, (2007) insists that flyers serve as the cave drawing of the modern era. They are icons, since they refer to the object by being similar to it. Every flyers contains some kind of image. The relationship of the image and the meaning assigned to it is sometimes 16 problematic. Moricz, (1999:19) believes that though the image has a great emotional force, it has multiple meanings in itself; therefore, its meaning usually has to be made ambiguous. According to Barthes, (1977), unlike Linguistic signs, every image is polysemous and the viewer or reader selects some interpretations out of an enormous set of possible candidates while simultaneously rejecting other meanings. In the course of interpretation, the text which accompanies the image (i.e language) in addition to the context helps to anchor the meaning, thereby directing the interpreter to the expected interpretation It is also important to note that every flyers is characterized by visuality, but its creators do not leave the interpretation of the visual images to chance. Text, in addition to image also appears on the flyers, either supporting or changing the primary meaning suggested by the iconic image. The attention/attracting force of flyers however, is provided by the image rather than the text. Images seem to trigger faster understanding and recollection of relevant data; they help imprint information and evoke emotions more easily than linguistic signs which may be due to the fact that images are stored in memory for longer periods of time (Moricz and Teglassy, 1999:159-160). Flyers therefore can be regarded as complex texts and “these text are semiotically ‘thick’, since they use several means and channels at the same time”. Gardener and andLuchtenberg (2000:1809). They are found in different sizes and used for advertisement of a product as earlier mentioned. 2.2 The Language of Flyers Flyerss in their linguistic devices, aim most importantly to employ means of capturing attention and of 17 churches/organizations, politicians and other non-profit making organizations. These organizations, other than business organizations, engage in advertisement to persuade (and most times to manipulate) people into acting in certain ways to the advantage of the advertiser. According to Philips (1997:15-16), “Manipulation is a deliberate and successful attempt by one person to get another person by appeals to reason to freely accept beliefs, attitudes, values, intentions or actions”. In the case of Pentecostal church adverts, the main purpose is usually to get people to attend a programme in which the preacher, through persuasive strategies influence the audiences’ belief, to modify or change it or to make such audience to behave in a certain way. Furthermore, Pentecostal (church) adverts on flyerss, flyers and billboards are linguistically (sometimes semiotically) meant to invite people by creating suspense, making the readers to see lack or needs in their lives and also to see the church programmes as a means of solving the perceived lack and needs. The implication is that advertisements are by nature subtle attacks on people’s emotions and sensibilities. Most flyerss and flyers contain names of the churches, host pastors (even the photographs of both the pastors and their spouses plus that of the guest preacher(s) or minister(s)) venue, time, themes and other phrases or sentences that serve as side attraction to encourage the flyerss’ readers to come. Some of these phrases/sentences include: salvation message, choir ministration, testimonies (or film show) etc. As stated earlier, flyerss/flyers help to invite people to church for fellowship with the host. It is worthy of note that advertisers take delight in an audience who see advert to be harmless nonsense for such an audience is made defenseless its belief that there is no attack taking place. Instances of this abound in Pentecostal church flyers adverts which appear innocuous, especially as it is generally believed that any piece of writing that bears the nature of God (or Jesus Christ) is purely evangelistic with no pecuniary motive on the part of the author hence, no manipulation is meant – all they want are some of the “lost Souls” restored for God. 20 Studying the Pentecostal church adverts via flyers and flyers with a bit of pragmatic details exposes some later devices and strategies used by authors/advertisers to break the defensive walls of the of the audiences. 2.4 Theoretical Framework The theories considered relevant to this study are Mey’s (2001) Pragmatic Acts Theory and van Dijk’s (2008, 2009) Context Models. Mey’s (2001) Theory of Pragmatic Acts proposes the relevance of allowing sociocultural context into the interpretation of linguistic texts. Mey emphasizes on the environment from which interactants derive their affordances; that is, the contextual situation that determines meaning in relation to what is said, what is actually being said and what it meant. The Acts propel interactants’ adaptation to context and the context to the interlocutors relying on linguistic and extralinguistic factors. According to Mey (2001), the theory is premised on the elasticity of interactive possibilities with two major components: the activity part (interactants) and the textual part (context). The activity part is concerned with speech acts, indirect speech acts, psychological acts, dialogue acts, physical acts and prosodic acts. The textual component considers the contextual inference, relevance, reference, voice, shared situation knowledge, metaphor and metapragmatic joker. The conception is that the interlocutors and discourse context are pivotal to the understanding and meaning of pragmeme. Also, van Dijk’s (2008, 2009) Context Models suggest that language users adapt their discourse patterns to the prevailing social and communicative environment within the notion of appropriateness. The models according to van Dijk, exercise a fundamental control function specifically in the manner conversations are produced appropriately in communicative situations. The models are activated and construed in situations where participants of similar background and experience engage in conversations within a defined sociolinguistic environment. The theories are relevant to the study because they account for the contextual appropriateness and appropriation of language use by discourse 21 participants with common sociocultural environment where meaning is derived. Particularly, the dialogue in question, the physical acts such as the interactant(s’) emotion, the inferential circumstance, the Biblical reference, the contextual relevance of the flyers message and the shared situation knowledge underscore the application of the theory to the research. Pragmatics is an area of language studies which, according to Leech and Short (1981:290), is concerned with “that aspect of meaning which is derived not from the formal properties of words and constructions, but from the way in which flyers messages are used and how they relate to the context in which they are uttered”. 2.5 Pragmatics Pragmatics is a branch of linguistics basically concerned with the study of meaning but with context as an integral factor. Writing on the origin and nature of pragmatics, Lawal (2003:150) writes that: Pragmatics is a legitimate off-shoot of the sociolinguistic approach to the study of language, which itself started as a stiff reaction to structural linguistics. Sociolinguistics emerged from the attempt to correlate linguistic forms with social functions and as a logical corollary, pragmatics evolved as a general study of how context influences the way we interpret flyers messages. In other words, it is the linguistics of flyers messages. Mey (2001:6) avers that “pragmatics studies the use of language in human communication as determined by the conditions of society”. Traugott and Pratt (1980:26) quoted in Otun (2011:80) observe that “Pragmatics deals with speakers’ communicative competence, the knowledge which 22 describes the social-cultural and historical settings. The ultimate context, which is cosmological, appears to be the broadest, in that it refers to the language user’s world-view, and the implicit references to the world or aspects of it, and to certain universally established facts. The next column houses an equal number of hierarchically patterned levels of background knowledge or competence necessary for the production and interpretation of language in use. The various levels of contexts mentioned earlier on are symmetrically related to the corresponding competencies. Some or all of these competencies can be employed as pragmatic mappings to interpret/decode and classify an flyers message into a particular speech-act type, and to give an appropriate response or reaction. In doing this, the language user deploys his competencies through inference to identity and understand presuppositions, implicatures and mutual contextual beliefs (MCBs). Speech acts are also hierarchically organised and are somewhat related to the contexts and competencies that produce them. The most basic is ‘locutionary’ whose identification and comprehension depend on the purely linguistic constraints of the lexical, morphosyntactic, phonological, phonetic and microsemantic structures of the sentence. Locutionary acts are thus described as the speakers’ overt linguistic behaviour, and the competence and context relative to their interpretation are also referred to as ‘the surface structures’. In updating the model, conversational maxims (of the CP) –whether observed or flouted – and Face Maintenance (FM) are hereby acknowledged as part of the MCBs which language users invoke to understand presuppositions, implicatures and other aspects of hidden meaning. From the various theories of speech acts reviewed, it is inferred that illocutionary act is a higher-order act which can be either direct or indirect, intended or unintended and conventional or nonconventional, depending on the highly variable vagaries (Lawal 1995) of the context of communication. Illocutionary acts occupy a primary level of nonlinguistic functions which language users performed with words. The ultimate 25 level of the speech acts is that of prelocutionary acts which are the conventional or non-conventional, intended or unintended consequence of flyers messages. In applying this model to a work of literature, the first major task of the analyst is to situate it thematically within a nexus of inter-elated and interdependent contextual forces-linguistic, situational, social, sociological and cosmological (ideological), as indicated in the model, thereby giving an overview of its implicatures and presuppositions among other dimensions of hidden meaning. Next is to identify the types, sequence and patterns of speech acts in the work with a view to identifying a particular macro-act which the work represents and the facts, beliefs, thought processes and persuasion implicated therein. Citing Levinson (1983:27), Thomas (1995:22) and Olaniyi (2010:54), Omotunde (2015:11) remarks that: There are two domains in the model. The first is the background structure where the speaker operates with the pragmatic took of presupposition, speech acts, implicative and inference while the second domain is the surface structure, i.e., discourse structure (Levinson 1983:27) where the listener operates, carrying out or doing the act o f interpretation. The mutual contextual belief (MCBS) is at the base of the flyers message box linking the speaker and the listener together for easy understanding of the speaker meaning and necessary flyers message meaning in case particular conditions fail (Thomas 1995:22 cited in Omotunde 2015:117) The above is a brief summary of the theotrical framework proposed by Lawal. 26 2.6 Elements of Pragmatics Intention Intention refers to the goals meant to be achieved, resident in the mind of a speaker or hearer (Adegbija, 1999:191). This is participants’ communicative goals. In any interactional exchange, the intention of the individual is very important for participants to engage in discourse. There is always an intention to achieve whenever participants engage in discussion. Therefore, this intention determines the choice of the words to be used in any discussion, especially in religious discourse. Adegbija (1999) is right in referring intention to as “a goal meant to be achieved” Through speakers’ intention, their speech acts are understood. (Achoeah and Adedun, 2013). Although discussants have varied intentions for uttering certain flyers messages in progresses, and it is crucial for hearers to recognize speakers’ intentions as they are not easily recognised. In the field of religious, just like any other field, every interlocution is made up of interlocutors. These interlocutors engage in discourse for certain reasons and to achieve some designated objectives. These objectives are the interlocutors’ intention in any interactional exchange. World Knowledge The knowledge of the world, on the part of the hearer, plays an important role in making proper justification in the interpretation of an flyers message. It serves as a background for proper understanding of a text or discourse. In other words, the knowledge of the world on religious flyers, which is the subject matter of our research, aids the comprehension of conversation. Hence, Yule and Brown (1989:64) observed that “this general knowledge about the world underpins our interpretation, 27 Implicature can also mean referring to an indirect or implicit meaning of an flyers message derived from context that is not present from its conventional use. Grundy (2008:14) says “An Implicature is a meaning that is conveyed but not explicitly stated”. Grice (1975:45) derived two types of Implicature: Conventional and Conversational Implicature. See (Grice, 1975). Non-Verbal Communication Non-Verbal elements of communication are appendages to the verbal elements (spoken or written). They include gestures, dressing and movements. Archeoah and Adedun (2013:112) believe that the use of non-verbal communication elements amplifies the verbal elements. Inference In Myers and Myers (1985), quoted in Watson and Hill (1993:91) “It involves the drawing of conclusion from a known or assumed fact or statement from available data or a particular premise”. For example, if you hear a man referring to a woman, sitting together closely and affectionately, as ‘darling’, you may infer that the woman in question is the man’s wife. Inference can refer to the deductive process by which the hearer or reader moves from the literal meaning of an flyers message to what the speaker or writer actually intends to express. Inferences are made on the basis of the background context, our experience in life or world knowledge and mutually shared beliefs. (Adegbija, 1999:129). Dada (2004:149) defines inference as: Inferences are usually derived from our background or conventional knowledge or our culture, such that a piece of information which is not directly stated in the text can be inferred as part of the meaning or possible interpretation of the text. One interesting aspect of inference is that they are treated as likely or possible 30 interpretation, which reader or readers will easily abandon if they do not fit in with subsequent information. Presupposition Olateju (2004:25) avers that “presupposition is seen in terms of what the hearer will accept from the speaker without any challenge. In presupposition, there is an assured common ground”. Dada (2004:148) asserts that “presupposition can be described as what a speaker assumes is true or is known by the hearer”. A presupposition is a meaning one accommodates alongside an flyers message. Presupposition refers to the logical meaning of a sentence or meanings logically associated with or entailed by a sentence. A presupposition is background belief, relating to an flyers message that; i. Must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the flyers message to be considered appropriate in context. ii. Generally will remain a necessary assumption whether the flyers message is placed in form of an assertion, denial or question. iii. Can generally be associated with a specific lexical item or grammatical feature in the flyers message. There are two main types of presuppositions i. Semantic presupposition 31 ii. Pragmatic presupposition Semantic presupposition refers to the logical relations between sentences, while Pragmatic presupposition refers to the conditions necessary for a speech act to be appropriate in a given context. A presupposition is an assumption about the world whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. e.g. i. Do you want it again? Presupposition: you have it again. ii. My wife is pregnant. Presupposition: the speaker has a wife. Three levels of pragmatic presupposition are; a. Speaker-based presupposition: The speaker assumes that the hearer already knows what he is saying based on the context of situation. b. Hearer-based presupposition: When the hearer hears an flyers message, he makes a certain presupposition as regards the speaker’s intention. c. Context-based presupposition: Just by looking at the environment, the hearer and the speaker can presuppose anything as regards the context. It is a tool used to study meaning by both the semanticists and the pragmaticists. In semantics, it is a condition which must be satisfied if a particular state of affair is to be obtained. In pragmatics, it is the necessary conditions and assumptions made in speaking or writing an flyers message, distinct from what was actually asserted (Leech et al, 1989:191). 32 Pathos is the second among the three factors of rhetoric outlined by Aristotle. Pathos refers to the use of emotional appeals to alter the audience’s judgement through metaphor, amplification or presenting the topics in a way that evokes strong emotions in the audience. Logos, the third in the list, is the use of logical ideas to appeal to the audience. It is under the third and last cannon that rhetorical devices are classified. Rhetorical devices are figures of speech used by a writer or speaker to persuade his audience. 2.8 Context Yule (2000:128) as cited by Song (2010) defines context as the general environment in which a word is used. Widdowson (2000:126) views context as those aspects of the circumstance of actual language use which are taken as relevant to meaning. He further pointed out that, “Context is a schematic construct...the achievement of pragmatic meaning is a matter of matching up the linguistic elements of the code with the schematic element of the context”. Language is the vehicle of ideas, thought and perspective of our world. Human beings as social beings perpetually interact with his environment. . When and where we are interacting determines what actually we mean e.g. “late” have two major interpretations which depend on the time and context of usage. Context may refer to any aspect of an occasion in which a speech act takes place, including the social setting and the status of both the speaker and the person who is addressed. It is what surrounds any part of a discourse and that help to determine its meaning. According to Claire Kramsch (1993), our choice of words is constrained by the context in which we use the language. Our personal thoughts are shaped by those of others. M.A.K Halliday also maintains that 35 meaning should be analysed not within the linguistic system but also taking into account the social system in which it occurs. In other words, context serves as the basis for encoding, decoding and analysing language use in a given discourse. The notion of background knowledge is central to the understanding of context (Osisanwo, 2003). Brown and Yule (1983:238) describes background knowledge as “stored information”. This is a crucial determinant in the interpretation of flyers message or text in a particular 2.9 Advertisement and Religious Communication Religious adverts are “those adverts through which a religious group gives information to the public about its activities or policies with the hope of gaining a beneficial response” (Odebunmi, 2007:7). Thorne (1997:346) asserts that “language of religion, although, is far removed from the language of everyday conversation, it is still a variety that most people can recognise because of its widespread use beyond the specific context of the church. The language of religion can be found in many contexts: religious newspapers and magazines, radio and local publicity material promoting church events. The specific language of the church, however, is a very distinctive form of religious language, to a large extent preserved and free from the influences of other varieties of English, such as the language of newspaper or broadcasting. Acheoah and Hamzah (2015:23) assert that “religion is a social system that regulates man’s existence”. Religious language in the context of the church has both written and spoken forms. In all religions, written SACRED TEXTS provide the central focus for worship: for Christians, the Bible; for Muslims, the Koran; for Buddhists, the Pali canon, and so on. These texts have a historical significance since they are the basis for spiritual tradition of religion. Alterations to a given translation are often considered controversial because they change the revered norms with which people are familiar. Spoken religious language is also distinctive; it is marked by special pronunciation 36 and prosodic features such as intonation patterns which play a crucial part in ensuring that the worshippers relate to and understand the spiritual message. The sacred text, the Bible, has always been a means of upholding spiritual beliefs because their written forms do not substantially change. It seeks to persuade people to believe and to act in a certain moral way. Religious texts like the Bible also have an expressive function since they are partly concerned with an expression of feelings. Both in public and in private contexts, the function of religious language is to develop a moral and spiritual outlook. Whether in a church congregation or worshipping in a private way, religious language prescribes a specific attitude to life (Adedun, 2010:24-26). CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction We examine six (40) Pentecostal gospel flyers messages, mentioning the pragmatic features therein and the functions of such features. The selected flyers message were taken from six (4) different Pentecostal gospel denominations. The titles of the flyers messages were written down. The choice of the church flyers messages were based on their titles. The selected flyers messages, which are in printed format were critically studied to determine the rhetorical devices used by the denominations in the flyers message. There are rhetorical devices used in the flyers message all of which make the flyers message rhetoric, persuasive and 37 Even though flyers messages are strictly one way communication, interaction progresses on the interplay of shared grounds between messages and the flyers message titles. The analysis will not only overview pragmatic components in the data (as necessitated by the theoretical framework of the study), but will also investigate the predominant pragmatic acts and the justification for such usage. We shall determine the contextual factors needed to comprehend the texts and how they may reveal hidden meanings in the text. The persuasive strategies of PGPA at convincing readers into action shall also be examined. Some pragmatic elements that would be analysed are: intention, speech acts, presupposition, world knowledge, mutual contextual beliefs, theme, context and implicature. The rhetorical devices were further classified into two: Rhetorical Devices of Foregrounding and Rhetorical Devices of Emotion Arousing. The derived rhetorical devices were analysed using Grice’s(1975) Cooperative Principles. According to Mey (2001), the term “cooperative principles” suggests that in every communication setting, there seems to be cooperation or what we might call agreement between the speaker and the listener. Grice argued that speakers intend to be cooperative when they talk and one way to be cooperative is for a speaker to give as much information as is expected. The way in which people try to make conversation work is to obey these principles which are outlined as maxim of quality, quantity, manner and relation. a. Maxim of Quantity: Make your contribution as informative as required and do not make your contribution more informative than required. b. Maxim of Quality: Do not say what you believe to be false and do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. 40 c. Maxim of Relation: Make your contribution relevant d. Maxim of Manner: Avoid obscurity, avoid ambiguity, be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity) and be orderly. The above maxims of the Cooperative Principle are deployed in the analysis and Interpretation of the data of this study to determine the pragmatic import of the rhetorical devices contained therein. In doing this, attention was given to how these maxims were deliberately flouted by the preacher in his use of the rhetorical devices, with the intention of making his sermons persuasive to his congregation. 41 CHAPTER FOUR DATA PRESENTATIONS, ANALYSIS AND DISSCUSSION 4.0 introduction Since the main focus of the present study is to analyze the pragmatic study of rhetorical on flyer, the study is thus qualitative in nature. Specifically, it examined texts as “objects” in order to discover the rhetorical and pragmatic strategies used. The main data of the present study are the rhetoric and pragmatic features on the flyer. They were obtained from the selected 4 Nigerian pentecostal donominations Three flyers from each Pentecostal denomination were used for the analysis study, which make the total flyers studied to be 12. The data were collected through document studies and were then analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. 4.1 Analysis of Data S/N FLYERS RHETORICAL DEVICE MAXIM FLOUTED PRAGMATI C FUNCTION 42 8 Breaking barrier of blessings Testimony Manner Validating the subject under discussion 45 9 Turning bitterness to sweetness Repetitive Dialogue Manner/Qu antity Integrating the reader’s participation and drawing their attention into the flyer. 10 Speak woe unto long term problems Rhetorical Question Manner Drawing the reader’s attention 46 11 Poverty and hard time must die Repetitive Dialogue Manner Committing the reader’s attention to the flyer 12 speak woe unto long term problems Motivational Talk Quantity Integrating the reader’s participation 4.2 Discussion of Findings The above analysis reveals twelve (12) rhetorical devices on the flyer, The analysis further reveals that of all rhetorical devises. To systematise the discussion of findings emerging from the analysis, the analysed rhetorical devices have been classified into two broad categories on the basis of their functions. One of the categories are Rhetorical Devices of Foregrounding, which comprise the devices that help to make text on flyer memorable and persuasive to the reader, with the goal of making them to take a particular course of action, as desired by the denomination. The second category are the Rhetorical Devices of Arousing Emotion, which consist of devices that help to persuade the congregation through motivation. 4.3 Rhetorical Devices of Foregrounding 47 The use of this device flouts the maxim of manner largely and that of quantity partly. In the flouting the manner maxim, the preacher avoids brevity and orderliness in the utterances in that he assumes the posture of the narrator, the questioner and the “ answerer”, all at the same the time. In the usual order of such an exchange, the questioner should not be the one providing the answer to the question he himself has asked. In this current context, however, the questions and the answers are both lumped into one stretch of utterance with the rhetorical intention of arresting the attention of the reader and consequently enhancing the subjecting title of the flyer . Rhetorical Devices of Arousing Emotion The rhetorical devices of arousing emotion used by the cleric in the Flyer title include possibility talk, analogy, stories, alliteration, testimonies, and rhetorical question. These are devices that are specially chosen to stir the reader into action by means of emotional appeal. There are a number of decisions members of the reader need to take in the course of a title, but they may remain unwilling or indecisive until their emotions are stirred up. Motivational Talk This is one of the most used rhetorical devices by Nigerian Pentecostal churches. In the analysed flyer titles, the device has been used by the cleric to motivate and inspire hope to the readers who because of their problems might be suffering from depression and despondency. See an excerpt from the text below: Breaking generational curses Breaking barrier of blessings Hope feasting after the famine Turning bitterness to sweetness Poverty and hard time must die This device flouts the maxim of quality which states that one should not say that for which he lacks adequate evidence or that which he believe to be false. Empirically, the cleric lacks evidence to make 50 such a statement. However, within the context of Pentecostal Christianity where the above statement are interpreted as “prophetic declarations”, the congregation are motivated by such an utterance to believe that however long their problems have lingered, there is hope of solution as long as they do not lose hope. This rhetorical In the Christian discourse, it is believed that a preacher cannot lie since he is a representative of God. In the title of the flyer, the preacher did not deliberately flout this maxim. However, in the use of the rhetorical devices like possibility talk, the speaker has stated that for which he lacks adequate evidence. Although the preacher said this based on the assurance of God’s power, how sure is he since there are factors like God-factor and the man’s will factor that may actually not make it so? Testimony With regards to the use of this rhetorical devices Enefola (2017) notes that, “testimonies can evoke emotions of laughter, anxiety, sobriety, encouragement, inspiration and so on, but the rhetorician chooses the most appropriate to achieve his aim of persuasion”. Although this rhetorical device is essentially informative, the pragmatic impact is very significant both at the point of the utterance and after the utterance. This is a commonly used rhetorical device among Nigerian Pentecostal clerics, and it can be used either at the beginning of the message, the middle, or the end. in the utterance under analysis, it was used in the middle of the meassage. The maxim flouted in the utterance is the quantity maxim whose propositional requirement has it that the speaker should be only as informative as it is required. However, the cleric flouts this maxim by giving this lengthy testimony in order to stir up faith in his reader and make the subject matter of his message persuasive to them. The perlocutionary effect of the 51 rhetorical device on the congregation on the congregation is evident in their screaming at the end of the testimony. Alliteration/Assonance Alliteration is the repetitive occurrence of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other while assonance is the re-occurrence of the vowel sounds. This is common among contemporary Pentecostal churches as a means of achieving persuasion. It is an emotion arousing rhetorical device also deployed by the cleric in the analysed messages. See an excerpt from the text below: Breaking generational curses Breaking barrier of blessings Hope feasting after the famine Turning bitterness to sweetness Poverty and hard time must die The device flouts the maxim of manner which requires conversationalists to avoid ambiguity, or obscurity. In the present utterance, the use of the words in alliteration/assonance flouts the manner maxim in that the words in themselves are ambiguous, unless when contextualized within the broader text of the messages. The potency of this rhetorical device hinges on its poetic aesthetics through the means of which the subject-matter of the sermon is not only made persuasive to the congregation, but also memorable to them. 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