Speech Acts Features of Kimuthambi Utterances Used for Persuasion

Abstract

Persuasion is inherent in everyday communication and is very important in relationships, leadership, peace-building and success in virtually every area of livelihood. The objective of this study was to describe the speech acts features of Kimuthambi utterances used for persuasion. Language is a strong tool for persuasion. Studies have been conducted on persuasion in various languages of the world but Kimuthambi has not been studied on this perspective. Every linguistic variety is unique and culture-dependent and therefore warrants a holistic analysis. The study was guided by the relevance theory by Sperber and Wilson and Searle’s speech act theory. It utilized qualitative and quantitative research designs in Muthambi Division, Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya. The population included all the Kimuthambi communicative events. The researcher purposively sampled ten real life communicative events conducted in Kimuthambi, which involved 14 speakers. Data was collected using a digital audio recorder and an observation schedule. The recorder captured conversations in Kimuthambi in the selected communicative events and the observation schedule was used to record the contextual information. The researcher transcribed utterances from the data collected that utilized strategies used for persuasion. The transcribed utterances were 166. Guided by the communicative principle of relevance, the researcher identified and discussed 84 utterances used for persuasion in Kimuthambi. The study established that speech acts features of Kimuthambi utterances used for persuasion were mainly directives. This study enhanced the analysis of Kimuthambi as a language variety and added to the existing knowledge on pragmatic analysis of persuasion in various languages of the world. It enriched knowledge on tenets of relevance theory, analysis of speech acts of languages spoken in the world and cross-linguistic studies from the perspective of a unique cultural orientation.