A Pragmatic Analysis of Selected Campaign Posters of the Two Major Nigerian Political Parties

Abstract

The print media, by means of images, colour, symbols, and texts which communicate specific messages to the electorates, no doubt, play an important role in electioneering campaigns. However, this special way of using language is yet to receive adequate research attention in linguistics. In addition, most studies on campaign posters adopt multimodal, semiotic, stylistic, and critical discourse analytic approaches, thereby excluding the domain of pragmatics.    Therefore, the present paper is an attempt to examine the pragmatic import of the textual components of the selected campaign posters of the two main Nigerian political parties. Twelve campaign posters were selected purposively across two successive periods of election in Nigeria, 2019 and 2023. McCombs and Shaw’s (1972) theory of Agenda setting was adopted for the analysis of selected data. The study found that posters are not mere pictures and colour, they convey in-depth messages which are means of appealing to the electorates. The multiple modes in the selected posters prove to be a potent weapon to enhance the persuasive nature and the pragmatic import of the discourse. In addition, the pragmatic import of the selected data makes a lot to be communicated with fewer words as the contents of the posters are subjected to contextual explication of the Nigerian political landscape. The study concluded that due to the availability of the visual resources contained in campaign posters, fewer words are required to persuade or trigger the reaction of the electorates.