Browsing by Author "Amakali, Justina M."

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    Persuasive speech acts in the Namibian National Assembly
    (2016) Amakali, Justina M.
    This paper examined the speech acts used by Namibian Members of Parliament (MPs) during parliamentary proceedings. The main aim of this paper was to explain speech acts and show their intended persuasive effects in parliamentary discourse. Austin (1962) introduced three types of speech acts, locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary. The paper attempted to critically demonstrate how MPs use persuasion strategies in their debates. These speech acts were uttered through assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declaratives, as classified by Searle (1969). A qualitative approach was used in this paper whereby the Hansard were used to collect data. A purposeful sampling focusing on some MPs was used. This paper was guided by two theories, Austin‟s Speech Act Theory and Aristotle‟s Theory of Rhetoric. The need to apply rhetorical skills in debates is widely advocated for. Although not all members of parliament have a wide knowledge of rhetoric, acquiring and employing skills on rhetoric are prominent aspects of parliamentary debates. The findings of the paper revealed that members of parliament have the potential to use a variety of persuasive strategies in their speech acts by means of some rhetorical devices. It was concluded that most MPs deliberately make use of these speech acts as a persuasive mechanism in their discourse. Being the first study in parliamentary discourse in Namibia with regards to rhetoric, it is considered to be unique and adds value in the field of linguistics. It also serves as a pioneering research to researchers in political rhetoric.
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    Speech acts and their rhetorical purposes in the Namibian parliamentary discourse, 2015-2016
    (University of Namibia, 2018) Amakali, Justina M.
    The use of rhetoric is essential to verbal communication between politicians who debate pro et contra (for and against) to win arguments and persuade their audience. In this study, parliamentary rhetoric in the Namibian parliamentary discourse for the period 2015-2016 was analysed. This is a qualitative research study. The Hansard was used as a source of information, while observation and audio recordings were used as instruments to collect data. The data were purposively sampled by selecting the desired information from ten volumes of the Hansard within the period of March 2015 to March 2016. The study applied Discourse Analysis research design by identifying speech acts based on Searle’s five classifications of speech acts and explaining how they were persuasive. Three theoretical frameworks informed this study. Austin’s speech act theory contributes to the speech acts, especially performative acts uttered by parliamentarians. Further, Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric is important to the persuasive intentions that Members of Parliament (MPs) demonstrated. Burke’s theory of identification is important to the persuasive acts that MPs demonstrated in an attempt to identify with their audience and vice-versa. The major findings of this study show that assertive, directive, commissive, declarative and expressive speech acts were used by MPs. These speech acts were used to persuade the audience to believe the assertions, get things done, give hope, change the statuses and circumstances, and show solidarity, respectively. Further, some MPs used ‘unparliamentary’ expressions, such as interruptions, provocations and abusive language to mock, downgrade and irritate others to win debates. Rhetorical devices such as, code-switching, address and titles, parallelism, sarcasm euphemism, antithesis, buzzwords and exordium were employed by MPs in attempt to define situations, give recognition, produce good sounding words, create humour, create benevolence, give effect of balance, gain trust, and praise, respectively. This study contributes to new knowledge by unraveling rhetorical strategies for parliamentary discourse especially those that are demonstrated in the Namibian parliamentary setting. It informs the followers of parliamentary proceedings of tactics used in parliament to win debates. The study also contributes to the literature on parliamentary rhetoric. In conclusion, two key recommendations arose from this study. First, further studies on parliamentary rhetoric in the Namibian National Assembly should be carried out to narrow the literature gap and enrich the body of knowledge in Parliamentary rhetoric. Second, a parliamentary communication etiquette that will guide MPs and improve their skills in effective communication and persuasion is essential.