Taxonomy and Role of Illocutionary Acts of Request in Shariah-Based Reconciliation Case Proceedings of Northern Nigeria

Abstract

In the attempt to overhaul the justice process and ameliorate individuals or parties’ problems, Shariah-based Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR/Reconciliation) is developed. Hence, this paper explored the illocutionary acts of request employ in (the sociopragmatics aspect of the Hausa Muslims of Northern Nigeria, West Africa) the Shariah-based reconciliation Courts judicial discourse. With the aid of audiovisual recorder, 12 various case proceedings of family disputes on marital issues were recorded. The data were coded and analysed using Nvivo, focusing on Searle’s Directive taxonomy speech acts of request. The results revealed that the Request utterances are dominantly utilised during the Shariah-based Reconciliation Case Proceedings (RCP). A total of 39 participants used 140 Interactive Turn-Takings (ITT) and court officials, especially the arbitrators were found as the common users of the Request utterances either to seek audience, agreement, explanation or permission to speak. Court officials also utilised Request utterances to ask question, require confirmation and or to maintain order when any speaker is getting out of track during the RCP. Finally, the study demonstrates that it is a cultural practice of speakers in RCP to use the phrase “for Allah sake” to show the level of their politeness and to minimise the thought of imposition by the addressee/s, together with the rhetorical use of the word “Allah” and metaphorical expressions. By implication, the common use of request utterances in RCP, suggest Arbitrators’ level of interest in ensuring peaceful solutions to issues brought before the Shariah-based reconciliation Courts.

Keywords

• Sociopragmatics,Request,Speech Acts

References

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