Discourse Analysis of Deictic Features in Nigerian Newspaper Reportage on Boko Haram Activities

Abstract

This study examines the use of deictic features in Nigerian newspaper reportage on Boko Haram activities in Nigeria. Since 2002, Nigeria has been at the mercy of Boko Haram insurgency and terrorist attacks. So many researchers have tried to analyze some of these reports using deictic theories but none has used the deictic theory of Stephen Levinson in the analysis of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. The study was carried out using qualitative approach to examine the reports via deictic feature analysis. Data were collected randomly from four national dailies namely: The Sun, Guardian, Champion and The Punch newspaper, published from 2020 to 2024. The theoretical framework employed for the analysis is Stephen Levinson's theory of deixis, which enabled the researcher to reveal that police or military unit confirmation of any attack is believed to be an unquestionable truth and any "suicide bomber" is believed to be Boko haram member as reported by the press without any further confirmation. This analysis was made with the aid of person, temporal, spatial, discourse and social deictic features, some of which were found lacking in most related research works on deixis. The findings revealed with the aid of deictic feature analysis, that most information on Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria were gotten through a telephone conversation which gives room for exaggeration of reports or under-reports of the insurgence. The study recommended that similar content analysis be carried out on news on Boko Haram activities published online in the social media blogs.