Abstract
This study, ‘Grammatical
Cohesion in Atiku Abubakar’s Declaration Speech for the Presidential Race
2022’, examines grammatical cohesive
devices in Atiku Abubakar’s declaration speech for Nigerian Presidentfor
the 2023 Nigerian Presidential election. The study identifies the grammatical
devices with the objective of investigating how they contribute to coherence of
the texts and their communicative functions. The source of data for the study
isthe documented video of the declaration speech from YouTube. The study adopts
purposive sampling technique in selecting the speech from the population of his
campaign speeches. The study employs a mixed-method approach, combining
qualitative and quantitative analysis. Halliday and Hasan’s (1986) cohesion
theory is adopted to anchor the analysis. The findings of the study reveal that
the most occurring grammatical cohesive device is reference with the person
referents “We” and I” having 34.09% and 27.27% respectively. The grammatical
cohesive devices used serve several communicative functions such as
establishing candidature solidarity and creating a sense of unity between the
speaker and the audience. Additionally, the study finds that the grammatical
cohesive patterns in the speech are instrumental in engaging the audience and
shaping political discourse in terms of emotional appeal. The study concludes
that grammatical cohesive devices are instrumental elements of discourse
structures and in Atiku Abubakar’s speech they enabled the communication of his
political candidature, political ideologies and leadership policies.
Keywords:
Political Speeches, Cohesion and Coherence, Grammatical Cohesive devices, Atiku
Abubakar
DOI: 10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i02.025
author/Gada, J. D., & Muhammed, H. D.
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 2(2) | August 2026 |
