Person Deixis as Discursive Practice in Nigeria’s “June 12” Conflict Rhetoric

Abstract

Drawing on the “June 12” political crisis in Nigeria, this study analyses the speeches of some political figures in the vanguard of the unprecedented power tussle between the military and civilians in Nigeria’s political history between 1993 and 1998. The paper applies the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis to examine person deixis as a discursive strategy appropriated for ideological purposes in the power play. The study reveals that by deploying person deixis in the conflict rhetoric, the political figures seek to reproduce ‘dominance’ in a bid to control the cognition and actions of their audiences.