A Pragmatic Analysis of Some Utterances in ‘Oga Driver’: A Nigerian Pidgin English Radio Presentation

Cite this article as: Aderibigbe, R. (2025). A pragmatic analysis of some utterances in ‘Oga Driver’: A Nigerian Pidgin English radio presentation. Sokoto Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies (SOJOLICS), 1(3), 92–99. https://www.doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2025.v01i03.013

A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF SOME UTTERANCES IN ‘OGA DRIVER’: A NIGERIAN PIDGIN ENGLISH RADIO PRESENTATION

By

Rachael Aderibigbe

rachel.aderibigbe@gmail.com

Department of Basic Sciences

Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna

Abstract

This research examines the Nigerian Pidgin English from a pragmatic point of view using the radio presentation ‘Oga Driver’ as a case study. It pays particular attention to the speech acts employed by the presenter to communicate his intention.A descriptive qualitative design was used in conducting the research. Data for the research were collected using a mobile phone, from the utterances of the presenter of ‘Oga Driver. Selected speech acts were classified according to Austin and Seale’s classification of locutionary and illocutionary acts. A simple frequency and percentage were used to calculate the number of occurrences of each type of speech act. The most frequently occurring locution is the declarative which occurs 30 times with a frequency of 75.0%. The illocutionary act that occurs most frequently is the directive with a frequency of 40%.  On the basis of the findings, it can be concluded that the Nigerian Pidgin English in radio presentations is used not just as a means of entertainment but also as a language with growing functionality capable of performing the same linguistic functions as the English language and other languages.

Keywords: Pragmatics, Speech act theory, Pidgin English, Radio, ‘Oga Driver’

1. Introduction

Science has not been able to prove without doubt the origin of language but according to Judeo-Christian beliefs, language has been in existence from the beginning of creation as a gift from God to humanity. Language is a mode of communication unique to humans. It is a process of transferring thoughts from a sender to a receiver. It is an almost indispensable tool used in human activities for expressing ideas and emotions, for persuading and entertaining, educating and creating social ties. According to Fromkin and Rodman (2007)‘Hardly a moment of our waking lives is free from words…. To understand our humanity, one must understand the nature of language that makes us human. (p.3). Language plays an important role in our everyday activities. It is a means of shaping or influencing our world view. Adler and Rodman (2006) agree that, ‘Communication does more than enable us to survive. It is the way- indeed, the only way- we learn who we are’ (p.10).

Mass communication is the art of transmitting information to a large number of people at the same time. It focuses on communication that reaches a wider audience. The television, newspaper, internet and radio are examples of this. Language is a major tool used in transmitting messages for public consumption. The radio, for instance, does not have a visual effect like the other means of mass communication, so presenters on radio rely heavily on their ability to paint pictures in the minds of their audience through the use of language. Despite the seeming disadvantage of not having visual effects, the radio remains one of the most popular means of reaching out to a large audience. Ithas since given way to the television and the internet but it still enjoys a very high level of patronage. Many rely on the radio for information such as telling the time, the weather forecast, advertisements, entertaining and educative programmes, while they go about their daily activities without much distraction since they only have to listen and not watch. On account of this, radio presenters usually present their programmes in simple but very clear and meaningful language. They look out for the best possible language in reaching out to the public because, according to Adler and Rodman, (2006) ‘communication is considered effective when the communicators achieve their goals in a manner that ideally improves the relationship in which it occurs’ (p.18). The Pidgin English is a hybrid language whose vocabulary is largely drawn from the Standard English language. In the Nigerian multilingual context, the Pidgin English is not the recognized official language but is beginning to gain attention as a language of choice for wider communication. According to Deuber,(2005) ‘Although a major lingua franca, it has no official recognition even without any policy statements; it performs a growing range of functions, including, for example, that of a medium of public broadcasting’ (p.183).

 A Radio presentation like ‘Oga Driver’ is targeted at a wider audience with the intention of educating them on precautionary measures they ought to consider while driving. The best possible means of reaching its audience is by using a language that virtually all of them can understand and relate to and that is, the Nigerian Pidgin English.  According to O’Donnell and Todd, different situations call for different ways of saying the same thing (p.64). The choice speakers make from different possible options is known as style. Pragmatics studies ‘humans communicatively using language in the context of society’ (Mey, 2009,p.175). It focuses on what people do with language choices. Thus, the study identifies the speech acts types performed in the radio presentation ‘Oga driver’ with the aim of offering a more comprehensive explanation to the study of language use in radio presentations.

2. Literature Review

Different linguists have defined pragmatics from their various points of view. Charles Morris (as cited in Mey,2009), defines pragmatics as ‘the study of relations of signs to interpreters’ (p.4). Mey (2009) however, states that unlike traditional linguistics which was more interested in the elements and structure of language, pragmatics is concerned with the ‘language-using humans. It is concerned with the way language is produced and in its producers. (p.5) He adds that ‘pragmatics studies the use of language in human communication as determined by the conditions of society.’(p.6). Yule(2010) defines pragmatics as the study of ‘invisible meaning.’ He sees it as the recognition of meaning even when it is not actually stated or written. He adds that in order for meaning to be recognized when not actually stated, speakers or writers must depend on shared assumptions and communications. He further explains that interpreting meaning goes beyond the words used in communication to what we assume is the writer’s intention (p.128).  Leech and Thomas (1990) define pragmatics as ‘the study of meaning of linguistic utterances for their users and interpreters. (p.94). Fromkin and Rodman (2007) add that pragmatics is ‘concerned with the interpretation of linguistic meaning in context. According to them, two types of contexts are of importance to pragmatics: The linguistic context and the situational context (p.199). The linguistic context has to do with the discourse that precedes the utterance to be interpreted while the situational context is concerned with almost everything non-linguistic in the speaker’s environment. Crystal(1980) sums up the definition of pragmatics. He sees pragmatics as the ‘ study of language from the point of view of the users, especially the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effect their use of language has on the other participants in the act of communication.’(p.364)  From the definitions it is obvious that pragmatics is generally concerned with not just language in itself but language users and the context in which language is used to derive meaning of utterances.

Speech Acts: Speech acts refer not only to the acts of speaking but to all that is contained in a communicative encounter. These include the context of the utterance, the participants involved in the communicative activity and all paralinguistic features that can influence or affect the interaction (Black,2006,p.17). Austin’s publication of ‘How to do things with words’ in 1962, began the modern study of speech acts. His publication created a public awareness to the fact that language users do not just use language for using sake but perform certain acts in the process. To buttress this point, Saddock(2006) claims that, ‘when we speak, we can do all sorts of things, from aspirating a consonant, to constructing a relative clause, to insulting a guest, to starting a war (p.53).

Austin in his publication observed that certain kinds of sentences are designed to do certain things. For example, a sentence like, ‘I pronounce you man and wife’, is designed to wed and not just to say something. Austin classified sentences into performatives and constatives. According to Sadock(2006), ‘the point of Austin’s lectures was, in fact, that every normal utterance has both a descriptive and an effective aspect: that is saying something is also doing something’ (p.54). He adds that two things play important roles in the speech act theory and they are, convention and intention. According to him, sometimes, the formal features of the utterance used in carrying out certain acts maybe directly tied to its accomplishment. Saddock claims that a speech act has been achieved when the intention of the speaker in making the utterance is recognized by the addressee. He concludes by stating that, ‘Much of the speech act theory is therefore devoted to striking a proper balance between convention and intention.(p.53). Black(2006) adds that, the grammatical correctness of an utterance is not as much of a concern in speech acts, as the ability of the speaker to achieve his communicative purpose (p.17).

Austin in his work identified three categories of speech acts that are performed in the process of language use and they are: Locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Locutionary acts according to him, are acts of speaking which involves the construction of speech, making sounds or using certain words that conform with the grammatical rules of a particular language.(Saddock,p.54) Black(2006) defines locutionary act as ‘ the production of a well-formed utterance in whatever language one is speaking.’(p.17) Illocutionary acts are those acts that are performed in the course of speaking for example, when we use sentences for the purpose of christening or marrying. According to Yule (2010), ‘Mostly we don’t just produce well-formed utterances with no purpose. We form utterances with some kind of function in mind. This is the social dimension, or the illocutionary act’ (p.49). Utterances can be made with the purpose of making statements, offering an explanation and so on, when these are done, illocutionary acts are said to have been performed. The perlocutionary act ‘is the consequence or by-product of speaking. Whether intended or not. (Saddock,2006 p.55). He further states that, perlocutions are those acts that produce effects on the actions, thoughts or feelings of the receiver. Black (2006) considers perlocutionary act as ‘the effect of our words’ (p.17).

There are certain conditions that must be fulfilled in order for a speech act to be considered well-formed and to be recognized as intended. Yule(2010) lists five types of general functions performed by speech acts: Declarations, representatives, expressive, directives and commissives. He states that, declarations are speech acts that produce change in the world via utterances (p.54). Yule (2010) defines representatives as ‘those kinds of speech acts that state what the speaker believes to be the case or not’ (p.54). These include statements of facts, assertions, conclusions and descriptions.

Black (2006) refers to representatives as statements and descriptions used by speakers in offering a view of the world from his own perspective (p.20).

Expressive speech acts reveal a speaker’s attitude. It could be an act of congratulating, condoling or expressing pleasure (Black,2006, p.20). Yule (2010) refers to them as acts that expresses a speaker’s feelings and which could be a psychological state that reveals feelings of pleasure, pain, joy, sorrow dislike and others.(p.53). Examples of such acts according to him are,

 Congratulations!

 I’m really sorry!

 Directives are usually commands (Black,2006, p. 20). These kinds of speech acts are those that speakers usually use to get the hearers to do something. They could be commands, orders, requests or suggestions (Yule,2010, p.54).

Commissives are acts that commit speakers to some future course of action and they include promises, threats, refusals, pledges and express the intention of the speaker (Black 2006,p.22).

3. Theoretical Framework.

The analysis focuses on Austin and Searle’s classification of speech acts which consists of:

Locutionary act: This is the production of a well-formed utterance in whatever language we speak (Black,2006,p.17).

 Illocutionary act: This according to Austin(1969), ‘is an act, which is uttered by the speaker with intention, by keeping motive in mind. It includes asking or answering a question, giving information, warning, announcing a verdict, or an intention, pronouncing sentence, appointing, appealing, criticizing, describing, and many more suggestions’ (p.98). Searle classifies illocutionary acts into: Representatives, directives, commissives, expressive and declaratives

Perlocutionary act according to Austin, cited in Sadock, (2006) ‘is a consequence or byproduct of speaking, whether intended or not. It consists in the production of effects upon thoughts, feelings or actions of the addressee(s), speaker or other parties’ (p.55).

Although thespeech acts theory consists of locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts, only the locutionary and illocutionary acts are considered. Attention is not given to the perlocutionary act in this study.

4. Methodology

The research is a descriptive qualitative research type .Osuala(2005) states that, ‘the task of the qualitative methodologist is to capture what people say and do as a product of how they interpret the complexity of their world, to understand events from the view points of the participants. It is the life world of the participants that constitutes the investigative field’ (p.171). Thus, this research identifies the speech acts used by the presenter to communicate his intention.The data for the research are utterances obtained from the radio presentation of ‘Oga Driver’. A programme presented in Nigerian Pidgin English on Kaduna State Media Corporation 90.9 FM Kaduna. The population of the data is the radio presentation of ‘Oga driver’ from July 2016 to December 2016. A total of 50 presentations were recorded for the purpose of the research. 10 presentations out of the fifty were randomly selected and transcribed for the purpose of the research. 40 utterances were further selected from the 10 presentations as primary data for the research. The instrument used for collecting data for this research includes a mobile phone, used in listening to and recording the presentations on 90.9 FM Kaduna, and a laptop used in typing out the transcribed presentations.40 utterances from the transcribed data were collected as the primary data for the research. The speech acts were classified using Austin’s proposed locutionary acts which were analysed according to their structure and Searle’s classification of illocutionary acts which consists of representatives, directives, commissives, expressives and declaratives. The researcher observed and calculated the frequency of occurrence of the speech acts. A simple frequency and percentage were used to calculate the number of occurrences of each speech act. The formal and informal method of data presentation was used by the researcher to present the data.  The informal method of presenting analysed data involves using words while the formal method refers to the presentation of analysed data using symbols, diagrams, tables and figures.

5.  Data Presentation and Analysis

The locutionary and illocutionary acts of each of the selected utterances according to Austin and Seale’s classification are identified and analysed as follows:

Table 1: Analysis of data into locutionary and illocutionary acts

	UTTERANCES	LOCUTIONS	ILLOCUTIONS
1.	Yes o! When you don dey hear pam-pam-pam-pam you go sabi to know say time don reach for the program Oga driver dis morning.	Declaratives	Representatives
2.	we don sabi say the bridge don fall, e don fall! Anybody weydey hear me now, make e still know say they never repair am.	Declarative	Representative
3.	: As you don wake wey you don rise. All of us we deykakaranka dis morning. Eh, God go protection Him children.	Declarative	Representative
4	axidentnaaxident…even if nagbagaaa…if you no dey hospital, you go change address…thank God him no change address.	Declarative	Representative
5	I say God forbid bad thing dis morning make we see where human being dey roast like yam..u. human being dey smell like suya meat...e no go be our portion dis morning…	Declarative	Expressive
6.	anywhere wey you dey begin jump up from dat bed…lazy man! Lazy woman…wetin you still dey do on top dat bed? Jump up make you begin map road wey you go gohelep your pp	Imperative	Directive
7.	you wey carry datgongoro…you wey carry datluxirious bus…remember say others..eh..follow get right on top dat road.	Imperative	Directive
8.	the station wey you dey hear so na the one wey pass all of dem…datna why we tandagididgba, the station wey no get good night for dem agenda.	Declarative	Representative
9.	My brother my sister life no get duplicate, e no get photocopy…enter mortuary make you go see dos weydey there dis morning…boys are not smiling…	Declarative	Directive
10.	Yes o! the program naoga driver for capital sound, original sound 90.9 FM …dis morning I don tell una say we go nak unakpakpakpa tori for wetin don sele…	Declarative	Commissive
11.	My brother my sister…na you go shine your eye o! I don tell una say all dis our drivers now, plenty of dem today na money demdey look for…dem no dey think if your safety…	Declarative	Directive
12.	another tear-rubber Monday na him don show face so…and time for we to begin waka up and down to hustle hustle…How unadey my correct people, my sekele people dem.	Declarative	Expressive
13.	As you dey say amin dis morning no be you be dat person weydemdey blow siren dey follow dey package u deyenta mortuary. E no go be your portion dis morning.	Declarative	Representative
14.	You go dey run 220! Onyinbo man wey make dat 220 keep dia, e just wan to see wedana craze dey worry you.	Declarative	Representative
15.	I take God beg you axcidentno be wetindem suppose dey take dey play. Anything weyaxcident bring, dem no go say thank you very much.	Declarative	Representative
16.	Some of us dey feel like oloye. Na me get road naa since I don dey drive my motor nothing can fit happen to me. Person wey God help make hedeyhelep himself.	Declarative	Representative
17.	You go hear dem say…abeg leave am! If na die, make I die. The die na my die no be your die… yes the die na your die but if you die…wetin go happen to dos wey be say demdey under you?	Interrogative	Directive
18.	anybody wey take him karambani go spoil government property on top road…even if na die the person die, before dem go bury am, the family go don repair wetin he spoil	Declarative	Commissive
19.	Fatigue weyuna see so dem no dey write am for forehead o! fatigue weyunadey see so, e don kill plenty people …no be only dangerfulovaspeedingdey kill person.	Declarative	Representative
20.	You go wear your safety belt. Make e dey for your mind say you must wear your safety belt. The thing wey…be number one safety for motor for driving na’im be safety belt.	Imperative	Directives
21.	Yes! Ehm…number 1 thing wey suppose deyya motor na your vehicle registration… No carry the original the only thing wey you suppose carryweyna original na’im be your driver license. Carry your vehicle registration.	Imperative	Directive
22.	And … eh… e get eh… one Mr Oliver Amodu, dis daddy as e commotnow to come back don hard am. E be like say daddy don miss road o! Anybody weyhelep us to see Mr Oliver Amodu, abeg make e match am enter any nearby police station	Declarative	Directive
23.	And dat my brother my sister, kill the speed now nownownow. Make you for kill wetin wan kill you, I think you dey hear me so….	Imperative	Directive
24.	Dis keke people! dis keke people! Abeg make unadey put eye pencil for the way weyunadey take dey do things on top road. I take God beg una.	Declarative	Directive
25.	Even President get number plate. Diplomatic Corps dem get dia number plate. Anybody weydey make movement on top road, eget him number plate. I no know why these bullion pickups demdem no dey get number plates.	Declarative	Expressive
26.	Yes, make we thank our transformer for Kaduna State here, Mallam Nasiru El’rufai plus him deputy, Oga Bala Bantex.  Plus Commissioner for works, Eng. Hassan. We don dey see the work…The construction don start o.	Declarative	Expressive
27.	Yes o, we go shout am forever tele you hear. If you no hear the first one, … you go enter mortuary make you go see dos ones weydey there.	Declarative	Commissive
28.	As you dey on top dat road dis morning, make anything weydey come your mind be safety, safety, safety. Dem no dey carry wahaladey climb road.	Imperative	Directive
29.	Yes, dat driver wey you dey see say e dey speed zazazazaza. I take God beg you. Take am easy, easy, take am jejeli	Declarative	Directive
30.	God we dey beg you, we need peace for dis country Nigeria. We need peace for Kaduna State. We need peace for inside our family. Peace for inside our sefgan, gan, gan, gan. Amin.	Declarative	Expressive
31.	The thing wey we dey do here, every day, from Monday tele Friday, 7 o’clock go reach 8 o’clock for morning, na to make sure say you stay alive for dos wey love you.	Declarative	Representative
32.	the keke man don drink… E come fall comot for the keke for high speed. Thank God e no fall for the side wey the motor dey pass. E injure o. Keke ma no stop!	Declarative	Representative
33.	My brother, my sister if na 100% you get. If you go jam, you go take head land… no matter how dem treat you… dem say no matter how dem treat mad man, if e see leather for road e go still admire am.	Declarative	Representative
34.	Try to write your name for passenger manifest dis season wey we dey so. Write your name for passenger manifest in case of emer. If e happen, dem go know how dem go take do am.	Imperative	Directive
35.	Okay! Eh. As we dey talk so, my brother, people weydeyincharge to park dirty for here naZedex Global Alliance and I dey see dem everywhere.	Declarative	Representative
36.	obey datrule. .. If you say you no go respect the rule for regulation of traffic, you go sabi to respect the rule for mortuary.	Imperative	Directive
37.	Today na Thursday. And we thank God all of us don follow see today. Some people been think say dem go see today, dem no see am… We thank God o.	Declarative	Expressive
38.	One heavy askident wen e be say 6 people dem change address for dataskident…. Dos wey survive, demwounjure well, well. Dia life remain one bar.	Declarative	Representative
39.	So if you dey drive for night, make you try to off your high beam… E no dey make dem see well. Use high beam only when…eh…motor no dey ahead of you.	Imperative	Directive
40.	If you wansabiweda your driver license na fake, enter www.nigeriadriverslicense.org na there you can fit check to see wedayour driver  licensena fake.	Declarative	Directive

 6. Results &Findings

 Locutionary Acts

Yule(2010) defines a locutionary act as a basic act of an utterance or the production of a meaningful linguistic utterance. (p.48). He further states that locutionary acts can be distinguished and analysed on the basis of structure. This according to him, this can be done using the three basic sentence types which are, declaratives, interrogatives and imperatives. (p.54) The locutionary acts in this research are the selected utterances of the radio presentation. These grammatical utterances were classified for the purpose of the research under types of sentences which include declaratives, imperatives, and interrogatives. The locutionary acts performed in the analysed data are represented in the table below:

Table 2: Locutionary acts performed in ‘Oga Driver’
S/N	Types of Locution	Number of Occurrences	Percentage (% )
1	Declarative	30	75.0
2	Imperative	9	22.5
3	Interrogative	1	2.5
Total		40	100

 Figure 1. Percentage distribution of locutions

From the result of the analysis, the declarative is the most frequently occurring type of locution. It occurs thirty times, with a frequency of 75.00%, followed by the imperative which occurs nine times, with a frequency of 22.5.The least of all is the interrogative which occurs only once, with a frequency of 2.5.

 

 Illocutionary Acts

 Searle classifies illocutionary acts into the following categories: Representatives, commissives, directives, expressives and declaratives. The illocutionary acts performed in the radio presentation are represented in the table below:

Table 3: Illocutionary acts performed in ‘Oga Driver’
S/N	Types of illocutions	Number of Occurrences	Percentage (%)
1	Representatives	15	37.5
2	Expressives	6	15
3	Directives	16	40
4	Commissives	3	7.5
5	Declaratives	0	0
Total		40	100

 Figure 2. Percentage distribution of illocutions

From the result of the analysis, four types of illocutionary acts were performed. They are directives, representatives, commissives and expressives. The most frequently occurring speech act is the directive, this occurs 16 times, with a percentage distribution of 40.0%. Next is the representatives which occurs 15 times with a percentage distribution of 37.5%, followed by the expressives which occurs 6 times, with a percentage distribution of 15.0%. Least of all is the commissives which occurs 3 times, with a percentage distribution of 7.5%.

7  Discussion and Conclusion

Quite a few though not enough researches have been carried out on the pragmatic analysis of Nigerian pidgin English in radio communication.The previous researches have tended to concentrate more on pragmatic strategies like, implicatures, face saving acts, conversational humouramongst others. An example is the, ‘Conversational humour in a Nigerian news programme A case study of Lati inu aka aka Biodun/Kayode.:’(Inya& Inya,2018).There is however hardly any analysis found that focuses mainly  on the  analysis and quantitative categorization of locutionary and illocutionary acts of utterances in the Nigerian pidgin English in radio presentation  The primary focus of this research therefore, is a locutionary and illocutionary analysis of the Nigerian pidgin English in the radio presentation of ‘Oga Driver’ The research, examined the speech acts performed by the presenter of ‘Oga Driver’ and the following conclusions were arrived at based on the findings: The presenter employed locutionary and illocutionary acts in passing across his message. The most frequently occurring locutionary act used in the presentation of ‘Oga Driver’ is the declaratives. This occurs 30 times with a frequency of 75.0% while the least locutionary act is the interrogative which occurs once with a frequency of 2.5%. The illocutionary acts performed in the presentation of ‘Oga Driver’ include: directives, representatives, commissives and expressives. The directive occurs most frequently in the presentation of ‘Oga Driver’. It occurs 16 times with a frequency of 40.0% followed closely by representatives which occurs 15 times with a frequency of 37.5%. Another is the expressive which occurs 6 times with a frequency of 15%  and least of all is the commissive which occurs 3 times with a frequency of 7.5%. The declarative act was not found in the radio presentation of ‘Oga Driver’.

The origin of the Pidgin English remains unclear but it is clear that it has remained a very active language in different parts of the world. In the past, the Pidgin English had been downgraded and regarded with contempt by linguists but is now gaining attention as a language worthy of study and capable of performing very many functions like other ‘superior’ languages. It has become a popular style of communication in multilingual Nigeria and is gaining rapid attention as a convenient language of passing information to the public. In radio presentations, the presenters are not usually only interested in using the Pidgin English as a language of entertainment alone but also in using the language to perform certain acts that are capable of causing a change in the listener and at the same time capturing the listeners’ attention. This research paid particular attention to the analysis of locutionary and illocutionary acts found in the radio presentation of ‘Oga Driver’. The results showed that the presenter employed locutionary acts like: Declaratives, imperatives and interrogatives to pass across his message. He also used illocutionary acts like: Directives, commissives, assertive and expressives with the intention of persuading, convincing and appealing to the listeners to be very cautious when on the road. The result of the research has revealed that the Nigerian Pidgin English is a very functional language and deserves serious investigation.

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