Conference Paper

Silence and Pauses in President Tinubu's 'EndBadGovernance' Protest Speech in Nigeria: A Phono-Pragmatic Study

Abstract This paper examines the communicative import of silence and pauses in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s speech during the critical period of 'EndBadGovernance' protest that rocked the country, Nigeria. The protest, a response to issues of governance failures and, the untold hardship, marked a critical situation in Nigeria's socio-political landscape, requiring a speech that could marry authority and empathy, and also sue for unity. Analysing Tinubu’s speech, this research explores how silence and pauses interact with the pragmatic goals of his rhetoric, enhancing his authority and emotional appeal. From the angle of Phono-pragmatics, the work relies on Speech Act Theory of Searle (1969) and, Couper-Kuhlen (2004) Prosodic Theory to investigate how Tinubu exploits silence and pauses to amplify the illocutionary force of his speech acts. With the aid of Praat software, the analysis identifies the length, frequency, and placement of pauses, as well as their pragmatic effects. Findings reveal that pauses perform three primary functions of establishing authority, since moments of silence project control and confidence; igniting a sense of reflection because pauses allow the audience to process emotionally charged topics like governance, reforms and protest grievances. It also highlights the cultural relevance of silence in Nigerian rhetorical traditions, in a way, offering insights into the interplay between prosody, pragmatics, and political rhetoric in the contexts of African. Findings highlight silence and pauses as not merely absences of sound but important rhetorical tools that amplify meaning and impact in political speeches. Keywords: Phono-pragmatics, EndBadGovernance, Rhetoric, Political Discourse, Speech Act Theory