Abstract
This study investigates implicature in the language
of roadside hawkers in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Federal Capital
Territory, Nigeria. The study aims to examine the implied meanings embedded in
the utterances of roadside hawkers. Specifically, it seeks to identify the
forms of implicature employed by hawkers and analyses the meanings conveyed
through their utterances in commercial interactions. The study is anchored on
Grice’s (1975) Theory of Implicature, particularly the Cooperative Principle,
which explains how speakers communicate meanings beyond the literal interpretation
of their words. Adopting a qualitative descriptive research design, data were
collected through observation, audio recording, and note-taking of naturally
occurring utterances of roadside hawkers in selected locations within AMAC.
Fifteen representative utterances were purposively selected and analysed
qualitatively. The findings reveal that conventional implicature is a dominant
feature of roadside hawkers’ discourse, as hawkers strategically employ
culturally shared beliefs, social assumptions, and persuasive expressions to
attract customers and promote products. The study concludes that implicature
serves as an effective pragmatic tool for persuasion and meaning construction
in roadside hawking discourse, thereby facilitating successful commercial
communication in informal market settings.
Keywords:Implicature, Pragmatics, Roadside
Hawkers, Discourse, Communication
DOI: 10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i01.027
author/Kaoje, U. U., & Raj, S. M.
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 2(1) | June 2026 |
