A DEICTIC ANALYSIS OF THE INAUGURAL SPEECHES OF SELECTED NIGERIAN GOVERNORS

The inaugural speeches of newly elected political governors are shaped by context, serving as strategic tools for communication, legitimacy, and governance. This study investigated the implications of deictic expressions in the inaugural speeches of APC and PDP governors. Using Stephen Levinson’s Deixis theory, 20 inaugural speeches were purposively selected, ten from APC governors and ten from PDP governors from online national newspapers (The Punch and Vanguard), the official websites of the selected states, and social media platforms. The findings of the study revealed that person deixis functioned as assertiveness and personal responsibility, spatial deixis served as scope of governance, time deixis performed the function of historical milestones and future commitments, discourse deixis signified references and transitions and social deixis expressed interpersonal relationships in the selected speeches respectively. The study concluded that, inaugural speeches primarily served as a platform for governors to convey gratitude, affirm their responsibilities, and strengthen social connections with the citizens.