CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
      The dynamism of language as a powerful tool of communication cannot be over-emphasized. There is countless number of things which we could do or use to achieve. It is therefore, no surprise if language is used to influence decision in various ways (even in the field of politics). Can one really mention any particular field of endeavour that does not involve the use of language?
      This bring us to the view about pragmatics; an aspect of language study. Communication in any society happens chiefly by means of language. However, the users of language as social beings communicate and use language in the society’s premises. Mey (2001), in his second publication: Pragmatics: An Introduction has this to say:
    …pragmatics as the study of the way human being use their
                                         Language in communication, bases itself on a study of those
                                         Premises and determine how they effect and effectualize human
                                         Language use… (pp6)
         With the above aforementioned extracted text, we therefore, take a critical look at pragmatics, its influence on the analysis of political posters. The strength it commands in influencing the needed effect.
1.1         PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
       The purpose of this research work is to identify the influence of pragmatics elements on encoded texts or utterance; the meaning that is implied and the effect on the addressee. We do this with the use of deployed political posters (statements) in the field of politics. Besides exploiting the features of pragmatics, this study seeks to analyse the thought provoking influence of such political posters; the rules of pragmatics governing the use of language in this aspect.
This study, we hope, prioritize on the need to view utterance as instrumental in influencing necessary developmental changes. We also analyse the feature of context, among other things, as a necessary factor to understanding inherent objectives of most political posters. We intend to carry-out this work in relation to semantics since the synergy will help us in understanding of this research work.