Pragmemes in Outdoor HIV/Aids Campaign Messages in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria

Bibliographic Data

ID19527223
AuthorsPatience Obiageri Solomon-Etefia (0009-0009-4836-5221, University of Benin, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume19
Issue1
Pages85-114
Publication date2018-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Universal Language (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1598-6381 • E-ISSN: 2508-5344
PublisherSejong University Language Research Institute (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.22425/jul.2018.19.1.85
OpenAlexW2801416803
LanguageEN
References cited15

Outdoor HIV/AIDS campaign messages in Benin metropolis were usually coined in textual and pictorial form to aid in the sensitisation of the populace. The random research in HIV/AIDS and its campaign cannot be downplayed since the inception of the epidemic, and this is all over the world. A lot of studies have been carried out on HIV/AIDS discourse. These include studies in medicine, sociology, education, psychology as well as quantitative studies on indoor HIV/AIDS campaigns messages, with little attention paid on the analysis of outdoor campaign messages especially from the pragmatic angle. This paper therefore examines the pragmatic dimensions with its focus on the textual analysis of the outdoor HIV/AIDS campaign messages. This paper aims at analysing the various distinctive practs of the messages. The data for this study were collected from thirteen outdoor HIV/AIDS campaign messages purposively selected from posters, billboards and handbills. All the collected textual HIV/AIDS campaign messages were subject to Mey’s pragmatic acts theory for analysis. The study reveals that HIV/AIDS campaign messages in Benin metropolis were information-motivated discourses in social context, characterised by the practs of counselling, cautioning, advising, requesting, commanding, threatening and persuading. The practs were direct act and indirect speech acts, which made use of contextual features, such as reference, relevance, inference, shared situation knowledge and shared cultural knowledge. The paper concludes that the examination of pragmeme in outdoor HIV/AIDS campaign messages is a crucial prerequisite for understanding, communicating and managing the associated diverse challenges of HIV/AIDS in the society

Benin city · Family medicine · Geography · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Southeastern Nigeria · Teaching hospital · Digital Communication and Language · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Medicine · Psychology

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