Pragmatic Acts in Selected Sermons of Bishop David Oyedepo
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Date
2022-12
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Lead City University
Abstract
This study examined the pragmatic acts in selected sermons of Bishop David Oyedepo accounting for the pragmatic features of the sermons. The study identified the thematic preoccupation of the sermons, described the underlying contexts, analysed the pragmatic acts and explained the pragmatic implications of the sermons. Using exclusively the resources of Jacob Mey’s 2001 pragmatic act theory as framework, the methodology is qualitative. The research design is content analysis of four purposively selected sermons out of an average of eleven thousand, eight hundred and eight sermons. Data was sourced and collected online employing the top-down content analytical approach in revealing the thematic content of the sermons, the underlying context of the themes, the pragmatic acts and their implications. The work highlights the themes of gratitude, faith, marriage, financial dominion, giving and humility within the contextual constraints of history, philosophy, prayer, war, relationship and thanksgiving. The themes and underlying contexts runs through the cores of the practs performed, the practs of assuring, informing, re-enlightening, notifying/clarifying, illustrating/exemplifying, prompting/ instructing/ directing, confessing/prophesying, warning/advising. The findings reveal that fifty-nine excerpts were analysed from the data, six pragmatic themes identified, six pragmatic contexts established, eight practs classified with four pragmatic implications discovered all interjected with pragmatic tools of relevance (REL), inference (INF), reference (REF), shared situation knowledge (SSK), voice (VCE), metaphor (M) and conversational acts which runs through the data. The pragmatic implications explained the evocation of the power of God, demystifying the personality of God, lexicalizing historical antecedents and reiterating divine assurances. The study is a significant addition to existing studies on the application of Mey’s Pragmatic theory to the study of religious discourse and a veritable tool for advancing pedagogical skills in mission schools and churches. The study recommends further studies employing multiple theoretical frameworks.
Keywords: pragmatics, sermons, practs, pragmatic act theory, prayer
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Keywords
pragmatics, sermons, practs, pragmatic act theory, prayer
Citation
Kate Turabian