Language, Power and Politeness in Academic Inaugural Speeches: A Pragmatic Study of Maiden Address Given By Prof. B. I. Popoola as the Vice Chancellor of AFUED

• ABDULWAHEED SHUAIBU Ph.D.

  ADEYEMI FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, ONDO

  Author

Academic inaugural or maiden speeches are metaphorical platforms of power, vision and institutional cleavage. This paper evaluates what Prof. B. I. Popoola the first Vice Chancellor of Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo (AFUED) had to say as he delivered the inaugural speech on August 14, 2025, through a pragmatic approach. It is based on Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson, 1987), that questions how language is used with regard to leadership, authorization and solidarity. The qualitative pragmatic analysis was used to categorize the speech into units in order to determine speech acts, politeness strategies and power relations. It has been observed that commissives (promises of changes and welfare) and expressives (thanking God, Council, staff and students) prevail and re-establish vision and humility. Inclusive pronouns, positive politeness, and the sense of togetherness were used by the Vice Chancellor, whereas the negative politeness conveyed respect to the authorities. Assertion of authority was tempered by mitigation and indirectness, commanding and servant-leadership ideology. The paper concludes that first speeches in Nigerian academia are practically designed to establish power, muster strength and define identity. It can be utilized in discourse analysis because the role of language in academic leadership, as a factor, has not been examined effectively. It should be comparative studies of universities in Nigeria to widen the scope of the investigations into pragmatic aspects of the discourse of leadership.

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